He doesn’t have single selfie to prove it but Bruce Schoenfeld says has met — or shaken hands with — all of the presidential candidates traveling through New Hampshire. Since 1988. Well, almost all; Schoenfeld is three handshakes short this year.
“Traditionally how do you meet someone? You shake their hand,” said Schoenfeld, a Boulder, Colorado resident, who says you can tell a lot about a person from their eye contact. “I don’t want to be standing next to them — I want to be looking them in the eye.”
Schoenfeld and a friend first traveled to New Hampshire in 1988 hoping to meet one or two candidates but immediately started to meet all of them.
“We’ve gone every time since and each time we say, ‘Oh it’s going to be hard I don’t know if we’re going to be able to do it’ and each time we manage to do it,” said Schoenfeld of his quest to shake every candidate’s hand ahead of each New Hampshire Primary.
The last week or so of campaigning brings perfect conditions — candidates crisscrossing each other on the way to events in close proximity in a small state.
During his trip to New Hampshire in early February this year, Schoenfeld was able to meet all of the remaining presidential candidates except Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Jim Gilmore. Even though Schoenfeld is a Democrat, he still seeks handshakes from Republicans.
“Every candidate, regardless of their ideology, after you meet them we often walk away saying, ‘I love her or I love him,'” said Schoenfeld. “I always say it’s like the student council president times a thousand. They have charisma — they got this far for a reason.”
Who left an impression in 2016?
“Marco was great, — great eye contact. Hillary last night — tremendous eye contact,” said Schoenfeld. He also said the former secretary of state’s handshake has improved since the last election.
“Bernie Sanders is a phenomenon, there’s nobody like him. He’s so much like he is on TV so he was great.”
Schoenfeld’s 15-year-old son Teddy now joins in on the campaign trail, although he’s behind his father for the year after barely missing a handshake with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz because he was stuck in the middle of a crowd.
“It’s nice to have a one-on-one experience because you can have that for the rest of your life,” said Teddy. “A selfie’s just a picture.”
“We’ve met the next president here — except if it’s Trump, Carson or Gilmore,” said Schoenfeld.
