NORTH CONWAY, N.H. | Democratic presidential candidate Deval Patrick had the campaign trail almost to himself Monday in New Hampshire but still struggled to win over voters in this key primary battleground.
He is among a handful of Democratic hopefuls who skipped the kickoff caucuses in Iowa and dream of becoming the Cinderella story in round two in the nominating race next week in New Hampshire.
Mr. Patrick, a former Massachusetts governor, received a smattering of applause from the lunch crowd at a senior center when he spoke of the need to restore the country’s sense of community.
“There are certain things that require us, if we are going to build a better tomorrow, to turn to each other rather than on each other,” he said in brief remarks to the roughly 45 people eating lunch at the Gibson Center for Senior Services.
The lunch often draws larger crowds, especially when the center serves ham. The chef tried out a new entre, Creole spaghetti, which may have scared off some of the usual attendees, according to the staff at the center.
Mr. Patrick went table to table after his speech and engaged in the retail politics that is the hallmark of campaigning in New Hampshire.
He talked up his claim to proven leadership that would restore America’s standing on the world stage and end the partisan stalemate in Washington.
“We have to replace the division and discord with bridge-building,” he said. “I don’t believe you have to hate Republicans to be a good Democrat.”
While better-known candidates were competing in the Iowa caucuses, he made five stops across New Hampshire, including at the senior center in this village nestled in the forests and mountains near Mt. Washington.
He was on a six-day bus tour, covering 1,000 miles with stops at more than 20 events. He appeared to connect with people at the lunch, but was he picking up votes?
“He’s late to the game,” said Lewis Soares, 77, a retired firefighter who planned to vote in the Democratic primary Feb. 11.
Another late entry in the race, billionaire Michael R. Bloomberg, sat out Iowa and plans to skip the nominating contests in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. But he is spending his fortune on TV ads that have him climbing in the polls.
Mr. Soares said he enjoyed the conversation with Mr. Patrick at the lunch. But he was still thinking about voting for Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, another presidential candidate who skipped Iowa.
The Patrick campaign is banking on undecided voters breaking for him.
Mr. Patrick, Ms. Gabbard and Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado are the most prominent candidates betting big on New Hampshire.
Despite concentrating their campaigns on the state, Mr. Patrick and Mr. Bennet barely register in the polls here. They each got 1% in an NBC News/Marist survey late last month.
The same candidates top the polls in New Hampshire as in national surveys. Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, who won the New Hampshire primary in 2016, leads in most polls, followed by former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
A series of campaign stunts paid off with rising polls numbers for Ms. Gabbard, who is running on an anti-war platform.
She went surfing on New Year’s Day in the frigid Atlantic Ocean off Hampton. She drew a crowd last week at a “Snowboard with Tulsi” event at Cranmore Mountain Resort in North Conway.
She’s running in seventh place with 5% of the vote in the Real Clear Politics average of recent New Hampshire polls.
Mr. Patrick dismissed the polls.
“The polls have been wrong. Why is it we keep turning to polls that told us the president was going to be somebody else last time,” he said when The Washington Times asked about his long-shot status. “The polls told us I wasn’t going to be governor the first or the second time. So don’t ask me about polls.”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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