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N.H. Voters Reveal Late Choices And Decry 'Angry Birds' Volatility Of Race

Supporters for various candidates hold signs at the Webster School polling location in Manchester, N.H., on Tuesday.
Kevin Dietsch
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UPI /Landov
Supporters for various candidates hold signs at the Webster School polling location in Manchester, N.H., on Tuesday.

As New Hampshire voters headed to the polls Tuesday, we spoke with several as they left polling places in Manchester and Bedford.

Dan Yarrington, who owns a series of game stores in Manchester, told us he voted for Ron Paul for his foreign policy stance and his philosophy on government spending.

"I've been watching all the debates, I've been watching all the candidates," Yarrington said. "I actually supported him in 2008, and it's nice to see that he's getting a little more traction this time around, actually being a serious contender. I'm really not satisfied with any of the other options, so that's why that made that decision easy."

New Hampshirite Biscuit was still undecided as of Tuesday afternoon. But his enthusiasm for the process could not go unnoticed.
Andrea Seabrook / NPR
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NPR
New Hampshirite Biscuit was still undecided as of Tuesday afternoon. But his enthusiasm for the process could not go unnoticed.

Yarrington said Paul could play a serious part in the nomination process even if he is not ultimately the GOP nominee.

"You've seen all these other candidates that are like angry birds, as I describe them — they just go up and then down, and up and down. You've seen Ron Paul just steadily climbing. And the reason is that he's consistent, he's honest, he's truthful, and people appreciate what he says. And he's not flip-flopping back and forth or just saying what you want to hear. And that's one of the downsides of him, is that he tells the truth and sometimes the truth is kind of boring. We have to talk about fiscal policy," Yarrington said. Paul "has principles, he sticks by them."

We also ran into one voter who wrote in the name of President Obama on the GOP ballot. "I don't want no Republicans in there," said a retiree named George from Manchester. "After eight years of Cheney and Bush, that's enough to learn a lesson."

Bob Kruger, pastor of a church in Bedford, said he voted for Rick Santorum after watching Saturday night's debate and admiring the way Santorum fended off attacks from Ron Paul. Iran is big voting issue for Kruger.

"I think our next president is going to have to stare that right in the eyes," he said. "I'm not looking for bravado or anything like that, I just want somebody who's straight up and honest. None of the others are." Santorum, he said, "was quite convincing."

In Bedford, Pamela Richards said she voted for Mitt Romney. "I like somebody moderate, and I like somebody who could beat Barack Obama," said Richards, an independent voter who tends to vote Republican. "I try to have an open mind and not be on one side or the other."

Neal, a bartender from Manchester, told us he voted for Jon Huntsman. He, too, had just decided in the past few days. He wasn't sure Huntsman has a real chance of winning, he said, "but of all the options available to me, I'm happier with that one."

We'll see what the rest of the New Hampshire primary voters thought when polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Ari Shapiro has been one of the hosts of All Things Considered, NPR's award-winning afternoon newsmagazine, since 2015. During his first two years on the program, listenership to All Things Considered grew at an unprecedented rate, with more people tuning in during a typical quarter-hour than any other program on the radio.
You're most likely to find NPR's Don Gonyea on the road, in some battleground state looking for voters to sit with him at the local lunch spot, the VFW or union hall, at a campaign rally, or at their kitchen tables to tell him what's on their minds. Through countless such conversations over the course of the year, he gets a ground-level view of American elections. Gonyea is NPR's National Political Correspondent, a position he has held since 2010. His reports can be heard on all NPR News programs and at NPR.org. To hear his sound-rich stories is akin to riding in the passenger seat of his rental car, traveling through Iowa or South Carolina or Michigan or wherever, right along with him.