Sixteen Harvard students joined more than 250 other volunteers in John Kerry’s campaign’s “Extreme Canvass” weekend, which hit New Hampshire Saturday to drum up support in advance of the Jan. 27 primary.

The weekend started for nine of the Harvard students at a Dover public school, where Kerry addressed an auditorium of 200 people. The crowd of supporters jumped to their feet and cheered as U.S. Representative Marty Meehan, D-Mass., introduced “John F. Kerry,” conjuring up the image of another Catholic senator from Massachusetts and war hero turned candidate.

The comparison is ubiquitous, even in the campaign office, where a bobblehead doll of John F. Kennedy, sits still in its box. The doll is not dancing yet, but neither is Kerry, who trails Wesley Clark and Howard Dean in the most recent national polls.

But in New Hampshire, Kerry is running second and he took advantage of his home field advantage to make a casual but confident speech to his supporters, touting his foreign policy credentials and outlining his health insurance plan.

The main theme of the speech—and the campaign so far—was the Bush administration’s “arrogant” demeanor in dealing with foreign and domestic policy.

“We should not be opening firehouses in Baghdad and closing them in Brooklyn,” Kerry said, as he shared the stage with half a dozen firefighters in gold and black “Firefighters for Kerry” t-shirts. “Bush’s policies are screwed up.”

The mixed crowd of students, volunteers and older supporters responded well to the speech, rising for a standing ovation when Kerry stressed the need for accountability in the Oval Office. He paced in front of the auditorium as he spoke, without a tie but with a small American flag pin on his blazer’s lapel.

Kerry chided the audience for the dearth of Red Sox hats—only four. His was in the car, he claimed. In fact, Kerry tried to demonstrate his love for the nation by juxtaposing it with his commitment to Red Sox nation.

“Pedro versus Roger. It doesn’t get any better than that and I’m in New Hampshire campaigning my ass off,” he joked. “Let no one doubt where my priorities are.”

But the Red Sox, like the red leaves, seemed a remote concern for many on this sunny, New Hampshire day, as grassroots politics took over the show.

Hitting the Pavement

For Nicholas F. B. Smyth ’05, this was his second time up to New Hampshire this semester. President of Harvard Students for Kerry, and also a Crimson editor, Smyth took his candidate’s message to the streets. “You learn more about politics here than in any class,” Smyth said.

Anna Weisfeiler, ’04-’05, who had also been canvassing last month for Kerry decided to return for more personal reasons.

“If I meet him I’ll say thank you,” she said on the hour and a half drive up to Dover.

Kerry’s Senate office has been helping Weisfeiler and her mother search for her uncle Boris, who was abducted in 1985 while hiking near a Nazi colony in Chile.