The Sign Seen 'Round the World

By now, you probably know Brian Blackden, the former police officer, owner of Pepper Spray Supply in Penacook, and breaking news photographer who sometimes slides fire and police action photos to the Patch now and then. But other times, Blackden is political activist, especially when it comes to 2nd Amendment issues, gun and personal safety advocacy, or backing – or not backing – political candidates.

The New Hampshire first-in-the-nation Primary season is in full throttle with potentially 20 Republican candidates in the race or thinking about it. On the Democratic side, there are some dudes thinking about dipping their toes in but most have shied away from a run because everyone expects the nomination to go to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Blackden, a registered independent, however, as you can imagine, isn’t too thrilled about a “Hillary the Inevitable” nomination and decided to make his thoughts – and fears – known to anyone who wanted to find out, outside of Clinton’s tour of NHTI on Tuesday.

Blackden, standing at the entrance of the school, caught the eye of just about everyone who drove by. He noted that it seemed like more than 100 people took pictures of him while he also received grimaces from Democrats and the Secret Service, which drove up in what is being described as a “Mystery Machine Scoobie Doo van.” He was interviewed by the New York Times, NECN, the Daily Mail in England, Yahoo News, just to name a few. He even has a slot in history with a photo in the Getty Images archives. Blackden and his sign have literally gone viral.

But, what’s the point? Well, it’s New Hampshire, of course, the land of quirky questions and meet-and-greets, especially when it comes to presidential politics.

“(It’s) simply to put pressure on Hillary to start being honest with the country and to stop hindering the press from getting information on her positions,” he said, “and to defend her actions to the voters who are going to be needing the information for an informed election cycle.”

In fact, while most of the national press thought Rand Paul’s roll out was a bit complicated, a check of the local response to Clinton’s first events in Keene and Concord showed similar – if not broader – frustrations with the lack of access to the candidate. Some reporters were shut out of the NHTI event completely; others had to use a pool feed. When Clinton went to meet with Democrats privately in the West End on Monday night, many reporters were standing outside in the rain. Traditionally, everyday Granite Staters get to at least say, “Hi,” and joke about being undecided because they’ve only met the candidate five times; and yes, journalists get to ask questions, too.

The media coverage so far, from Andy Hiller on WHDH-TV, wondering out loud if the candidate really cares about ordinary people, to the Concord Monitor, noting that the low profile has many scratching their heads wondering, why does she want to be president?

That, according to Blackden, is another part of the point.

“The orchestrated events and invite only crowds need to stop,” he said. “It is not the way an election is to be run.”

Caption: Brian Blackden held a lone protest in Concord on April 21, 2015, while Hillary Clinton took a tour of NHTI. Credit: Jeffrey Hastings/Frame of Mind Photography. FrameofMind.com.