A Day on the Trail with Dan Quayle

In his fifth visit to New Hampshire in 1999, former vice president Quayle put in a full 12-hour day, starting with a coffee at State Rep. Sandy Reeves' house in Manchester and finishing with a well organized town hall meeting in Deerfield.  Other stops included an appearance on the Dan Pierce Show, a radio call-in show favored by Republican presidential candidates, a morning visit to the New Life Home for Women and Children, a faith-based residential drug/alcohol treatment program in Manchester, and afternoon visit to Pleasant View Retirement in Concord.  Quayle also announced the endorsement of State Rep. Fran Wendleboe, who had left the Dole campaign a month earlier.  Former governor John Sununu and 1996 GOP gubernatorial nominee accompanied Quayle throughout much of the day as he espoused his core themes of values, foreign policy and reducing taxes.

This trip came the day after Texas Gov. George Bush wrapped up his much-hyped inaugural campaign trip to the state.  (Reeves, who hosted the morning coffee for Quayle, said she was "very smitten" after seeing Gov. Bush speak at the Lilac Luncheon a couple of days earlier; she had also hosted a coffee for Congressman John Kasich a month earlier).  Stumping in the wake of the Bush visit, Quayle sought to define the race as a choice "between who the establishment wants and who the conservative candidate is."  "I'll be the conservative candidate," he said.  "When the establishment picks the candidate, when the establishment runs the campaign, we lose.  And when it's the conservative, we win," Quayle declared, citing Republican defeats in 1976, 1992 and 1996.  "It's time that we win the White House again," he said.