John Kasich's 100th town hall in New Hampshire Friday night takes him to the small town of Bedford and takes the Republican presidential hopeful full circle.
In April of 1997, as a 45 year old congressman from Ohio, Kasich made his first visit to the Granote State to speak here in Bedford at their Lincoln Day Dinner.
He would return another 15 times over the next two years as he considered and eventually launched his campaign for the 2000 Republican nomination.
The early visits didn't always go as planned for Kasich who famously tells the story of attending an event in a home and as he stood talking to a woman in the kitchen he felt they were having a good conversation, really connecting.
After about 20 minutes the woman looked at her watch though and asked Kasich "so when do you think the candidate is going to get here?"
This time around the coffee klatches of a dozen or so have been turned into town halls of more than a hundred.
They are people that know him this time and he's made it his goal to get to know them in the manner they're accustomed to, the town hall.
"It's like running for Congress there's 1.3 million people (in New Hampshire) and you get to meet them 2 or 3 times," Kasich joked from the campaign trail.
The Ohio governor has essentially taken up residence here over the last month choosing to skip Iowa for all intents and purposes to meet as many of the 260,000 Republicans and equally as important 383,000 independents who can vote in either primary.
Half of Kasich's 100 town halls have been held in the last month. With that volume Kasich said has come a connection and an openness that he hadn't previously seen to this extent.
"People will come to our town halls and they will talk about some of the most excruciatingly difficult things that they see in their lives," Kasich said this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
"It has been an astounding experience up here that has affected me more than anything else I've seen since I've been in New Hampshire. People need to be listened to and supported and hugged I'm telling you all across America," he said.
