Gingrich Cancels NH Headquarters Campaign Stop Due to Security Issues
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AFP/Getty Images(MANCHESTER, N.H.) — The night before the New Hampshire primary, the Newt Gingrich campaign said it canceled a scheduled campaign stop at his Manchester headquarters Monday evening because of security issues.
The small storefront office in the downtown area of the city was surrounded by protesters from the Occupy movement and Ron Paul supporters.
A member of the Occupy protest who carried a megaphone and called himself Vermin Supreme played the “Chicken Dance” song on his loudspeaker and said he was a candidate for president as others members holding Occupy Wall Street signs cheered him on.
The Paul supporters were carrying signs and blasting over a loud speaker the Frank Sinatra song “New York, New York,” replaced with “Ron Paul” lyrics, such as: “I’ll make a brand new start of it, with Ron Paul, Ron Paul.”
There was also a large, lighted projection against the building across the street from the Gingrich headquarters that flashed “Ron Paul 2012” in neon green.
After online chatter began of Gingrich’s absence, Paul supporters tweeted that Gingrich believed Paul supporters were a security threat.
“The good voting public of N.H. is not a threat to Newt Gingrich,” spokesman R.C. Hammond told ABC News.
The Gingrich campaign declined to comment on exactly what the security issue was, only saying that the security team surveyed the scene.
The campaign encouraged volunteers at the headquarters to attend the candidate’s last event of the evening in Concord at the The Draft bar, where Gingrich was planned to eat and watch the BCS College Football National Championship game.
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