WEIRS BEACH - Pat Buchanan leans his head out of the caboose window and into the brilliant sun to watch the lakeside homes pass by. He scans the sights, back and forth, on the lookout for folks to greet. While the train rolls along, the balloons tied to the train flutter and whip at the tree branches.
A shirtless young man standing in a driveway glances up at the tracks and reacts slowly to the train-riding politician, who is all smiles.
"One constituent just waved," Buchanan jokes to his aides, "record it!"
Inside the tiny cupola, the Republican presidential candidate - who embarrassed George Bush in the 1992 New Hampshire primary and defeated Bob Dole in 1996, who made a career as the angry conservative pundit slicing and dicing his liberal counterparts on a show called Crossfire, who suffers no fools, especially in his own party - is simply enjoying the ride.
"That's what I did for a living - argue with people," he jovially tells a voter outside the Meredith train station. "Very noisy character."
But today, in khakis, a navy polo shirt and a loud red, white and blue "USA" baseball cap, Buchanan doesn't rattle. He's headed to Weirs Beach on the local tourist railroad with his wife, Shelley, seated across from him and a small assortment of aides, journalists and well-wishers dotting the caboose, which his campaign rented for a photo opportunity.
It's the day after the Fourth of July, when he racked up a win at a picnic/straw poll in Hopkinton, and while he has the bullhorn and the patriotic bunting waving from his train, this whistle stop tour is a breezy, low-key affair. Buchanan takes in the scenery with little-kid appreciation and takes to the people he meets along the way like a natural.
This may be Buchanan's first trip on the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad, but it's his third time on the primary ride. And he announced back in March - none of this feigned waiting-for-an-exploratory committee hi jinks.
Gov. George W. Bush's splashy lead in the polls and his money-raking prowess don't even make Buchanan raise his voice. He's seen it all before, he says.
"Three months ago Mrs. Dole was leading in the polls," Buchanan recalls, from his upstairs seat in the caboose. "In 1991, President Bush had a 91 percent approval rating. Gov. Bush's numbers will come down to the normal range by the fall. This is going to be a battle by February, just as it was the last time."
Bush's bursting purse strings of $36 million? Publisher Steve Forbes has more, Buchanan points out. Those other Republican candidates - all 11 of them? There were lots in 1996, too, Buchanan says.
"It'll be sorted out," he assures, "as the last time."
From down below, a mustached man in a tank top and shorts calls up to Buchanan: "Let's kick ass," the man says. "Get rid of the Democrats."
Buchanan listens to the sudden visitor. "You're going to be directly quoted," he kids, referring to a nearby reporter. The supporter adds a brief commentary on how cancer is linked to the environment before leaving as quickly as he appeared. Buchanan says nothing. He glances back out the window.
Someone hands him a pristine Time magazine issue from February 1996, which a train rider wants him to autograph. The cover illustration is Buchanan, wearing a work shirt and hard hat, at the forefront of a group that includes Bob Dole, George Bush and an animated caricature of Steve Forbes. "The Grand Old Populists," the cover line declares. Buchanan holds the magazine, considering the dramatic image of himself. "It's one of the nicest covers," he says, "and stories, I think."
When the train pulls into the Weirs, Buchanan makes a casual entrance. Instead of a speech from the caboose's platform, he takes to the boards, where dozens swirl about him.
"That's Pat Buchanan, he's running for president," a woman tells her tiny daughter. "Can you say, 'Go, Pat Buchanan?' "
Friendly and laid-back, Buchanan shakes hands, poses for snapshots and hands out some campaign cards for interested voters.
"You'll get mail from my sister for the rest of your life," Buchanan tells one woman who wants to fill one out. He tells a questioner the nation has enough gun control laws. "There should be no guns allowed in any school yard," he says.
Catherine O'Brien, who summers in the Lakes Region, says she is impressed with Buchanan. "I think he's sort of a true blue person," she says, after meeting him. "He didn't bail out with Richard Nixon. He stayed with him until the end."
Richard and Sue DuBois of Hanover brought their twin teenage sons and 19-year-old daughter - all Pat fans - down to see Buchanan. They held Buchanan 2000 placards as the caboose arrived.
"The best thing about him is he's very dynamic," says Todd DuBois, 17, a voracious newspaper reader and C-SPAN viewer who hopes to cast his first presidential vote for Buchanan next year. "He knows how to lead, and he approaches things with good common sense."
As he gets ready to board the caboose, Buchanan reaches for a few more hands and apologizes to a young, tattooed father behind a stroller. "Sorry we're crowding you," Buchanan says, shaking the father's hand.
Back on board, Buchanan peers out of the cupola's window and grins at a news photographer. "Did you not get enough pictures?"
The boardwalk bustles on as Buchanan waves goodbye from above. A woman aims her Camcorder his way. Two men walk by and look over.
"He's Pat," one says to his buddy, "and he's running for president."
