Now that the Iowa caucus is over, the candidates are moving on to New Hampshire. For the owners of one Greek diner in the city of Manchester, NH, it means that things will be very busy. You see, the Merrimack restaurant is where candidates go for their on-air cameos:
Bill Richardson will be the first one to show up for his cameo, at 9 a.m. The main draw of the day, Hillary Clinton, reserved the lunch hour for her visit to the Merrimack Restaurant, where fish and chips is the Friday special. As always. Connie Farr and Maria Saitas have owned this place with the brick-red banquettes and Formica counters for 27 years and have been a quadrennial part of the presidential process all along. “Fox will be in the back room,” Maria informs her sister, as anxious network advance people listen in. “Charlie Gibson has got the front, and it will be fine without anyone bumping into each other,” she says.
For the record, Gary Hart started the tradition of dining at the Merrimack in 1984 when he set up his headquarters above the restaurant. Connie and maria’s favorite eater among all the politicians? Bill Clinton. He stopped by two months ago, said he was on a diet and ordered the chicken fingers and onion rings.
In Manchester, N.H., a Diner Serves the Candidates Over Easy [Washington Post]
[Image via WaPo]
