'It's Been a Very Difficult Day' Clinton Says After N.H. Hostage Situation Resolved
A photo of the Clinton campaign office in Rochester, N.H., taken from a news helicopter on Friday. (Courtesy MSNBC).
ROCHESTER, N.H.--A man who allegedly held as many as four hostages in the small, store-front office of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton here surrendered peacefully to police after a five-hour standoff.
Sen. Clinton (D-N.Y.) addressed the press shortly following the end of the hostage situation, saying she was "relieved to have this situation end so peacefully." She said she was traveling now to New Hampshire to meet with her staff and to thank the law enforcement officials involved. "This has been a very hard day for all of us and our campaign," she said.
A man CNN identified as Leeland "Lee" Eisenberg was escorted from the building shortly after 6 p.m. by heavily armed law enforcement officers who searched him and handcuffed him as he lay facedown on the ground. The network also reported that Eisenberg had been in touch with CNN during the incident.
Immediately prior to Eisenberg's exit, two officers walked out of the office with a young man and escorted him to a police vehicle.
At 5:30 p.m., a young woman walked out of the Clinton office, apparently becoming the latest hostage to be released. The young woman, wearing jeans and a black shirt, was escorted down to a police armored car by a SWAT officer. It was still unclear, however, if any hostages remain.
Capt. Paul Callaghan of the Rochester Police Department told reporters at an afternoon news conference that the situation remains "fluid" though he described the small downtown area as "stabilized." He described the downtown as "safe" but later warned locals to "stay away from downtown."
Callahan's comments did little to clarify the status of the situation, in which a man entered Clinton's office, apparently with a bomb strapped to his chest, and took several people hostage.
Several times during his news conference, Callahan used the present tense to say that "this is a hostage situation." But pressed by reporters to say whether hostages remain in the building with the suspect, Callahan refused to say anything more.
"We are investigating a hostage situation," Callahan said again. But reporters at the scene said there seemed to be little tension among police, who appeared to have stood down from the crisis response earlier in the afternoon.
Witnesses said an armored truck with the Dover, N.H. SWAT team drove up to the Clinton storefront at about 3 p.m. and police used the vehicle's loudspeaker to communicate with the hostage-taker. Several witnesses said they heard police promising that they would not storm the facility and that they wanted to talk.
A few minutes later, witnesses said police opened the door to the office and threw a phone attached to a long cable into the office, apparently in an attempt to communicate with the suspect. The witnesses said that sometime before that, a young woman in her 20s came out of the office and was escorted to the command post by a SWAT officer.
Kevin Baldwin, age 19, said the woman "looked familiar" and said he thought she was not an out-of-town campaign worker but rather a local girl who had attended the area high school.
By 4 p.m., police appeared to be ratcheting down what had been a massive response to a threat against the campaign of the leading Democratic presidential candidate. The tactical squad for the neighboring town of Dover was seen leaving the scene.
The situation began when the man entered the office around 1 p.m., ordered people onto the floor and then let a mother and her baby leave, Maj. Michael Hambrook of New Hampshire State Police told the Associated Press.
The store-front office in the small city about an hour from Manchester was quickly surrounded by police and SWAT units while TV helicopters captured the response from the air.
Aides to the senator declined to comment on the situation. Calls to most of her other New Hampshire offices were greeted with a taped message. A woman who answered at her Dover office said "we're in lockdown and really that's all I know."
In a statement released Friday afternoon, the Clinton campaign said, "There is an ongoing situation in our Rochester, NH office. We are in close contact with state and local authorities and are acting at their direction. We will release additional details as appropriate."
The Rochester office of Clinton rival Barack Obama, located two doors away in the same strip center, was also evacuated by police, according to Obama spokesman Bill Burton. CNN is reporting that John Edwards's office was also evacuated.
Witness Lettie Tzizik told television station WMUR of Manchester that she spoke to a woman shortly after she was released from the office by the suspect. The woman was carrying an infant, and crying.
"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," Tzizik said.
Clinton's whereabouts were being carefully guarded by the campaign. The senator was scheduled to attend the Democratic National Committee's annual meeting in Vienna, Virginia but changed her plans did not appear at the event, according to aides.
Longtime Clinton adviser Harold Ickes was with Clinton when news of the hostage situation broke, and said she "seemed very concerned about the whole situation. She canceled her speech and was waiting to hear from the negotiators" on the ground about whether to go ahead with her plans to fly to NH, which are now up in the air.
WMUR also quoted a woman who worked in a nearby office. "I walked out and I immediately started running, and I saw that the road was blocked off. They told me run and keep going," Cassandra Hamilton told the station.
The Clinton campaign has dozens of storefront campaign offices around New Hampshire. A strategist for the Clinton campaign has said Rochester was one of several towns identified as worthwhile for a campaign office because it was viewed as an "emerging Democratic area."
"This year we looked beyond the framework for areas that were increasingly leaning Democrat," the strategist said in an interview last month. "We looked at the profile of our likely voter, and said, Rochester fits that."
--Alec MacGillis and Michael D. Shear
Posted at 7:00 PM ET on Nov 30, 2007
Share This: 
Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Previous: A Contest of Outrage |
Next: Focus on Minority Issues in Iowa
Get This Widget >>
Posted by: MeaganCO | December 1, 2007 6:55 PM
It is possible that Senator Clinton is the best candidate. However, even though any may like the policies that Senator Clinton proposes, they should also consider her record, just as Senator Clinton insists.
.
The last Clinton Administration, when faced with the fact that protection rackets where torturing people with poison and radiation, chose to avoid its responsibilities to incarcerate the criminals and to protect the citizenry.
.
Instead, they made a deal with the criminal gang stalker protection rackets to leave them alone and to consequently abandon the citizenry.
.
Do we want a President who sells out the citizenry for votes?
.
Do we want a President who sends a "crime does pay" message to society?
.
Would you vote for a President who signed nonaggression deals with the KKK or the Nazi party? Gangs that torture with poison and radiation are much like the KKK and Nazi Party.
.
We do not need a sellout President. We need a principled leader President.
.
If you are one of the few who do not know what the above refers to, do a web search for "gang stalking" to see the tip of the dirtberg. Please do it before you decide to reply to my post. Here let me make it easy for you: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22gang+stalking%22.
.
Posted by: avraamjack | December 1, 2007 11:48 AM
Kudos to Clinton for handling the situation
with grace, aplumb, and ease.
Posted by: newagent99 | December 1, 2007 9:39 AM
wow, you guys deleted a lot of posts.
some of them not even inflammatory.
are you taking your meds?
Posted by: shivaurazz | November 30, 2007 11:26 PM
This clearly demonstrates the kind of Lunatics which comprise the base of the Republican Party.
Posted by: benmatheny | November 30, 2007 10:31 PM
This is what happens after 15 years of rabidly anti-Clinton propaganda from the right-wing noise machine. Right-wingers -- many of whom of are paranoid-schizophrenic and unstable -- have been brainwashed into believing that the Clintons are the devil. So just turn off Fox News, listen to some soothing music, and go back to taking your meds!
Posted by: richhudson | November 30, 2007 9:50 PM
Some of the Bush supporters who've posted in this thread should be locked up for 90 days psychiatric observation. The guy who thought she arranged this herself would probably get an extension.
Posted by: chrisfox8 | November 30, 2007 9:04 PM
Washington Post staffers:
just watching a show tonight on PBS,
about voter fraud being commited by this administration.
David Brancaccios' NOW show on PBS with a host speaker David Becker from the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice...he is complaining about
voter purging, photo ID's and favoritism of Republican redistricting of counties and cities to get the drop on democratic voters....
PARTISANSHIP at the D.O.J.
of unheard of proportions, at the FEDERAL LEVEL up to and including the D.O.J. suing cities to purge voter lists....check it out and report on it, thanks.
.Will the 2008 elections be free and fair? This time on NOW.
How safe is your right to vote? On Friday, November 30, at 8:30 p.m., former Justice Department official and voting rights activist David Becker, who worked under both President Bush and President Clinton, alleges a systematic effort to deny the vote to hundreds of thousands, even millions of people. In a revealing interview with NOW's David Brancaccio, Becker openly worries that the 2008 election will not be free and fair. And is our own government part of the solution, or part of the problem?
check it out AMERICA, it's your future.
jail time for the shyyytehouse officials involved in turning your DEMOCRATIC NATION into a FASCIST STATE...punish them.
punishthem.
.FBI, NSA, DOJ, extrememeasures.
.
Posted by: shivaurazz | November 30, 2007 9:00 PM
Pardon my confusion.. the first few comments suggest something is missing...plus many thereafter precede the column's posted time of 7:00 pm...somethings happened here, does anyone know what it is?
Posted by: jhbyer | November 30, 2007 7:48 PM
Please consider this a serious question. If the campaign office of Ron Paul had an intruder with hostages, would the Secret Service whisk Congressman Paul to safety and would Rudy G. close his offices in New Hampshire?
Posted by: thall1 | November 30, 2007 7:07 PM
.
.
GLOBAL WARMING!!!!
.
.
GLOBAL WARMING!!!!
.
.
Posted by: computer1 | November 30, 2007 6:22 PM
Even I call on WaPo to pull the plug on comments. This is an event involving either a seriously disturbed Person, someone wanting attention, or "Other".
It most certainly has nothing to do with the Clinton Campaign's legitimate promotions-and this is Cheap publicity!
What did watching OJ Simpson driving down the Highway, impersonating the Black Sherrif in Blazing Saddles accomplish?
Still can't believe he walked!
FYI-"NOBODY move, or the ####### Get's IT!, I swear! I'll blow this ######### head all over the place!
I still can't believe that One!
Posted by: rat-the | November 30, 2007 6:11 PM
The question is:
Is this person a "TERRORIST" because he taped a bomb to his chest to get his point across? Or is he just your usual 3 sigma lunatic? How do you differentiate the two?
Laws can not curtail lunacy!!!!
Matter of fact the believe that they can is an early sign of lunatic tendencies!!!
Posted by: harried | November 30, 2007 6:09 PM
The idiot should release all the Hostages and then Blow himself up.
Posted by: benmatheny | November 30, 2007 6:03 PM
I sure pity the clown who did this - these Clintons are the most vindictive people on the planet.
Posted by: birvin9999 | November 30, 2007 6:00 PM
Hillary is a bigger nut-magnet than David Letterman.
Posted by: blasmaic | November 30, 2007 5:45 PM
This isn't a political story. A crackpot has latched onto the front-runner in the presidential race, that's all. If the front-runner were a different Democrat or Republican, it would be the same story, just a different campaign office. Let's hope the police in New Hampshire can resolve the situation without any innocent casualties (including themselves).
Posted by: lartfromabove | November 30, 2007 5:41 PM
Hope this isn't an omen of things to come in the presidential race...
Posted by: charlieartist | November 30, 2007 5:39 PM
aepelbaum: you might want to put more tinfoil on your hat, because you're obviously getting some radio interference.
Posted by: pjkiger1 | November 30, 2007 5:30 PM
Looks like the crackpots are coming out of the woodwork on this board! Mental illness is not political and no one is to blame---only the person who straps a bomb onto their chest is responsible for his actions, not HRC or any other politician.
Posted by: morningglory51 | November 30, 2007 5:18 PM
Hillary Clinton is one of the world's most hated people. We can expect to see a lot more of this kind of thing if(God forbid)she gets the Democratic nomination.
Posted by: eco-pharm | November 30, 2007 5:08 PM
If this were Pakistan or the Phillippines or Iraq or Afghanistan or Yemen or Saudi Arabia, the man with the bomb strapped to his chest would have been called a "suicide bomber."
In New Hampshire, he's just a man with a bomb strapped to his chest.
Interesting.
Posted by: chabot744 | November 30, 2007 5:01 PM
The person doing this is one sick puppy and anyone that finds any kind of humor in it needs to seek immediate mental attention.
Hopefully he can be removed unharmed from the building and get some help for his mental problem while he is in jail.
It is nothing but sad.
Posted by: cjones210 | November 30, 2007 4:56 PM
Some of the neocons comments about this are just plain stupid.
Its kind of like a democrat saying the Bush staged 9/11 to secure himself as president.
Do you neocons believe conspiracy theory as well? Give me a break on the conspiracy theories. Let it go and pray no human being gets hurt left or right.
Posted by: gdavis4 | November 30, 2007 4:49 PM
Some people just don't know what to say. Its not appropriate to deem a hostage situation as anything but the serious situation it is. I wish these forums forced these posters to show their true identities so we could know who these ignorant a-holes are instead of giving them an anonymous forum to make tasteless inappropriate remarks, some I am sure I have been guilty of myself at times. Sometimes I wonder why so many bad things happen in this country then I read some of the post and my answer is the countries ills are indicative of its citizens and how they think.
Posted by: gdavis4 | November 30, 2007 4:45 PM
Nobody including hillary should agree to talk to this mad man even if he didn't free the hostages. We do *NOT* want to encourage this kinda of practice every single time a mad man wants to talk to a famous person. And trust me, there are plenty of mad men in this countries.
Posted by: charly_n | November 30, 2007 4:30 PM
I know reason usually fails to convince here, and I know members of both parties claim to have "reason" on their side when often it is really rationalization being pawned off as reason.
But just conisder this: With all the people that stongly hate/despise Hillary Clinton, is it honestly harder to believe that one lone desparate person would do this, or that Hillary conspired with an unknown number of people to pull this off as a publicity/electioneering stunt?
Reflect on this question before posting any additional conspiracy theories involving Sen. or former President Clinton.
Posted by: sievertmd | November 30, 2007 4:27 PM
I think this shows the extremes that people are willing to take when it comes too the politics of this nation and it also shows that people tend to have a very extreme love hate relationship with Hillary Clinton. And lets just be thankful that no one got hurt.
Posted by: mowethelawn | November 30, 2007 4:21 PM
dschalton,
Thanks for your very appropriate prayer in this awful situation. Hillary, is indeed breaking new ground for women, and it certainly shows when people like this person become unhinged.
I am thankful that the hostages are now safe and I am hoping the police will be able to arrest this perpetrator without violence.
Posted by: bghgh | November 30, 2007 4:21 PM
...Well, it's winter in america and nobody's fighting because nobody knows what to save. Gil Scott Heron
Posted by: crob | November 30, 2007 4:11 PM
Contrary to Limbaugh-logic this is not something to joke about. This type of thing creates copycats that might go after Mitt or Rudy next. If your comment is some snarky jibe please just shut up.
Posted by: willandjansdad | November 30, 2007 3:55 PM
I hope the hostages end up ok. I think the larger issue that could play out on the trail is how is Mrs. Clinton going to protect us from terrorists when she cannot even protect her own offices. I'm waiting for that attack commercial in about a day.
Posted by: JimDandy1 | November 30, 2007 3:54 PM
Delusional?
Paranoid?
Publicity seeking?
Political...?
Maybe.
Taxi Driver?
Seems like.
Dear God: please guide the perpetrator to lay down his arms and watch over and protect the innocent.
This I pray.
Posted by: dschalton | November 30, 2007 3:39 PM
i wonder how much billary had to pay for this one? how many were actually going to attend her little talk there?
when we find out who it is maybe a google search will result in him being on one of her committees, like the gay general she had sneak into the republican debate. when a republican asked a question at a dem debate cnn posted it under his name - THIS MAN IS A REPUBLICAN SUPPORTER - but they seemed to not know how to uge google when it went the other way around.
Posted by: infantry11b4faus | November 30, 2007 3:29 PM
I'm no fan of Hillary's to be sure but hostage taking at state campaign HQs aside from being unlawful, strikes at the very heart of democracy. Everyone, regardless of ideology, should be appalled, disgusted and united against this. This puts all campaigns at risk and our participation in the process at even further risk. It will discourage volunteers and participation and continue the movement toward media star candidacies. I'm praying for those folks in Manchester....
Posted by: lovinliberty | November 30, 2007 3:16 PM
Yes, the comments feature on this story should be shut down because that's what free speech is all about.
Posted by: Crystal831 | November 30, 2007 3:14 PM
Sadly, this is just another point on the downward spiral of politics since Nixon. It developed in Carter's scorched earth primary campaign against Ted Kennedy in 1980, grew worse in Bush's primary campaign vs McCain, and the polarizing actions of Gingrich and Hillary Clinton certainly didn't help matters. Maybe this will spur a realization that a certain base of civility is due those you disagree with politically. We need that before the country becomes complete paralyzed politically. Unfortunately, all you have to do is read Post comments to see that many people regard the other party as not wrong, but evil. It's an easy shift to suicide bombers from that point.
Posted by: gbooksdc | November 30, 2007 3:08 PM
Yes, aepelbaum, you are absolutely right. Is there anything that the evil Hillary and her minions won't do? Just how this will "establish unity" with other Dems is beyond my poor reasoning powers to understand, however. Only the truly enlightened such as yourself can see things as they really are. You people should really try reading from a different script sometime. Maroon.
Posted by: Donzinho | November 30, 2007 3:07 PM
Interesting: my theory about a paranoid right-wing crackpot was deleted quickly but not Aeplebaum's theory about HRC herself.
Posted by: ssomo | November 30, 2007 3:06 PM
What exactly did the comments that were deleted say? They should have been left to show the absolute idiocy of some people at the very least.
Posted by: cmsore | November 30, 2007 3:05 PM
This sounds like something that would happen in Pakistan or the Phillipines. Welcome to the third world.
Posted by: lwps | November 30, 2007 3:05 PM
Ha--the commenters on wonkette already said that repugs would say it was a setup by the HRC campaign. You are so predicable!
Posted by: garfield1 | November 30, 2007 3:01 PM
aepelbaum - Keep your idiotic theories to yourself and hope for a peaceful outcome to this situation like a rational human being with a conscience.
Posted by: sequoiaqueneaux | November 30, 2007 3:00 PM
yes you are right we should all just NOT SAY ANYTHING... Because that is what the U.S. is all about.
Posted by: cathyrytkonen | November 30, 2007 2:56 PM
I have feeling that this is the provocation created by Mrs. Clinton to re-establish unity with other dems contentenders, like Obama and Edwards. It is looking very much, as her handwriting. Of course, someone else might try to fabricate this "handwriting", but what for anyone else in this particular case would ?
Posted by: aepelbaum | November 30, 2007 2:51 PM
You people who made the first few comments know that people die in hostage situations, right? I mean you're not so intrenched in politics that you don't see that people may actually be harmed here, are you?
"This is going to be a fun year." Are you serious? Ask the people who aren't sure whether or not they'll walk out of that office if they're having fun. Ask their families.
Listening to people like you reminds my why less than half of this country votes--because you've made it a TV show without real world implications. Nice work.
Posted by: coupland12 | November 30, 2007 2:44 PM
Amen to the above - let's hope no one gets hurt.
Posted by: fjc850 | November 30, 2007 2:40 PM
i agree with ichief, the only thing that could come from this is sympothy and sick jokes, neither of which are very productive
Posted by: Eyeonu92 | November 30, 2007 2:36 PM
Whoa! The NH police evacuated all surrounding offices including Obama's. A local school is locked down.
I spare no words regarding Senator Clinton's policies and platforms, but that is where it stops and should stop.
Cracks about Vince Foster here are out of school and serve no useful purpose. This is not only an attack on a campaign, but an attack on our democratic process.
Keep it in mind!
Posted by: NoMugwump | November 30, 2007 2:36 PM
To the Washington Post: You should cut off the comments to this article immediately as there will be any number of inappropriate remarks regarding a potentially dangerous situation.
Posted by: ichief | November 30, 2007 2:33 PM
To the Washington Post: You should cut off the comments to this article immediately as there will be any number of inappropriate remarks regarding a potentially dangerous situation.
Posted by: ichief | November 30, 2007 2:33 PM
Brilliant prg88! You owe me a new keyboard.
Posted by: donttreadonme | November 30, 2007 2:32 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
I think that, horrible as a hostage situation always is, this is a wakeup call for everyone. Politics is not the most important thing and should not always be the center of attention.
The reason that this event has gotten so much attention is because it took place at Clinton's office; sadly, if it would have been anywhere else, very few people would take any notice. Our culture needs to learn to work more towards helping in those horrid situations instead of worrying about the petty things in the big picture - cliche as it sounds.