December 3, 1999
Web posted at: 1:43 p.m. EST (1843 GMT)

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Meet Lobsterman, former Canadian professional wrestler, big bald guy in an Elvis-esque cape, wearer of foam rubber lobster claws over his hands.

Lobsterman's got a big voice amplified further by a good public address system, and he's got a van. He's also got a neat little piece of hardware that lets him show videos of himself on a red brick wall near the television studio where Republican presidential candidates gathered for a candidate forum Thursday night.

And he, too, seeks the GOP nomination in 2000. However, was not invited to join the other candidates in Tuesday night's forum. "I am Lobsterman! Other candidates fear me!" he shouts into the PA to no one in particular, in true pro wrestler style.

It's Lobsterman's time. The early debate season in a presidential year is like spring training in baseball -- everyone hopes to make the team and everyone can scrap for a little attention. The sheer velocity of the number of candidates, staffers, volunteers, publicity-seekers and journalists who show up for a major early campaign event -- such as Thursday night's GOP candidate forum in New Hampshire -- inevitably triggers a series of vignettes.

John McCain's supporters -- hundreds of them -- are chanting his name and waving placards in the New Hampshire night. They're waiting for McCain's arrival at the candidate forum, and the sighting of his bus drives them into a frenzy.

"Gimme an 'M'!" a McCain supporter with a bullhorn yells repeatedly, triggering a cheer-by-spelling drill. (People who join in late get confused by the two 'c's in the middle of McCain's name). McCain is clearly moved by all the support. He walks over the crowd, which gives him a sort of group hug, and then walks back across the street toward the television studio.

As he heads for the studio entrance, he is ambush-interviewed in grand style by a crew from the Comedy Central cable network. "Senator McCain! Senator McCain! Can we have our picture taken with you?" screams a faux reporter who, like his crew, is wearing a tan jacket with the words "Indecision 2000" printed on the back.

"Sure," McCain replies. Members of the crew actually yell, "Woo hoo!" as they jump over a piece of police tape and join the candidate. Video is taken for posterity -- and presumably, for "The Daily Show" -- the network's daily news satire program.

As the group talk, a truck goes by, pulling a billboard on a trailer. "In your 20s? Immigration will double the U.S. population in your lifetime," the billboard states. It then lists a Web site where people can obtain more information.

Lobsterman watches all of this from a nearby spot. "Look at the people on that McCain bus converting to Lobsterism," he says.

During the forum, candidates who speak beyond their allotted time are given a subtle reminder to wrap up their thoughts. A bell rings -- not just any bell, but a chime that sounds exactly like the kind that is traditionally mounted on bicycle handlebars.

After the debate, an aide to publisher Steve Forbes commented on the event. "It was a great forum, but you have to get that guy with the bell out of there," he said, laughing.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), an influential senator in Washington but near the bottom of the polls in New Hampshire, got a reminder of that Thursday. After finishing the forum by suggesting the candidates should travel by bus together in Iowa and New Hampshire, holding debates as they go, Hatch walked up to a podium in a nearby press filing center to answer questions from reporters.

He stood at a podium. And waited. And waited a bit more.

Nearby, perhaps a dozen reporters flocked around Karen Hughes, the longtime spokeswoman for Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Their backs were turned away from Hatch. It was perhaps half a minute before reporters realized he was at the podium and began asking questions.

McCain on his temper: "If you have enough cameras on me, I'll have a temper tantrum."

McCain on his temper: "A comment like that really makes me mad."

McCain, asked whether his temper cost him support among Arizona elected officials: "Thanks for asking. Ha ha ha ha."

It had to be frustrating for McCain that so many of the questions from the forum's moderators -- Manchester station WMUR's Karen Brown and Fox News anchor Brit Hume -- focused so much on the issue, and that reporters immediately asked him about it after the forum. He was asked about it from several different angles -- the direct one, ("What about concerns about your temper?"), the indirect one, ("Are you concerned about your support from Arizona politicians?"), and the really indirect one, ("What about reports of a so-called 'whispering campaign' in the Senate about your temper and your fitness for office?")

As part of an apparent inoculation campaign on that front, McCain brought in two Republican senators to talk to reporters for him -- Tennessee's Fred Thompson, once rumored as a presidential candidate himself in this cycle, and Nebraska's Chuck Hagel. They spent the night assuring anyone who asked that McCain was, indeed, a good guy.

"The American public can still pick up things about people," said Hagel. "John McCain is a fine man and he always does best in a question-and-answer forum."

Talk about debate prep -- Bush repeated the points about the size of Texas' economy (if it was a separate nation, Texas would have the world's third-largest gross domestic product, Bush said) and his plans about international policy (inevitably, the word "leadership" popped up) so often that they began to sound mantra-like.

Forbes talked about the evils of Washington, and how too many people in Washington were interested in such arcane issues as budget scoring, and how people in Washington wanted to ruin Social Security, and the general sin and perdition of the city in which he would live if elected. "Hard-working Americans" got a few shout-outs from Forbes as well.

It didn't take Forbes' campaign long to put out the news that he would be endorsed Friday by the Manchester Union Leader newspaper. Although the newspaper has toned down its vitriolic editorial tone over the years, as the Loeb family that has controlled the paper for decades pulls away from its heavy involvement, it still took some fairly strong shots at Forbes' competitors in the endorsement editorial.

Bush was called an "empty suit," keeping up the newspaper's long tradition of annoying presidential candidates with that particular family surname. McCain, the editorial assured readers, "could finish a strong second, in the Democrats' race."

Forbes called a news conference for Friday morning to talk about the endorsement, and it does pull weight at times -- the Union Leader's endorsement of Pat Buchanan in 1996 often is cited as a recent example. But the newspaper's 1988 endorsement of a fabulously wealthy, business-oriented candidate -- Pierre "Pete" DuPont -- didn't exactly throw momentum behind that particular campaign.

Friday, December 3, 1999

• Forbes raises questions about Bush's past; Texas governor calls for 'clean' campaign
• Appeals court judge questions court assignment rule
• Clinton raises money for outgoing Philadelphia mayor
• Analysis: The GOP debate
• Quick takes from the GOP candidates' forum
• Sen. Wellstone, two NH state senators scold Gore for 'distortion'
• Democrats make sport of Republicans before cameras start rolling
• Gore continues focus on Bradley
• Hillary Clinton names campaign manager

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