by the democratic party. the event has been held since 1959 and future president john f. kennedy was the keynote that year. 8000 people are expected this evening, the largest fundraiser for the state party. we have been live in new hampshire the past couple of days during what is the busiest part of the primary season as candidates make a final case to the voters in the granite state. this year also marks a century mark, 100 years of the new hampshire primary. tonight leading democratic candidates will make their closing arguments to new hampshire voters. polls open tuesday morning. before that, we would like to hear from you. we have a line for new hampshire voters, 202-74 out -- 748-8920. 748-748 8921 call and republicans can call 202-748-8922. today the biden campaign is taking direct aim at the former mayor of south bend indiana, pete buttigieg, who is moving ahead in the polls in new a new web video comparing the experiences of the vice president to the former mayor of south bend, indiana. [video presentation begins] pete buttigieg doesn't think much of the vice president's record. let's compare. joe biden helped lead the passage of the affordable care act, which gave health care to 20 million people. installed toigieg court of lights under a bridge, giving residents of south bend illuminated rivers. a nuclear iran, joe biden helped to negotiate the iran deal, and under threat of disappearing pets, buttigieg negotiated lighter licensing regulations. -- both vicet president joe biden and former mayor pete have helped shape the economy. joe biden helped rescue the auto industry, saving our economy from a depression. pete buttigieg revitalized the sidewalks of downtown south bend by laying out decorative bricks. both have made hard decisions. despite pressure from the nra, joe biden past the assault weapons ban through congress and passed the violence against women act. and even when public pressure mounted, former mayor pete fired the first african-american police chief of south bend. then he forced out the african-american fire chief. what you have done matters. ♪ steve: that add, from the biden campaign. snhu arenaoking at in new hampshire as democrats give a final push to voters before polling gets underway tuesday. we are live all day tomorrow with campaign coverage across the state, including events with the buttigieg campaign kicking off at 11:00 eastern, we are also when the biden, sanders, klobuchar campaigns and all day into monday evening, we are at the first voting at midnight eastern time. a statement from the buttigieg campaign in response to what the biden campaign put in that add, "at this moment the american people are crying out for something completely different than this washington style of politics. while washington politics trivializes what goes on in communities like south bend, south bend residents who now have better jobs don't think their lives are a washington politician's punchline. aroundexperience turning a midwestern industrial city is why he is running for president read the decision to run this ad speaks more about where the vice president is currently standing that it does about pete as mayor and as a veteran. that is from the buttigieg campaign. today in manchester, the former vice president was asked about the ad and took aim at the former mayor of south bend, indiana. let's watch. people have said democrats shouldn't have circular firing squad. >> when you get attacked, you have to respond for a long time -- when you get attacked, you have to respond. have been getting attacked for a long time and i haven't responded. want to compare records, i get it, he is a good guy and a great mayor. but guess what? he is a mayor. he is a good guy, but the idea of passing a budget the size of andwn of manchester, managing a budget of $900 million, it is ridiculous. i've been making sure we have the greatest advancement in solar and wind power in the history of the united states of america. what's the problem? steve: that is from a biden event earlier today. the gloves are coming off because the biden campaign knows pete buttigieg is on the rise in new hampshire at with that background, we expect more of that tonight in the speeches, especially by former president -- former vice president joe biden. our phone lines are open. for new hampshire voters, 202 -748-88 -- 8920. 202-748, 8921 and 202-748-8922.s, there was also this from new hampshire today. >> barack obama laid out a clear vision when he spoke of what an international society should look like. he laid out details about what should happen to the economy. barack obama inherited the worst recession in the history of the and laid down what he is going to do about it. a very different situation. steve: biden was in new hampshire earlier today. we are also with the klobuchar and allen campaigns, our coverage is available at c-span.org. tuesday evening our live coverage gets underway at 7:30 eastern. we will have a live simulcast of wmu are in new hampshire -- wmur in new hampshire and then we will have speeches in the evening. phone lines are open at 202-748-8920. that is for those who live in the granite state. you are watching live c-span coverage of the new hampshire primary. ray buckley is the long-time chair of the new hampshire democratic party. let's talk about tonight's dinner and the significance. ray: the first time we had the dinner was 61 years ago. toroup of folks who wanted support jfk gathered and wanted to showcase him so they decided to have a hunter club dinner, for some reason they named it that. senator kennedy came, a big event, and money went to the state party, so it ignited the modern-day success of the democratic party, a major fundraising dinner of the year. every president, every vice president, and anybody who seriously wants to be president has attended this dinner. steve: let's talk about the naming of the dinner. we know senator jean shaheen, but who was thomas mcintyre? a senator mcintyre was founder of the rebirth of the democratic party in the 1940's and 1950's and 1960's. myrtle mcintyre was a member of the democratic national committee while senator mcintyre was in the senate. he served three terms in the u.s. senate by winning a special election in 1962 and being reelected in 1966 1972 and ultimately losing to gordon humphrey in 1978 in a very close race. and now gordon humphrey is a never-trumperr -- who left the republican party and is trying to get people not to vote for donald trump, interesting turn of events over the decades. steve: this race is fluid and you have been through a lot of campaigns, 19 92 with bill clinton the comeback kid, 2008 when hillary clinton eked it out, explain the significance of how volatile it is just a few days before the new hampshire primary. the effects of this year by having so many candidates is that the voters really didn't decide. the latest polling had up to 50% of the voters who wanted to participate in the democratic primary not having made a decision. that means they can move as a block in any direction. so nobody should be counted out. going to be exciting moments between now and the primary, with the votes being cast, so it is an exciting time to have all these great candidates. steve: what is your role as party chair? when a candidate says they want to run in new hampshire, what you tell them? ray: they give me a call and then i set up a couple of days of meetings and travel, press interviews, meetings with labor leaders, political leaders, local officials. we try to give them a real good flavor of the state so they understand what it is like. i always tell them to first, have a good time, and whether you're in -- whether you win or not, running for president of the united states is an amazing experience. second, imagine you are running for your local school board. and if you imagine you are coming from a position of governor or u.s. senator or national significance, people in new hampshire are not impressed. they want you to actually shake their hand, answer tough questions, be in the neighborhoods, so a lot of these candidates have done that and that is why you are seeing such a close race. steve: we have come to you for many, many years. ray: [laughter] steve: you are laughing, but what is the ray buckley story? we first met in 1992, but you were involved before that. do i look a lot older. i started volunteering when i in 1968, but i was really involved in the musky campaign when i was 11 or 12. most people know me from the carter campaign, i was 15 or 16. i was very involved with dylan jeanne shaheen and others, but that really was the start of my election. i have been on the democratic state committee since i was 18 years old, so 42 years. term as in my seventh state party chair, i served four terms as vice chair and a number of years as executive director. steve: why is new hampshire a swing state? ray: because of tom mcintyre and jeanne shaheen. both of these elected officials took the party very seriously, make sure they invested in it, that they protected it, that they supported it, got other people to support the party. we were able to build a ground operation that is second to none in the country. so we can take a state that was a solid republican state just a few years ago into a solid purple state, where you have the entire congressional delegation, majorities in the house and senate, executive council, most county seats in the state. and over the last 20 years we have almost always had the governor's race. steve: the ground operation means what? ray: it means paying attention to local folks. both the republican and democratic parties across the country really struggle with that. show up on election day or just before and say hey bought -- and say hey, vote for us, then they disappear. i was taught many years ago that it is about the personal relationships, being able to go in there, have a place where they meet regularly, people know that they can go there and be treated with respect and be welcomed when they come, allowed participate and to add to it, but something goes on constantly, not just two weeks before the election. staff thatignificant really works with the locals, organizations, training them, giving them resources, making sure they have the tools to reach out and build a permanent grassroots operation. steve: let's bring it back to the dinner tonight. what can our viewers expect? will, thate, if you here we are in a state of about 1.3 million people, and there arena, apeople in an dinner that first happened back in 1959. it is unbelievable when you see how we have grown as a party. each candidate will be out there. we have allotted all the candidates, not just the ones the dnc had in the debates, so we are giving everybody a few minutes to get up there and take their case to the public. steve: ray buckley, longtime chair of the new hampshire democratic party, we thank you for your time. the case, closing arguments at hampshire.ena in new the crowd has begun gathering and the program is set to get underway in about 10 minutes, but this could run behind schedule. we will have coverage throughout the course of the evening as democrats make their pitch to new hampshire voters. this headline from politico.com, pete judge's big new hampshire the polls, butin so is senator amy klobuchar, and the biden campaign hitting back on a number of fronts, going after the former mayor of south bend, indiana. one poll has him ahead slightly, another poll from boston has senator bernie sanders up slightly, with pete buttigieg coming in second. let's get your phone calls, allen and columbus, ohio, good evening. caller: good evening. steve: what are your thoughts about the campaign? i have been watching it. but one thing i wanted to is to don'tmocrats fall asleep at the wheel. they have to understand who they are up against. this president is a con artist. tonotes have -- he knows how divide the people and he knows how to manipulate them, and he always acts like he is a good person. say that he has done good things for the country, yes, but he also has a way of dividing , and trying to make him to be the good guy. steve: thanks for the call. ray buckley, chair of the new hampshire democratic party, will be our guest tomorrow morning at 9:30 eastern on washington journal and will take your calls live from manchester, new hampshire. good evening, dave, from arizona, republican line. caller: i love the c-span programming, because you guys just present the facts. for democracy, we appreciate that. steve: we thank you. what about the campaign, have you been following it? caller: i have been following it very closely and i am shocked. it seems like the democratic party is trying to put a thumb on the scales and i don't see them supporting the people that support bernie sanders. it seems to me he has the most passionate following. steve: thank you for the call. steve is in astoria, oregon, independent line. you vote by mail and organ, don't you? caller: yes we do. steve: what are your thoughts? like trump being in office, but i feel a majority of americans won't vote for a gay or socialist candidate, and the democratic party is shooting itself in the foot if they run a lot of these folks against trump. steve: which candidate in this democratic field would you vote for? .aller: there is quite a few steve: we will go on to terry in claymont, delaware, republican line. the former vice president is your home state senator. what are your thoughts? caller: i think it is a disgrace. the democrats have completely reelected trump for 2020. my question is for joe biden. he wants to get rid of gas and oil for americans. how does he expect to fly around the world and air force one, how is he going to do that? steve: thank you. we go to ruth in pennsylvania, the democrats' line. good evening, ruth. caller: i don't think you will let me say this, but they don't want bernie to be president. but i think he can. he is not a socialist-socialist like we have known when i was growing up. i am 81 years old. i like the different channels, but you will let the people speak when they talk about bernie. he has ideas that will take us out of the lot of the problems, especially when you talk about medical. and if we can get medical for everybody, in whatever form it and he wantsgood, the way to go about it, because for the next 50 years we will still be, we can't do it this way, we have to do it that way. steve: ruth, thank you for the call. we will pause for a moment and listen to what it sounds like inside the arena, the former verizon wireless arena and now hampshiresouthern new university. and a look back at 2016 at former senator -- at senator bernie sanders and former senator hillary clinton, live coverage here on c-span. ♪ [indiscernible voices] sanders: american democracy is about one person, one vote. [applause] so here is a promise i make to every person in this arena. no no manypresident, of mind to the supreme court will get that position unless he or she is very clear, they will vote to overturn citizens united. [applause] and we will address the rigged economy that so many working people are suffering under right now. cheering] that,not acceptable to me at the same time that we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on also have more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on earth. [applause] so i say to the billionaire to create an going economy that works for working families, not just in the people donors who aren thatwerful, so powerful, the only way we create the change we need is through a political revolution. [crowd cheering] and that means, that means that millions and millions of people throughout our country, including many who have given up on the political process, many who think their vote, their voice no longer matters, those people have to reengage politically, working people, low-income people, young people, and with a loud voice. bowls show senator sanders with a big lead here and show senatorpolls anders with a big lead here suggested i should just look past new hampshire and focus on the next state. new hampshire never quite on me and i am not going to quit on you. cheering] i am so proud, i am so proud of the campaign we have built here. ofnk you, thousands volunteers. working,w hard you are pouring your dreams and determination into this effort, calling your neighbors, knocking on doors, going to hillaryclinton.com, contribute in whatever you can because you want a president that will roll up her sleeves and make a difference in your lives. [laughter] this is deep -- [applause] this is the biggest job interview but in the world -- interview in the world, my friends, and you should hold us accountable. progressive who gets things done and have learned you need to be both a dreamer and a doer, you need to push forward every single day for as long as it takes, and i also know a big ist of the job i am seeking keeping our families safe, our country strong, and our troops out of war. they won't do anything to help women get equal pay or hold wall i want you to know where i stand. rights, civil our rights, and voting rights. workers rights and women's rights. gay rights and the rights with -- rights of people with disability dust disabilities. i will always defend planned plan tood and a woman's make her own decision about her health. this, somer i say republican will say, i am playing the gender card. if standing up for women's rights, women's health and equal card, playing the gender then deal me in. look back at the dinner from four years ago. secretary clinton and senator bernie sanders, in the race again this year. we will have live coverage of the dinner getting underway. our lines are open. we will take you back inside the jamesas you listening to on the democrats line. caller: i am calling to support a elizabeth warren. i like what she stands for. she has not changed on anything at all and i feel like she is the one that could be trump. anybody would be redder than him. trump seems to be nothing but a mafia leader. host: senator sanders, senator amy klobuchar, andrew yang, tom steyer, joe biden and pete buttigieg and senator bernie sanders. live coverage here on c-span, let's listen. ♪ good evening, democrats. welcome to manchester. [cheering] craig, and i am thrilled to welcome you to the 2020 new hampshire democratic party mcintyre-shaheen dinner. manchester is a proud city with a proud history. our story is one of collaboration, determination and grit. centuries it we have