Is any name missing from that exchange? The striking thing about the conversation was that Packard went through all the candidates who mattered to her, emphasized her own centrism, singled out Buttigieg and Klobuchar, and never once mentioned Biden, even when given a prompt. Biden is just out of the picture.

No one expressed any dislike for Biden. They were actually sympathetic to a number of his positions. But they have concluded that he is not the one.

“If he was a little younger. I think his age, unfortunately, is a big disadvantage for him,” said Diane Bantis, of Manchester. “I think, physically, he is showing signs that he might not be up for the challenge.”

“He’s too old,” Cheri Sullivan, of North Conway, said simply.