Friday, November 30, 2007

Yikes. No question as to what the buzz is about today. A little after 1PM, I started getting IMs popping up on my screen: "You getting this?" "Can you believe it?" Followed of course by blue-underlined links to WMUR.com and other news outlets. What I found when I clicked was both startling and baffling. There was a hostage situation at Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester. He was apparently armed and said he had a bomb strapped to him.

As a former Rochester resident and Spaulding High grad, I was immediately concerned if anybody I knew was in danger. Turns out the campaign office was at 28 North Main Street... About 100 street numbers down from the home I lived in only 7 years ago! Like I said: "Yikes."

When I got home and turned on the TV, Channel 9 was reporting that the situation was resolving peacefully... Leeland Eisenberg, a man "well known to police," had given himself up, joining Lyndon LaRouche in Rochester's Hall of Shame. I'll be curious to learn his motivations, if and when they become public.

Hillary's response to all this? She appeared only minutes after the situation was defused for a press conference, calmly and gratefully thanking both law enforcement and her staffers. Now she's on her way back to NH. Her site HillaryClinton.com had a notice about the situation up on the home page and a blog entry posted at 6:53, well under an hour after the Eisenberg was arrested. Impressive situation management from her and her team.

How this will affect the NH Primary? My guess is it'll be retail politicking as usual before long, but for this weekend, it's going to be all-Hillary, all-the-time.

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