Hostages Taken at Clinton Campaign Office in NH

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CNN) -- Two people are being held hostage by an armed man at Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire, police said Friday.


The man walked into the office at about 1 p.m., Maj. Michael Hambrook of the New Hampshire State Police told CNN affiliate WMUR-TV.

Hambrook and Clinton campaign officials said two people were believed to be inside.

Shortly before 2 p.m., police officers were gathered across the street from the office, some kneeling behind police cruisers with guns drawn.


Witnesses described the man as in his 40s with salt-and-pepper hair, WMUR reported.

A woman and her baby were released by the hostage-taker, the woman told workers at a nearby business, according to the WMUR Web site.

A witness, Lettie Tzizik, told WMUR she spoke to a woman shortly after she was released from the office by the hostage-taker.

"A young woman with a 6-month or 8-month-old infant came rushing into the store just in tears, and 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,'" the Web site reported.

Bill Shaheen, chairman of Clinton's New Hampshire campaign, told WMUR that the people being held were volunteers.

"Hopefully, they're going to negotiate this so no one gets hurt," Shaheen said.

Clinton, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is in the Washington area.

She was scheduled to speak at 3 p.m. at a Democratic National Committee event, but canceled the talk because of the situation, DNC Chairman Howard Dean said.


"Unfortunately as some of you know, there is a hostage situation in New Hampshire involving a Clinton campaign staff person," Dean told those who had gathered for the event.

"The details are sketchy at this time, but understandably Senator Clinton is now dealing with this very difficult problem and she is not going to be able to join us today. And we will keep them in our prayers and hope for a resolution to this situation in New Hampshire."


Buildings close to the storefront campaign office on Main Street were evacuated, including local campaign centers for Clinton's Democratic presidential rivals, Sen. Barack Obama and former senator John Edwards.

Cassandra Hamilton, who works in an office adjacent to the Clinton office, told WMUR: "I walked out and I immediately started running, and I saw that the road was blocked off. They told me run and keep going."



http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/30/clinton.office/index.html#cnnSTCText




The story
Two people are being held hostage by an armed man at Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire, police said Friday.

The man walked into the office at about 1 p.m., Maj. Michael Hambrook of the New Hampshire State Police told CNN affiliate WMUR-TV.

Hambrook and Clinton campaign officials said two people were believed to be inside.

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It would seem that the man wants to speak with Hillary, or that is at least my best guess. If that is what it turns out to be, her decision whether or not to talk to a "terrorist" in exchange for lives could be crucial to her campaign.

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Clearly, they need to close that "bombshow loophole"...

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Hmm... maybe this is in violation of fair and equal time...

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Not to get political, but if this happened at the Ron Paul office, I'm sure the bomber would have a couple volunteers drawn on him if he wasn't face down already.

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Deanimator wrote:

Clearly, they need to close that "bombshow loophole"...

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As I understand it, adjudicated mental defectives shouldn't be allowed access to road-flares. Or...

Road-flares have elicited the same law enforcement response as an EBR 'assault weapon.'

Safety is a good tool for tyrants; no one can be against safety.

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I think Hillary staged it so she can have some ammo for the next gun ban.

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expvideo wrote:

I think Hillary staged it so she can have some ammo for the next gun ban.

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I doubt she staged it

However I do think this can only help her (what she thinks is legitimate) cause.

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The guy claims to have a BOMB, not a gun.

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unrequited wrote:

Not to get political, but if this happened at the Ron Paul office, I'm sure the bomber would have a couple volunteers drawn on him if he wasn't face down already.

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I dunno...and lose a potential vote? They'd have to be careful about neutralizing him. Any extremist is a potential Paul supporter. Paul needs all the votes he can muster.

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They said on the radio that the guy has road flares and is possibly a nut job. They're trying to talk him down all the same. We'll see.

-ljp

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VAopencarry wrote:

The guy claims to have a BOMB, not a gun.

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Whether it is a bomb, or a gun, it will be effective all the same, she will spin it so that it covers weapons in general. Its going to come down that this guy has a mental history, and that he was a danger.

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http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003679941

Now Revealed: Eisenberg, Hostage Taker at Clinton Office, Called CNN During the Crisis By E&P Staff Published: November 30, 2007 6:40 PM ET "NEW YORK

Leeland Eisenberg, who held several campaign workers hostage all afternoon at a Hillary Clinton storefront in Rochester, N.H., surrendered to police at 6:15 this evening. Cable news caught the arrest as it happened, with Lee Eisenberg, in a white shirt and tie, emerging, going to his knees, getting handcuffed and taken to a police car. No one was hurt in the entire affair. Three or four hostages had been released over time. Minutes later, Wolf Blitzer on CNN's Situation Room revealed that the man had called the CNN bureau in Washington during the crisis and talked to staffers -- not Blitzer. The CNN anchor also said that Eisenberg had called another CNN office as well. He said the cable news network said it decided not to reveal this before so it would not interfere with any negotiations. Police and the media have suggested that the man who took the hostages has had "issues" with local law enforcement. E&P has found one specific case involving the local man, who reputedly has some mental problems. Back on March 16 this year, local media reported on Rochester police coming up with a novel idea for fighting auto theft. But some residents -- including Eisenberg -- were outraged at their plan. The plan: checking car doors, and if unlocked, leaving behind a warning flyer. "It's an outrage, it's an absolute outrage," said Eisenberg in one report. He claimed the intrusion into his Chevy violates the Fourth Amendment, and raised such a fuss that his picture appeared in a local newspaper. "That's a crime. They violated my civil rights and the rights of many citizens in this city that are not even aware of it," said Eisenberg, who was now asking state and federal authorities to investigate the Rochester police. Eisenberg said he thinks police searched his car illegally, because it was clean when he parked it for the night and dirty with ash from the ashtray the next morning, when he found the flier. He said he complained to the state attorney general, the governor and the U.S. attorney. Police later said they were re-thinking the idea.

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openryan wrote:

VAopencarry wrote:

The guy claims to have a BOMB, not a gun.

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Whether it is a bomb, or a gun, it will be effective all the same, she will spin it so that it covers weapons in general. Its going to come down that this guy has a mental history, and that he was a danger.

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She just needed something for when Rudy plays the "I survived september 11th" card.

She staged that question from the teenage girl, and then denied any knowledge of staging the question. but if you watch the video, she reads the answer off of the podium!

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openryan wrote:

expvideo wrote:

I think Hillary staged it so she can have some ammo for the next gun ban.

Click to expand...

I doubt she staged it

However I do think this can only help her (what she thinks is legitimate) cause.

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It could go either way, I think, but probably will the way you suggested. It kind of proves the "criminals don't obey anti-gun/bomb laws" argument.

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Deanimator wrote:

Clearly, they need to close that "bombshow loophole"...

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Wow, they have bombshows in New Hampshire?

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Hmpf... police going into cars and placing fliers? Even if a "search" by the common definition wasn't committed...

To state the obvious, I'm guessing this hostage taking was a publicity stunt to bring attention to his case.

The question in my mind is: if a cop is placing a flier in your car, and you are in Texas, are you allowed to shoot him because he's violating your property? :?

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http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/12/just_like_real_leadership_the.html

Just Like Real Leadership: The Clinton 'Hostage Crisis' Clarice Feldman

My late mother-in-law used to say of anything that tasted good to her," It's just like from the can." It made us all laugh, but she was seriously unable to distinguish between good food and pap.

Frankly, that's what I think of the efforts by AP, Larry Sabato and others to suggest that Hillary's role in Friday's hostage crisis reveals she is a leader. It debases real leadership with the ersatz, highly salted and laced-with-preservatives stuff.

Hillary did what anyone would do -- and what the enforcement authorities doubtless demanded -- stay away and let the professionals handle it. Which they did -- quite professionally it seems, as no one was hurt and all the hostages were released.

AP, however, treated this as if it were the equivalent of Giuliani‘s role on 9/11:

When the hostages had been released and their alleged captor arrested, a regal-looking Hillary Rodham Clinton strolled out of her Washington home, the picture of calm in the face of crisis.

The image, broadcast just as the network news began, conveyed the message a thousand town hall meetings and campaign commercials strive for - namely, that the Democratic presidential contender can face disorder in a most orderly manner. [snip]

"It affected me not only because they were my staff members and volunteers, but as a mother, it was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time."

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AP is not alone in puffing up her performance. The normally sane Larry Sabato, was equally batty: Politico continues inflating this like from- the- can soup into farmhouse Tuscan ribollito with Sabato's assistance:

The scene was one of a woman in charge.

"It looked and sounded presidential," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "This was an instance of the White House experience of this campaign. They knew how to handle this."

That the crisis was outside Clinton's control gave it a rare quality in this era of hyper-controlled politicking, Sabato added. "What's most important about it is that it's not contrived," he said.

"It's a real event and that distinguishes it from 99 percent of what happens in the campaign season."

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Like me, Ann Althouse isn't buying the puffery:

Did she do anything? Other than canceling her appearances - which she had to do to show decent sensitivity - she made a lot of ineffectual phone calls. For 5 hours, we're told, she "continued to call up and down the law enforcement food chain, from local to county to state to federal officials." She says, "I knew I was bugging a lot of these people."

Afterwards, she used the occasion to make a show of her emotions (or did you think she was cold and mechanical). [snip]

Is that what you want in a President? Someone who feels extra confusion because she's a mother?

But I don't believe that for one minute. I think that was just what was considered a good script. I don't happen to think it is a good script, because I don't want a President to roil into a mommyesque ball of emotion when a few people are in danger.

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But it's not just the leadership meme that Hillary will be using this incident to exploit. There's the ever-looming effort of hers to destroy our excellent health care system and bring it to the level of Britain's horrific NHS that she will doubtless put this crisis in service to.

The latest report is that the hostage taker, Mr. Leeland Eisenberg, spoke to CNN (great choice if you want to reach Hillary!) to complain that he could not afford the mental health care he needed.

Eisenberg had a hostage call CNN three times and spoke to network staffers during the standoff, CNN reported after the ordeal was over and all the hostages were safe. Eisenberg said he wanted help getting psychiatric care, but had been turned away because he didn't have the money.

"I need to speak to Hillary Clinton," CNN quoted him as saying. "Something's got to change. Ordinary people need help" with their insurance.

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He'd been scheduled that afternoon to make an appearance in a domestic violence hearing and I suppose this notion of making himself the center of the drama was a more appealing choice to him than punishment for banal, anti-social behavior alone.

In any event the claim that he could not get mental health care because he lacked adequate resources seems unlikely. A quick Google shows all these community resources for those who need mental health treatment:

All around the story tastes "just like from the can."

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Once I heard everyone was OK the first thing I did was thnk GOD he didn't use a gun.

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GLENGLOCKER wrote:

Once I heard everyone was OK the first thing I did was thnk GOD he didn't use a gun.

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It's not going to matter. The anti line of thinking may be: guns are dangerous and used to terrorize people, and Hillary was threatened by danger and terror, so guns are responsible for poor Hillary's situation.


Personally, I've not convinced by candidates' reaction to crises. If the crisis turns out well, it's due to the person's great leadership skills. If it turns out poorly, it's because of the failure of emergency response teams.