Clinton Office Hit By Hostage Drama

A man carrying fake explosives seized several hostages yesterday at Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign office in Rochester, N.H. before surrendering peacefully to end a tense standoff. After holding three people hostage for six hours, Leeland Eisenberg, 46, emerged from the liberal New York Democrat's presidential campaign office in a white dress shirt and red tie with duct tape wound tightly around his waist over what he said was a bomb.

New Hampshire State Police Col. Frederick Booth said Eisenberg had strapped highway flares to his body, held a detonator that gave the appearance he was holding an improvised explosive device and demanded to speak with Sen. Clinton. Sen. Clinton had offered to cooperate, Col. Booth said, but police negotiators did not want her to talk with Eisenberg. Police said there was no bomb.

"It appears he was someone in need of help who sought attention in absolutely the wrong way," said Sen. Clinton, who flew from Washington, D.C. after the standoff to meet with the hostages, their families and local police. Sen. Clinton, who cancelled a speaking date in Virginia immediately after news of the incident broke, said she would stick with earlier plans to campaign on Saturday in Iowa.

Eisenberg, a Somersworth, New Hampshire, resident who made news in March when he protested a police campaign to stop car theft that he said was unconstitutional, was arrested after unwrapping the tape from his waist, raising his hands in the air and kneeling on the ground. Eisenberg made multiple calls to CNN through the afternoon and told staffers he had mental problems and could not get help, the network said. The Rochester offices of Sen. Clinton's top rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination -- Senator Barack Obama and former Senator John Edwards -- were evacuated along with nearby businesses. Schools locked their doors.

My response: I thought the Clinton staffers handled the situation well, given the circumstances. Sen. Clinton also handled the post-crisis activities well, making sure to quickly meet with the hostages/campaign staffers and their families and local law enforcement.