New Hampshire chat starting Monday 10a ET - and Diner wisdom on the ebb and flow of the #FITN contest
The primary is a lot like the restaurant industry
NASHUA, N.H. _ Hey, friends! Stop by tomorrow (Monday, 1/22) starting at 10a ET for a chat on the New Hampshire primary, I’ll give the read from the ground here and where the race goes after Tuesday (pending the results). Link here:
And herein a brief appreciation of diner culture in New Hampshire which is strong indeed. I talked a bit Saturday with Amanda Wihby with top brass from the famous Red Arrow Diner in New Hampshire, Amanda Wihby, co-owner and COO, and Jamie McKenzie, general manager.
McKenzie, who started at Red Arrow waiting tables on the overnight shift (third shift), said the candidates rolling in to gladhand around primary week is like the restaurant biz. “You’re busy, you’re slow, you’re busy, you’re slow,” McKenzie told 24sight. “That’s how every day is gonna go.”
Along the counter at the Manchester Red Arrow are placards from where various candidates have stopped in: Trump, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and more. Sitting at the end of the counter at the Manchester Red Arrow, Wihby and McKenzie recounted some celebrity classics from cycles past.
Regulars at the diner this cycle have included: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and Democratic candidates Marianne Williamson and Rep. Dean Phillips.
“I feel like retail politics is alive and well,” Wihby told 24sight. She pointed to former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s heavy investment in working the ground in New Hampshire. “She’s put in the time, done the retail politics and her numbers have grown dramatically.”
Funniest moments: McKenzie accidentally calling Donald Trump Jr. “Donny” — he walked in right as she saw her old friend Donny (Jr. responded warmly). And 2016 candidate John Kasich hopping behind the counter to start pouring coffee and getting yelled at, because the waitress didn’t know who he was.
Now we’re getting in to the frantic home stretch in New Hampshire, when the Hollywood types start showing up (Judge Judy will be over in Exeter campaigning for Haley later Sunday). Wihby and McKenzie swooned recalling four years ago when Kevin Costner waltzed in, on a campaign swing with Buttigieg.
“He was stunning,” Wihby said.