Speaking to a full house of between 400 and 600 in Peterborough’s historic town hall, the Arizona senator spoke briefly about his affection for the Granite state and reminisced about past campaign stops here — and for the first time in weeks, reports the Associated Press’ Beth Fouhy, he took questions from the audience.

Over a thousand people, reports the Union Leader’s Trent Spiner, gathered outside to watch the event on large screen televisions.

Sen. McCain recalled the first town hall he held in Peterborough; it was during the 2000 campaign. After only a few people showed up, the event was moved to the basement, and there was plenty of left over ice cream.

“Our campaign ate ice cream for the next two weeks,” he told the enthusiastic audience (verbate courtesy of Politico’s Lisa Lehrer and Jonathan Martin).

In the 2000 primary, Peterborough was also his last town hall meeting in the Granite state. He toured the state extensively, holding over one hundred town hall meetings. This cycle, Peterborough was also home to his 100th — and final — primary town hall meeting. In both elections, he carried the state’s primary.

Sen. McCain’s last 2000 town hall meeting was a first for me — my first presidential town hall. I was much younger then, and probably as captivated by the scene (several hundred people in the small town hall with American flags and signs) as I was excited to see a presidential candidate. My parents brought my brother and I to every presidential campaign event we could find in a reasonable distance, and I have a feeling we were already in Peterborough, where I would attend high school a few years later, for a rec soccer game on the day of the rally.

In some ways, it is hard for me to separate what I have heard about the 2000 campaign from my childhood memories. But I clearly remember the great view from the balcony (house-left) — and the energy that comes from a politician who could really work the room.

For Sen. McCain on Sunday, it was just a hour’s trip from Peterborough to Manchester airport and a three hour flight to Miami for a midnight rally. After tying up the loose ends in New Hampshire, his campaign finishes off with a few rallies on Monday — and then returns to another historic McCain campaign spot: Prescott, Arizona, the former territorial capital, where he always ends his senate campaigns.

This article was published on November 3, 2008 on the website of WMUR.