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The Pulse: A political tourist's postcard from the New Hampshire primary

Kathleen Moon won't be voting in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, but she's arguably more invested in Granite State politics than most of its residents. The 57-year-old proprietor and chef of Laughing Horse Lodge, a bed-and-breakfast in Swan Lake, Mont., has spent the last month driving from village to village in New Hampshire playing political tourist while getting up-close-and-personal with the presidential candidates. As of the middle of last week, she had seen seven make their pitches.

Kathleen Moon in New Hampshire, where she has been taking advantage of the chance to get up close and personal with the presidential candidates.
Kathleen Moon in New Hampshire, where she has been taking advantage of the chance to get up close and personal with the presidential candidates.Read more

Kathleen Moon won't be voting in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, but she's arguably more invested in Granite State politics than most of its residents. The 57-year-old proprietor and chef of Laughing Horse Lodge, a bed-and-breakfast in Swan Lake, Mont., has spent the last month driving from village to village in New Hampshire playing political tourist while getting up-close-and-personal with the presidential candidates. As of the middle of last week, she had seen seven make their pitches.

Among her highlights: She buttonholed Carly Fiorina for three minutes at a house party with fewer than 50 guests in Exeter, watched Gov. Christie work his town-hall magic with 120 others in Hopkinton, and was among 1,200 at a Donald Trump rally in Farmington.

Still, this self-described "passionate centrist" has no favorite candidate. But as Montana doesn't vote until June 7, she's in no hurry, taking full advantage of the "very easy" access to so many candidates stumping in such a small state.

The chef's personal litmus test? Whether she would have any of them over for dinner.

"I've been a Republican all my life but in crisis for the last 20 years as the party has separated from what I think it should be," she told me. "I need to answer whether I'm going to keep saying, 'I am a Republican' and then apologize for it. . . . Plus, I love this whole democratic experiment."

Moon finds that some candidates and events are not the same in person as on television. At Farmington High School, she found Trump "boring": "I don't think he even knew where he was."

Her experience at Trump's event led to an epiphany: "The other times I have seen this kind of energy? Las Vegas. At the craps table, when a stranger is on a roll and the money is pouring in and the crowd keeps growing, wanting to be part of the win or the loss - a feeling that if you can just be near enough to the person, some of that fortune will rub off."

She had a more positive reaction to ex-CEO Fiorina.

"She spoke for several minutes and was surprisingly bright, intelligent, and warm in a way that does not come across on TV," Moon said. "She was much less strident than her debate persona. She spoke candidly about her issues - none social - and was actually progressive on finance and technology. I didn't have a sense of [her being] presidential but think she would be an excellent devil's advocate in the cabinet. I would have her to dinner."

She got a similar vibe from Hillary Clinton despite a larger setting. At the Rochester Opera House for a rally of about 600, Moon felt Clinton "knew what was going on in the audience."

"She was refreshingly natural in the unscripted moments and showed sincere compassion for the disenfranchised," Moon said. "She had a very 'Bill' ability of making you feel she's talking directly to and with you. Yes to dinner."

Christie also scored points, perhaps in part because Moon asked a question about entitlement reform that elicited a seven-minute response.

"He was exceptional, had strong opinions but, more importantly, shared how he has come to those positions, giving me an understanding of his value systems," she said. "Quick-witted, funny. No pandering, no fearmongering, pragmatic. . . . Presidential and commander in chief? Yes."

Another establishment hopeful she questioned was John Kasich. Moon remains favorably disposed toward the Ohio governor despite not getting a direct answer to an inquiry about Dodd-Frank.

"Kasich was free-form, nuanced, and moderate," she said. "No pandering, and a fatherly teacher when the questioner was ignorant. . . . He has a slouch that makes him appear to be leaning in, increasing the sense that he is truly interested in what you are saying. I would have him to dinner."

At an event for more than 100 at the Governor's Inn in Rochester, she caught up with Jeb Bush.

"Overall impression was of a rural country preacher reading from Leviticus when he would rather speak to the Sermon on the Mount," she said. "I feel that this was a 'handled' Bush and so didn't get a real sense of the man. I wouldn't have him to dinner."

At Robie's Country Store in Hooksett, Moon posed the following to Ted Cruz: "I am an undecided, passionate centrist, nonbeliever, small-business owner who has had cancer. Can you be my president?" She said he replied to the small-business part, passed on the health care, ignored the religion, and said yes. While the Texas senator's politics don't square with hers, Moon came away favorably disposed toward the winner of the Iowa caucuses.

"If I know where you are coming from, we don't have to agree," she said. "He didn't come across as harsh as on TV."

Finally, the jury is still out on Marco Rubio. Moon first saw the Florida senator at a rally in Exeter where his vitriol toward President Obama bothered her. But then, realizing her negative first impression could have been the result of "too many lobster indulgences," she decided to give him another shot the following morning at a town hall in Bow.

"Still too smooth for me," she concluded. "Even his passion is choreographed. And you can only tell your family story so many times. He didn't change my mind . . . but I don't think he'd burn books."

Wherever her postcard from New Hampshire leads, Moon sees a happy ending for America.

"What makes me hopeful," she said, "is that I know that on Nov. 9 . . . there will be no rioting, no killings, no military coups, no martial law declared because one candidate didn't get elected. And that is a very good thing."

Michael Smerconish can be heard from 9 a.m. to noon on SiriusXM's POTUS Channel 124 and seen hosting "Smerconish" at 9 a.m. Saturdays on CNN.