Todd Palin revs up crowd in Fremont

Todd Palin made a guest appearance today at the annual New Hampshire Snowmobile Grass Drags and Water Crossing competition in Fremont.
Just in case you've forgotten the name, Todd is known in Alaska as the "first dude" ... he's the husband of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
Anyhow, he got a warm welcome from many of the racers and fans who turned out for the big event. He wouldn't take any questions from the press, but trust me, we tried. Secret Service people were everywhere, along with lots of his campaign people who made sure we didn't ask anything, especially about the Troopergate scandal involving him and his wife.
All in all, it was a good time. Todd loves snowmobiles, so he seemed to be heaven.
Here's the story I wrote for the New Hampshire Sunday News:

By Jason Schreiber
Sunday News Correspondent
FREMONT - Surrounded by hundreds of snowmobiles and the sound of roaring engines, Todd Palin was in his element.
He may be the husband of a vice presidential candidate, but he didn’t look like one yesterday.
“He’s a blue collar guy,” John Stevens of Newmarket said after Palin took a moment to autograph his program guide.
Stevens was among the crowd of snowmobile fans who were revved up when Palin visited the New Hampshire Snowmobile Association’s annual Grass Drags and Water Crossing competition at the Brookvale Farm. In his first stop in New Hampshire since his wife, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, became the Republican vice presidential nominee, Todd Palin spent yesterday morning chatting with racers, checking out the newest sleds and watching snowmobilers race across grass and water.
The event was Palin’s only stop in New Hampshire before heading off to campaign in Maine later in the day.
Palin’s visit set the stage for his wife, who is expected to make her first campaign swing in New Hampshire next Wednesday.
A champion snowmobile racer in Alaska, Palin, 44, was comfortable with this racing crowd in his blue jeans and black Tesoro Iron Dog jacket. Before the races began, Palin briefly address the crowd and urged support for his wife and Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.
He said he and his wife have toured the country, listening to the concerns and hopes of Americans.
“One thing is for sure,” Palin said, “voters across America from here in New Hampshire all the way to Alaska are looking for change in how business is done in Washington, and I can say I can’t blame them.”
Palin kept his remarks short because his visit was hardly about talking politics. He was more interested in hanging out with snowmobilers and learning about their cool machines.
Scott Allaire showed Palin the new Arctic Cat line up. Palin told Allaire what he liked and didn’t like about the machine he rode last year in Alaska’s Iron Dog, the world’s longest snowmobile race.
Palin was joined yesterday by his Alaskan buddy Martin Buser, a four-time champion of the Iditarod dog sled race, along with New Hampshire Sen. John E. Sununu.
He took no questions from reporters who trailed behind him every step of the way, even as he grabbed his sausage grinder from the Weare Winter Wanderers' concession stand.
Palin didn’t respond when asked for his reaction to a legislative investigator’s report released Friday that found his wife violated Alaska’s state ethics laws and abused her power as governor by trying to have her ex-bother-in-law fired as a state trooper. Gov. Palin has denied any wrongdoing.
There was no talk of the Troopergate scandal yesterday. Snowmobile fans cared more about the fact that Palin seemed like a “down to earth guy. They said they were glad to see someone campaigning who could relate to their way of life and the sport they love.
“I don’t think he would have been campaigning here if he wasn’t an enthusiast. He’s an outdoors’ guy,” said Allaire, 36, of Essex, Vt., who works as a district sales manager for Arctic Cat.
Palin picked a good event to hit as the crowd seemed largely Republican, though some in the crowd didn't know who he was. "Todd who?" was the response from a few spectators when asked for their reaction to his visit.
While there were some Democrats sprinkled in here and there, even they were leaning toward the Republican ticket this year.
Loyal Democrat Elaine Shuler, 60, of East Kingston, said she’ll be voting Republican this year for the first time.
Shuler said she was excited to meet Palin at the snowmobile drags, a sport she knew nothing about until she researched it online and saw it firsthand yesterday.
Carroll Higgins, 64, of Rochester, had his New England Patriots’ hat signed by Palin. He’s a registered Democrat, but this year he’s likely to vote for McCain.
Higgins, who has no health insurance and recently retired after losing his job at a company that makes car parts, said he just doesn’t trust Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama.
McCain’s decision to add Sarah Palin to the Republican ticket was a smart move, he said.
“She brought a breath of fresh air to the campaign,” Higgins said during his first visit to the grass drags.
Tim Leonard, 46, of Newmarket, is a registered Independent and is leaning toward McCain.
“I’m an avid snowmobiler like (Palin) and I can relate to him. He’s the type of guy that if you had a question you could ask him on a blue collar level and not get any BS,” Leonard said.

Get spooked at Haunted Acres

If you're looking for some frightening fun, you've gotta check out the Haunted Acres Halloween-theme park behind New England Dragway on Route 27 in Epping.

The place is absolutely incredible, if you like being scared out of your mind!

I went there tonight and, man, it was pretty frightening, but so much fun. They have dozens of actors who follow you around, popping out from every dark corner. The park has two haunted houses, a maze from hell, and a 1/4-mile nightmare walk. It is so well done, and the actors are fantastic.

It's definitely the most impressive haunted place I've ever seen. Just a word of caution: Don't bring the kids.

Check out their Web site, http://www.hauntedacresnh.com/.

I wrote a funny atory about a boat that was pulled from the dumped and used as a prop at the place. Here's the story for your reading pleasure.

EPPING - An unwanted speedboat dumped at the Epping landfill has found a new home deep in the spooky woods of Haunted Acres.

After learning about the boat sitting in a heap at the town dump, Haunted Acres co-owner John Tracy decided to put the boat to use in a pirate scene at his Halloween-themed park set up in a wooded area at the back of New England Dragway.

“They were glad to get rid of it,” Tracy said of the landfill workers who planned to simply bulldoze over the boat to bury it along with another boat and other trash.

Tracy stumbled across the boat after mentioning to a town employee that he was on the hunt for a boat to be used in a pirate scene. The worker told him about the boats at the landfill, so he went to take a look a couple of weeks ago.

The boat was pulled from the pile of trash and hauled over to Haunted Acres where it was covered with wooden planks and made to resemble a pirate shipwreck, complete with a large canon that fires puffs of fog as frightened visitors pass by.

“It’s actually a really cool scene at night,” Tracy said.

The shipwreck is now one of the newest features at the large theme park, which is set in an 1860s Western ghost town and includes haunted houses, a maze and a walk filled with frightening encounters.

Robert Gaucher, 19, of Newmarket, helped build the shipwreck scene and said it was his favorite at the park this year. When the fiberglass boat first arrived, Gaucher doubted that it could be transformed into a shipwreck. But after five days of work, the mission was accomplished.

“It came out pretty good,” said Gaucher, a maintenance and security worker at the park.

Some people who read a story about the boats left at the dump in the New Hampshire Union Leader recognized the boat at Haunted Acres and asked if it was the same one they saw in the paper, Tracy said.

Tracy is lucky he snagged the boat when he did because the town won’t be accepting boats in the future, selectmen said Monday. Selectman Dianne Gilbert joked that the dump won’t be taking returns, but Tracy said he has no plans to bring the boat back once his park closes after Halloween. He said he’ll continue using the pirate scene for a few more years, and after that, he’ll either trade the scene to another haunted park or sell it.

Tracy said he’s pleased with how the pirate scene turned out and the rest of the displays at the park, which opened last weekend.

“Everything came out really well. We’re hoping for a good season,” he said.

Haunted Acres will be open Thursday-Sunday until Nov. 1. For more information, visit the park’s Web site, www.hauntedacresnh.com.

Palin Power coming to Fremont

Rumor has it that Todd Palin, the husband of Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin, is headed to Fremont this weekend for the New Hampshire Snowmobile Association's annual grass drags and water crossing competition.

As we all know, Palin, better known as Alaska's "first dude," is a champion snowmobiler, so he'd be in his element campaigning for his wife at the biggest snowmobile event in the Northeast, perhaps even the country.

I don't have all the details just yet on the possible visit, but I'll be out there to report on it if and when he arrives. Sarah Palin herself will be in the state next Wednesday, making several campaign stops, so be on the lookout.