ROCHESTER, N.H. (Jan. 8) — With voters at the polls today, Robert Tingle of Westerly, R.I., and Scott Bill Hirst of Ashaway, R.I., are seeing the results of their hard work.
“We’re up here to do whatever we can to help out,” said Tingle.
Both Tingle and Hirst arrived in Concord, N.H., on Monday to help with the final campaign efforts for Republican nomination hopeful, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. They will be in New Hampshire through today’s voting.
The two have been doing what Tingle described as “grunt work” for the Huckabee campaign. They have been carrying signs and making phone calls to help bring out voters.
Tingle, a pit boss at Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Ledyard, Conn., is a 10-year veteran of Republican politics. He ran as the GOP candidate from Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District against Rep. Jim Langevin in 2000 and for U.S. Senate against Sen. Jack Reed in 2002.
Tingle was a supporter of Arizona Sen. John McCain during the primaries in 2000 and attended the Republican National Convention as his delegate. When he saw Huckabee doing well in straw polls last August, he began to do some research.
“The more I saw, the more I liked,” said Tingle. He supports Huckabee for his strong positions on abolishing the IRS, supporting the right to bear arms and being pro-life. But when he met Huckabee in person, he recalled, he connected with Huckabee’s appeal to the working class.
“He can relate to the average blue-collar person in a way that none of the other Republican candidates can,” he said.
Tingle made his first trip to New Hampshire in October to witness Huckabee filing for candidacy in the New Hampshire primaries. This is his fifth trip.
Periklis Karoutas, field manager for the Huckabee campaign in New Hampshire, praised Tingle as helpful in New Hampshire. In their first encounter, Karoutas said, Tingle walked into the campaign office and told him: “I just want to help.”
Hirst, of Ashaway, served on the Hopkinton Town Council from 1996 to 2004. He’s now on the Ashaway Board of Fire Commissioners. He is considers himself a political historian, he said, and belongs to the American Political Items Collectors. Hirst is now unemployed. But he worked at defense contractor Electric Boat in Groton, Conn., for 15 years.
Hirst has worked in GOP politics since he voted in the Republican primary of 1972. He has gone to every Republican National Convention since 1988, except for in 2000. He was originally a Giuliani supporter, Hirst said. But he began to follow Huckabee after Tingle talked him into accompanying him for two trips to New Hampshire.
Hirst supports Huckabee because of what Hirst sees as his sense of compassion. For example, Hirst said, Huckabee would pardon someone who has made a foolish mistake in their past. He doubted that
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, another contender for the Republican nomination, would do the same, Hirst said.
“You’ve got to have a sense of compassion in reaching out to people,” Hirst said.
In Rochester Monday night, Tingle and Hirst cheered on Huckabee at his rally at the American Legion. The two came see Huckabee, and celebrity guest, Chuck Norris, speak and sample some local chili. They said planned to return to the Huckabee headquarters in Concord to help out after the event.
This trip is both Tingle’s and Hirst’s first time experiencing the excitement of the New Hampshire primary first-hand. Both say that are enthralled by the political spectacle.
“This is good, honest American-pie democracy,” Tingle said. “Being part of that is just wonderful.”
For, Hirst, an enthusiastic political historian, being in New Hampshire is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. “I love it,” he said. “I’m a political junkie.”
(Liam Migdail-Smith, a magazine sophomore, is covering the New Hampshire primaries for The Westerly Sun.)
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