This weekend, while the entire Granite State was gripped with #FITN fever, our operatives leapt into the fray -- even infiltrating the Newt Gingrich phone bank -- to bring you only the finest in Robitussin-splashed gonzo campaign-trail journalism. No Vermin Supreme antic has gone unnoticed, no Santorum joke unmade.

Sometimes the only way to really dive into an early morning presidential debate is with a little cough syrup. Or actually a lot of cough syrup. And so I swallowed a gallon and went to check the happenings in Concord. This is not a metaphor.

The Occupy posse was there. In full effect. And so were Ron Paul's homeys.

Before ELLEN BARRY became a world-famous Moscow correspondent for the New York Times, she spent a couple of years as a features writer for the Phoenix. Given that she just won the Pulitzer this afternoon for hard-news reporting in one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist in the world, you could say we wasted her talent.

Culled from the dusty, yellowing Phoenix archives for your viewing pleasure, we proudly present...

Old News!

FRIENDS FOREVER?
5 years ago
January 17, 2003 | During an exclusive interview, Tom Menino got candid with the Phoenix’s Seth Gitell.
“One reason Menino is so relentless, so obsessed with detail, is that he doesn’t have anywhere to go.

Five worst quotes we heard last night:

5. New York Times on Grandmama Obama:
"It's pretty amazing to see her as she sorts her corn on the ground."

4. Douchebag local radio interns, heckling Hillary:
"Iron my shirt!"

3. Bill Bennett on John McCain's unlikely comeback:
"Here's a guy who's 71 years old, a guy with broken bones, a guy who can't comb his hair."

I’m back in Boston after spending a couple of hours in Manchester, New Hampshire and must say that I’ve never encountered anything like the surge of interest in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

Topic B was would McCain beat Romney? Although the men and the women in the street and at the polls seemed to think that the Republican race would be tight, their sense was that McCain would win.