Clinton NH Headquarters Terrorized By Troy Stanley - Hostages Taken, Three Released

In other updates, apparently Mr. Stanley went to a hardware store and got flares which he then used as fake explosive devices.

Hostages Released From Clinton Office

BEVERLEY WANG - AP | November 30, 2007 04:33 PM EST |

ROCHESTER, N.H. — A deranged man wearing what appeared to be a bomb strapped to his chest walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday, took several hostages and demanded to speak to the candidate during a nearly four-hour standoff, authorities said.

The man released the last of the hostages as the afternoon wore on, but he remained in the office and was not immediately taken into custody.

Clinton was in the Washington area at the time, and extra security precautions were taken to protect the former first lady, who still has a Secret Service detail, said a law-enforcement official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the situation.

The man entered the simple storefront office along the town's main street around 1 p.m., ordered people onto the floor and then let a mother and her baby leave, said State Police Maj. Michael Hambrook.

About two hours later, a woman in a green sweater was led away from the building by a SWAT team member. Authorities, some carrying shields and guns, had the building surrounded, and laid wiring up to the building's entrance before the woman was released. It was unclear if the wiring helped authorities communicate with the suspect.

The office is one of many Clinton has around New Hampshire.

The suspect was an older man known around the town to be mentally unstable, the law enforcement official told the AP. He walked into the campaign office and opened his jacket, revealing what appeared to be a pipe bomb.

The law enforcement official said the man also demanded to speak with Clinton.

Witness Lettie Tzizik told television station WMUR of Manchester that she spoke to the woman who was released first and that she was crying, holding the infant.

"She said, 'You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape," Tzizik said.

Clinton was scheduled to give an address at the Democratic National Committee meeting in Vienna, Va., Friday afternoon, but DNC Chairman Howard Dean announced from the podium that Clinton would not speak.

"We are in close contact with state and local authorities and are acting at their direction," Clinton said in a statement. "We will release additional details as appropriate."

Authorities sent a tactical bomb unit to assist local police, and the area was evacuated, Hambrook said. A nearby school was in lockdown.

The small Clinton office is located in the New England community's downtown area in a strip of several storefronts, and has large glass windows with a campaign sign out front. Police with guns drawn crouched behind cruisers across the street from the office.

Workers for Sen. Barack Obama's campaign office also evacuated, a campaign spokesman said. The office is four doors away from Clinton's. Staffers in John Edwards' office, a few buildings away, evacuated as well.

___

Associated Press writer Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington contributed to this report.

Barack Obama Holds Foreign Policy Town Hall Meeting In Iowa - Video

Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama held a town hall meeting on foreign policy in New Hampshire this morning. This video is a highlight of what the Senator said before the close of the event



Panelists included:

Richard Danzig – Former secretary of the Navy under President Clinton
Tony Lake – National Security Advisor to President Clinton
Adm. John Hutson (USN Ret.) – Bow, NH resident; Dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center; former U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General and nationally-known expert on detention and interrogation
Samantha Power – Pulitzer Prize-winning author and renowned professor of human rights and foreign policy
Susan Rice – Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Senator Barack Obama

CNN.com - New Hampshire CNN Presidential Poll - 83 Percent Still Undecided!

CNN keeps putting out these polls, but they don't tell you on air how many people are undecided in the Democratic race. This is the question that was asked in New Hampshire:

34. (DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY VOTERS ONLY:) Have you definitely decided who you will vote for in the New Hampshire primary, are you leaning toward someone, or do have you considered some candidates but are still trying to decide?

( http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/09/25/relnh5a.pdf )

Well, here was the response for New Hampshire:

September 2007
Definitely decided 17%
Leaning toward someone 28%
Still trying to decide 55%

That's 83 percent of those polled who are still undecided! That's right. 83 percent. Let's put it this way, that means just 17 percent of the people CNN polled made up their mind.

Think that's bad, look at these results from earlier this year:

July 2007
Definitely decided 10%
Leaning toward someone 26%
Still trying to decide 64%

That means just 10 percent knew who they were voting for in July and the number has increased just seven percent. That means this is a wide open race.