Manchester, New Hampshire — At 8 AM this morning, Mitt Romney was scheduled to appear at a gym at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, NH. This was the scene outside, where a contingent of Ron Paul fans had also shown up:

Inside, New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley stumped for Romney. That’s Ayotte in red, and Haley in pink:

When Romney spoke, some interlopers from the Occupy movement appeared with a sign saying something about the 99% vs the 1% (of course), and shouting something along the lines of “Mitt kills jobs!” The crowd drowned them out with a “Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!” chant. Romney was unflappable — this is obviously not the first time this has happened — and brushed them off with a comment about how wonderful it is that we live in a country where we’re free to express ourselves, adding that he prefers when people do so respectfully. (This was over before I had a chance to snap a photo.) On the way out, both the Paul contingent and the left-wing contigent handed out material; the latter had a flyer that was largely a version of this Washington Post article with bolding, underlining, and/or larger font sizes added to the passages about Romney being rich (which is supposed to mean he’s evil, I guess).

At a street corner in downtown Manchester later in the day, where Romney and Paul supporters were across the street from one another raising signs, once again a lefty class warrior showed up (there were more of his ilk a few blocks away); just before this was taken he was arguing with one of the Romney supporters:

While it’s pretty common (and not limited to the left), I never cease to find it unsettling when people bring their small children to political demonstrations.

More from New Hampshire to come…