Nathan Hale Williams: Second Campaign Diary (Keith Wins Exit Poll In Keene)
By Nathan Williams, in politics·viewpoints
Monday, August 9 2004, 10:04AM
After the first elimination was over, it was time to plan a rally speech for New Hamsphire. Keith and I discussed ways to make the speech engaging within the parameters set by the producers, i.e., discussing the war. We agreed that passion was the key and a memorable phrase that people could connect with was best.
Keith wrote the foundation for the speech and I came up with the catch phrase, "distraction means subtraction." This dealt with the fundamental idea that the war in Iraq is a distraction from our domestic issues and it subtracts from the resources that could be applied to the economy, education and health care of this country. We fine tuned the speech several times and Keith rehearsed vigorously.
Initially, I was nervous. Once Keith began to speak, I realized he was a natural. He was engaging, passionate, intelligent and charismatic. I was at once impressed and inspired by his ability to transform into such a great communicator on the spot. After all the speeches were finished, I was convinced that he had done the best! My beliefs were validated when Montel announced that Keith had won the exit poll by such a large margin.
As a result of the win, we were given the assistance of Joe Trippi. Joe is a great guy. He gave us excellent advice on how to better construct and condense Keith's message. We also had tons of fun with him while we traveled around Keene, New Hampshire play fighting and making jokes about one another.
We were a bit worried about our final showing because it was truly a grass roots effort for us. Admittedly, Joe didn't know a lot of people that could help and we didn't know anyone. Thankfully, we had met McKim Mckeever who is an openly gay state representative and a leader in the New Hampshire Democratic party. Without him, I am certain we wouldn't have done as well. In addition, we hustled a lot at the various locations and throughout Keene.
Prior to the campaign, I had asked Lisa Witter, Bruce Friedrich, Malia Lazu and their campaign managers to join Keith and me in our room. Chrissy's premature departure was a wake up call. Keith and I wanted to ensure that the progressive/liberal voices on the show stayed as long as possible, so we decided to form a voting alliance. Plus, all three of these guys were very cool. We had a meeting and everyone agreed. We will have to wait and see if it paid off.
In the end, we did fine and weren't faced with elimination. This time, it was Bob Vanech and Ms. Joyce (as Malia had affectionately nicknamed her). To everyone, this was a no brainer. Bob is probably a great guy, but he had annoyed the heck out of everyone. Particularly, he and Lisa had clashed the entire time. He was overzealous and seemed disingenuous. So, it was pretty clear that everyone was going to vote for Ms. Joyce. I like Bob, and I think he is funny. I especially like Pete, his campaign manager. Two down, 7 more to go.
For more campaign diaries from Nathan, visit the American Candidate website.
Comments conceal
cmoney
August 9 2004, 10:31AM
Great show! It's good to see Keith doing so well, especially with his partner. I was glad to see Bob go, though. He came off as unorganized and a B.S. artist. The type that got everything in life by being a handsome white guy who could talk a good game. When pressed to perform, he flopped. Why does he remind me of "W"? I can't wait to see next week's episode.
O.K., now I have to be shallow---what is up with that hideous wall paper in the New Hampshire hotel rooms? Just when you thought you saw the worst of the worst, the next candidate's room gets even more gaudy! The next campaign issue might be whether to redecorate the hotel rooms :-)
Bernie
August 9 2004, 11:56AM
The show has an edge-of-your-seat intensity that borders on nerve wracking. It was good to see Bob dropped; he was annoying and unfocused. A poser. Now if Mr. Right Wing, Park, would get the axe that would make the show tolerable. He reminds me of all the ignorant conservative extremists I've ever heard. Never been anywhere nor met anyone different from themselves, but hold such strong opinions.
tovok
August 9 2004, 12:44PM
Nathan is there a way to get a copy of Keith speech from this episode? Not much of it was shown on the on show.
Christian Grantham
August 9 2004, 1:28PM
Great job with the speech, guys! It's a lot of fun watching things unfold. Keith is such a pro, and it's nice to see you two working together and not freaking out like the other candidates.
I can't wait to see next week's exchange in the public debate between Kieth and the self-proclaimed "Jesus freak" over "lifestyle choices." I'm sure he appreciates the Constitution's protection of religious lifestyle choices. After all, it's the only real lifestyle choice protected in our constitution that he likely cherishes the most, even though some of the religious lifestyles currently protected by the Constitution include the choice to worship "false Gods." What would God say about his love of this cherish Constitutional religious lifestyle choice protection? Does he believe people should really have the right to defy his God, worship false Gods or choose Hell? The answer is YES! He loves that right! But when it comes to people choosing to love one another, that's where he draws the line. How sadly laughable.
Anywho, how tacky was that of him to go into that church with a self-serving mission to win a television show contest while assuring the woman inside he's a "Jesus freak?" I guess that's become a term of endearment between some people of faith.
ronn
August 9 2004, 5:01PM
Great speech and episode. Altho parts of it were boring and tedious, I enjoyed it overall. Can't wait to next week's and hope that bigot-freak gets the got-damm hook. I can already tell from the clip that he targeted Keith. I can only hope Mr. Boykin really, really put him in his place.
BTW, the NY Times kinda gives away some details for the next couple of episodes. Boo on them.
JP
August 18 2004, 1:34AM
Great speech Mister. Yes Sir, well done! Don't know if I entirely agree but all the candidates were locked into some pretty tight limitations and I certainly don't disagree. You did well with what you had to work with.
Thanks for listening Keith. See what I mean, they are starting to come back in just like I said, little by little, the regulars we have not seen here in a while -- Cmoney, Regan, FRE. YOU, Keith, are the difference.
But where's Laura?! Come out of the woodwork Laura, Keith needs you. You are a maniacal worker (no offense intended). Put it to purpose and make a difference.
I hope that, like me, all have e-mailed everyone in their universe to garner votes. You folks gotta know that everyone does not have cable but that's no reason they should be disenfranchised from the vote. It's all about votes. We can talk the talk (and some of us love to) but we gotta walk the walk, and that means walk the voters in. It's all about votes. We will disagree on many things and it's easy to second-guess our candidate but one thing we agree on is KEITH BOYKIN FOR AMERICAN PRESIDENT! However our agreement alone will not suffice. Come on folks! We have work to do! "The revolution will be bloged." Andrew Sullivan
Lets get the man his votes! Lets have some fun here! Yes, this is fun. Kick it up! Let's carry Keith to victory! We can do this. I know we can do this. I'm not sure how but I know we can. Post your ideas for getting votes (perhaps e-mail us all since it may not be best give the opponents a heads-up -- you KNOW they are watching this BLOG). It's not all up to Keith. It's up to us. We know WHO he is and we know WHAT he is, we know a real man when we see one,
and we know all we need to know about Keith Boykin. We all know the right thing to do so let's do it. "Come together, right now!" GET THE VOTES.
Good job Keith! Stay up against it. And tell us what you need. Do not underestimate us. Just ask. We will deliver. And I know I do not speak for myself.
JP