Our Man In New Hampshire #5b: Mill Worker Mission

This is the sixth in a 72-hour series of campaign dispatches from photojournalist and BNN Contributer Alan Chin.  These shots were taken between two events, one Saturday and the other Sunday.

(Click for larger size)

Meetings in the round –with everyone sitting close, on the same level — has been a hallmark of the Edwards campaign.  Come the last day before the primary, however (and, potentially, JE’s last day of presidential viability), the circle is more compressed than before.

On the phone, Alan confirms the intensity, and adds a few details.  The audiences at the two meetings are primarily working class people.  Also, the candidate is traveling with the largest entourage on the trail.  It includes his father and mother (second photo); the family of Nataline Sarkisyan, the woman who died because her Insurance company wouldn’t approve a liver transplant; and James Lowe, who couldn’t speak for 50 years because he didn’t have the insurance to correct a cleft palate.

As part of the presentation, many of these people offer testimonials.

Because of the intensity of the images above, I almost didn’t include these last two (and I wonder about the effect if I hadn’t).  With Edwards — if strictly for the fact he’s a politician (leaving aside, for one thankful moment, any other baggage) — one can be powerfully pulled between man and message.

Next Up: Hillary

(All images courtesy Alan Chin.  Concord, New Hampshire.  January 5, 2007  Used by permission)