New Hampshire residents flock to the capital

MondayWrap

New Hampshire Union Leader

Jillian Jorgensen and Aoife Connors

Boston University Washington News Service

Jan. 19, 2009

WASHINGTON--When she was young, Nicole Fellian was overjoyed when she was allowed to stay up late to watch the results of the 1992 election between Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. Now, 16 years later, the Hopkinton resident who stayed up late to watch the political process unfold will get to watch it firsthand at the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

“It’s definitely something historic that I’ll be able to tell my grandchildren about it,” Fellian, 28, a law student at Franklin Pierce University, said while she waited in line Monday outside the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington to pick up tickets from the office of Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.

Thousands of New Hampshire residents converged on the capital this week to witness the historic swearing-in of the nation’s 44th president.

“The day after the election, I e-mailed Sen. Gregg,” Fellian said. “It wasn’t a second thought. If we could get tickets, we were coming.”

Meanwhile, 200 New Hampshire residents, expatriates and the full congressional delegation gathered at the New Hampshire State Society’s inaugural reception Monday night at the Willard InterContinental Hotel.

“This is a fulfillment of the American dream,” Sen. Gregg said. “It is a restatement of the American creed that for people with mobility and talent, the opportunities are limitless in this nation.”

Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., said, “It’s absolutely tremendous that New Hampshire is alive and well in D.C. I think that folks feel sober about the challenges we face, and hopeful and optimistic that the Congress and the new administration are ready to tackle those challenges.”

Earlier on Monday, outside the office of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Ken Goodrow, 46, and his son Stephen, 17, from Plainfield, waited to pass through security and pick up their tickets.

“It’s ridiculously exciting and utterly amazing to be here, and that’s as close as I can come to describing it,” Stephen Goodrow said.

As people arrived to pick up tickets from Shaheen’s office, the senator spoke with reporters about the inauguration and the issues to be addressed by the Senate.

“It’s exciting. It’s nice to see so many people here from New Hampshire,” Shaheen said. 

People entering her office, she said, were expressing excitement at being in Washington “with a new president and how exciting it is to be here in the office, where we have a new senator, a Democratic senator for the first time in almost 35 years elected from New Hampshire.”

But Shaheen said there was also work to be done on issues including the staggering economy, health care and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Allison Browne, an African-American mother of three from Plymouth, arrived in Washington on Saturday to be part of the inauguration celebrations. 

“What is so interesting at this time is that, as a parent, you tell your children they can be anything they want to be, but now you can actually see past the boundaries,” Browne said. “Since the inauguration of Obama, three different people have said to me out of the blue; wow your sons could be president some day.”

“I really admire Obama; his words are very powerful,” said her son, Alexander, 11. “He has a lot of confidence when he speaks and he believes in what he’s saying.”

Teresa and Jim Gocha, also from Plymouth, brought their three children to Washington to celebrate Obama’s victory. 

When Margaret Gocha, 9, from Plymouth, heard that she would be going to the inauguration, she expected to be staying at the White House with Sasha and Malia Obama. When her parents explained that they won’t be allowed, she threw her hands in the air and said, “Well, what’s the point in even going then?”

Margaret met Michelle Obama before the primaries last year.  Her mother recalled that “Ms Obama knelt down and said ‘Hello, beautiful girl.’”

Margaret campaigned for Obama with her friend Bella in New Hampshire.  “We made signs saying ‘One Vote Counts’ and ‘Go Barack Obama,’ and my mom made Obama cupcakes.’”

Outside Hodes’ office, Jean Cowan, 57, and her husband, Bob Cowan, 61, from Concord waited eagerly for the tickets and reflected on the meaning of the big event.

“I was a child of the sixties. To me, there is a complete cycle here,” Jean Cowan said. “And a big breakthrough of racial barriers.”

Among many New Hampshire residents waiting in line, there was a desire to not just watch the inauguration, but to be a part of the historic moment.

“I want to hear the speech and I want to see the people. I want to be part of that gathering,” Bob Cowan said.

###