Welcome to Whistlestop, a podcast of campaign curiosities.

I'm John Dickerson, the host of Face the Nation. Our whistle stop today is the windowless studio of W M-M-U-R, Manchester, New Hampshire. It's Sunday January 19,

1992 and five Democratic presidential candidates sit surrounded by black curtains.

Paul Saugus, Jerry Brown, Bob Carey, Tom Harkin, and Bill Clinton.

With 20 days to go before the primary, a poll has been released by the Boston Globe and

W.B.Z TV showing that Mr. Clinton is leading

with 29% followed by former message to Senator Paul Songus at 17% and Nebraska Senator Bob

Carey is at 16%.

Each man sits at their own desk in this dark black room.

A plastic pitcher of water like the kind they use at Pizza Hut

to serve the Dr Pepper is on their desk.

It looks like the most depressing telethon in history.

They talk about the economy, they talk about the war on drugs,

to give you a sense of how the politics have changed Bob

Kerry on the stump has been talking about using the military in America to

fight the war on drugs. Bill Clinton has been essentially boasting about the fact that he has put people to death in Arkansas.

But at the end of this debate, moderator Koki Roberts, who's the only splash of color in the entire event,

the men are in almost all gray and dark blue suits and she's wearing a blue shirt which only matters because the entire thing has a kind of dark black somberness to it.

She asks each candidate about the biggest

threat to their electability in a general election and she turns to

Governor Clinton and says quote there is concern among members of your party about allegations of womanizing,

that Republicans would find somebody and she would come by late in the campaign and you would

...