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Straw Man: FITN bad for NH?

by: Mike Hoefer

Tue Jul 05, 2011 at 18:40:42 PM EDT
(I could get killed on this one but thought it could be an interesting think-piece/exercise in discussion/debate none-the-less.)

Every 4 years the bright lights and excitement of a presidential nomination campaign comes rolling through NH. Local activists get involved making phone calls and canvassing for their candidate of choice. Folks that normally would not do such things, do such things. Locals avoid their favorite diners for fear of being part of an impromptu photo op. National Media personalities and punditry outnumber TSA agents at MHT.

Primary day comes and we take our shift standing in the cold for hours (the experienced bring a piece of cardboard to stand on to help prevent heat loss through their boots). We stain to hear the names of the voters as they check-in and dutifully report who has voted at 10, 12, 2, and 4. We gather to watch results together and emerge elated, crushed, or determined to soldier on and start looking for events in ME, MA, or even VT that we might be able to help with.

Fast forward a few months and the General Election is in full swing. Our status as a Swing State keeps us on the radar of both parties. We start to have ongoing phone relationships with people we have never met, our kids wonder why we have another meeting. Anyone who has watched more than 3 episodes of West Wing starts to wonder where they will live in DC once their candidate is elected and they are asked to be a part of the team.

Meanwhile candidates for the offices that most directly impact our daily lives are often unknown to a majority of the electorate.

Meanwhile it still does not feel that we really have a solution to funding education and the other the things that the people of NH want.

Meanwhile we have 349 bridges on the "Red List" (and it seems can't afford to dismantle the ones we do replace).

Meanwhile we cut access to health care services while our neighbors in Vermont and Massachusetts work on ways to make sure all can have access to health care.

So the question I have for you is, would NH be better off if we were able to "stick to our knitting" without distraction of Presidential Politics? I know it would not be as fun for many of us, but would we be in better "legislative" shape? Would the average NH citizen be better off? Would we be able to take on bigger issues in a more focused manner?

Curious to what you all think.

(And, please know, I click the "save" button with full respect and admiration for those who have worked hard to keep NH FITN. I think our state, process, and traditions offer a lot of value to the Presidential Nominee Selection process)
Mike Hoefer :: Straw Man: FITN bad for NH?
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Straw Man: FITN bad for NH? | 36 comments
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The other way at looking at the issue. What could be done to keep all the people that get involved (who wouldn't normally do such things) to continue to do such things?

Hope >> Fear





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FITN is good for us and good for America. (4.00 / 1)
It's a unique (16% participation in Iowa isn't comparable to majority participation in NH) opportunity for a prospective most powerful person in the world to get in touch with people on the ground, with the suburban issues that dominate much of the country, with an electorate that might get to know them and put them on the national stage without them spending a ton of money traveling (you CAN get there from here--by car, in one day) and airing ads in big cities.

It's good for us because it gives us--not just activists, but the large majority of the state who are activist-adjacent--a chance to tell them what we want them to know, to deal with, ask them questions, etc.

Maybe along the way they'll notice problems that need fixing at the federal level (like a 30-year, $3 trillion infrastructure lag), and maybe national media will shed light on our local politics in a way that forces some of our more cartoonish leaders to have some respect for their positions.

And of course, it's good for the size and health of the activist class in our state.  It gets people excited and involved in ways that outlast the campaign. Especially in a small state where activism is inclusive and accessible, that's a big plus.

--
Twitter: @DougLindner

Agreed with most points (4.00 / 1)
not trying to pick the "Should NH have FITN" fight that Markos and other like to argue. As I mention in my closing I think NH offers a lot to the POTUS selection process

But is NH better off because of FITN or not? Would we be more interested in solving our own state issues if the carnival did not come to down every four years? Would "Claremont" have dragged on so long? Would be able to focus more on rail transit to Boston?

Perhaps the answer is that by having the attention of the POTUS Candidates, things like rail to Boston are more likely due to federal support etc.

Hope >> Fear





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[ Parent ]
Wasn't intending to pick a fight with you, Mike. (4.00 / 1)
I respect that you're trying to start a more thoughtful conversation about something important--I'm just making the case for my side.

For what it's worth, I appreciate that you mentioned decayed bridges and rail transit among issues lacking appropriate attention. I'm usually the one complaining about those things when they come up on BH. Although, I would and do argue that they'll never get rectified without federal money, so it doesn't bother me that potential POTUSes have to sit in traffic between Logan and Manchester every four years.

--
Twitter: @DougLindner

[ Parent ]
Walking and Chewing Gum (0.00 / 0)
There is certainly a large faction of NH politicos that are disproportionately focused on the national game.

Kudos to you Mike for raising the question.

However, the succubi will not yield. They, to quote John Edwards, will be fine. Thus, it is all about the pomp and less about the people.

I suggest a super PAC that operates independent of local matters. I'd name it, "Vote First or Die."


"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

or... (4.00 / 3)
There is certainly a large faction of NH politicos that are disproportionately focused on the national game.

OR you hang with the small number that are focused on the 'national game' so your perception is grossly skewed.

Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  

[ Parent ]
Touché n/t (0.00 / 0)


note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other
[ Parent ]
True Enough, Ray. (0.00 / 0)

Give my regards to Debbie.  

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden
[ Parent ]
Kozikowski? (0.00 / 0)


Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  
[ Parent ]
Close (0.00 / 0)
"I'm joining the witness protection program," said Debbie Kozikowski, an undecided superdelegate from Massachusetts, a state that Senator Clinton won.

LOL!

The Florida Debbie.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

[ Parent ]
Okay, but what is your point? (0.00 / 0)

Your original comment was "There is certainly a large faction of NH politicos that are disproportionately focused on the national game".  To which I replied that is not true. And then you replied with a totaly nonsensical response.  What point are you trying to make?

Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  
[ Parent ]
Coloring outside the lines. (0.00 / 0)
My point is to give your subordinates permission to.

Remember when SGS would talk about "herding?"

As far as this specific thread, cryptic works for me.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

[ Parent ]
I have never been good at understanding people (0.00 / 0)
when they talk in code.  I was raised in a very blunt family so I never learned that skill. Oh well...

Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  
[ Parent ]
Well, I could, a la Rep. Splaine, hash it out with you (0.00 / 0)
but that seldom works well.


"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden
[ Parent ]
Upsides, Downsides (4.00 / 3)
Upsides: Corny as it is, I do like the genuine interactions you can get from the FITN process. Plus, I like that during FITN I am not more than 25 miles from hearing someone up close who could be the next President.

Downsides:

* I think it can make activists lazy and entitled.  It creates a whole tier of amateur/professional politico folk who wait for the money train to come in and grab on to something, instead of using that energy at the state level.

* It makes the hobby legislature feel more self-important than it is, when the candidates come around for endorsements.  The LAST thing the House of O'Brien needs is to feel any more self-important than it already does in its bubble.

Upside (though this year a mixed blessing): the FITN makes people more politically aware here, and more prone to GOTV (in my view as someone "from away").  It creates more activists. Mixed blessing this year because this is the first time since 96 there is no excitement on our side.



birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

Adding another downside: (4.00 / 1)
Our state political reporters tend to get divided up into FITN focused and not.  This takes an already tiny amount of state political coverage and cuts it in half.

Why is this awful? Because if NH were a state with a population size and media-powerhuse focus such as NY, the stuff going on in Concord would be at the top of Google News on a semi-regular basis.  Which in turn would help put a stop to some of it out of the basic exposure factor.

Even as it is we lose ground to state news in WI, NJ, OH, and such, despite how what's happening in Concord is more radical in many ways.

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

[ Parent ]
Well Dean... (0.00 / 0)
Name me a state with a million residents that has as many political reporters as NH.  Without the lure of the primary our local media would be much smaller and less responsive to the state news.

Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  
[ Parent ]
Bahrain (0.00 / 0)
But your point is well taken.

--
Twitter: @DougLindner
[ Parent ]
This is an interesting challenge! (4.00 / 1)
You make a good point, and what's interesting about it is that it's a knowable question whether the lure of the primary attracts more reportage in general.

If we go over the river to VT, e.g., we have a state with a smaller population than NH and a late presidential primary.

I will look into this via friends who know well who covers doings in Montpelier.

Relatedly, iirc there was a report in recent years about the dearth of state political coverage in general.

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

[ Parent ]
a dearth is an understatement...hence the circus minimus c/t (0.00 / 0)


note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other
[ Parent ]
Agreed... (0.00 / 0)
I think the media focus on the presidentials does take way focus from Concord and is part of the challenge of FITN.

It's more exciting to hear what Mitt had for Breakfast than understand and communicate what the cuts to high ed will to do a University System that is already one of the most expensive for our college bound youth.

Hope >> Fear





Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

[ Parent ]
but (4.00 / 1)
the lazy NH media isn't paying attention to any of those things during non-presidential election years. NH has terrible media under any circumstances. That wouldn't change if the circus left town.  
[ Parent ]
Dean... (4.00 / 1)
Your downsides are actually not true.

Over the past years I have attended state committee meetings or state conventions in more than two dozen states and I wouldn't trade our geared up activists or low maintenance legistors for any of those I have met anywhere else.


Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  

[ Parent ]
frankly (0.00 / 0)
I didn't run into more than one or two BH regulars at any of the right to work hearings, and that's when support counted most; not on the blog but on your feet in protest of the budget cuts, the id bill, rtwfl, whatever on and on.

Those who framed issues better turned out more people and out won their battles, Marriage Equality being foremost early- first success in the turn out dept, remember all those beautiful red shirts ? These issues are as state level as it gets...we here are guilty perhaps of accepting Unions as a part of the mix, but we didn't care much to talk about their issues until the fat was already in the fire. So we are guilty of caring more about the election process, the game if you will,but less about outcomes for real people.

Facts: NH has the highest median income in the country, the 6th highest income per capita, the lowest rate of charitable giving, and one of the highest rates of volunteerism. These features seem to remain constant over the years, no matter who controls what.
We have our quirks.
Mine is that on the one hand I often muse about whether its the Primary that keeps us from a full time focus on NH issues, but on the other if it were cancelled there are a lot of nice places to live free. Its hard to live free, when you're an  addict, and this power game is all that and more. Alluring, addictive, expensive, tawdry, yet occasionally highly rewarding.


note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

[ Parent ]
Response to both you and Ray: (0.00 / 0)
I'm not talking about the activists who are regularly involved at all or various levels, from school board to Concord to issue advocacy to federal races to the Primary.

I'm talking about the ones who come out once every four years for the POTUS primary, either for hire or for their name in the papers.

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

[ Parent ]
I have been in charge of state wide and presidentials... (0.00 / 0)
and while I will admit that there are some who only come out for the two year presidential cycle there are an equal amount that avoid the presidentials like the plague.

That said, many of our best activists first were lured in because of a presidential candidate, then became involved in the party or with state or local candidates.

Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  

[ Parent ]
Dayton Duncan's book on the primary (4.00 / 1)
has a chapter about someone drawn into working for a presidential candidate named Molly Kelly.

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker
[ Parent ]
Right.. and I think that is the trick... (0.00 / 0)
And perhaps real question behind my diary.

how do we convert people from volunteering for a presidential campaign to making calls for marriage equity or other state wide issues.

Hope >> Fear





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[ Parent ]
Mike, We do... (0.00 / 0)

The Democratic Party gains a couple hundred new activists post primary every cycle.

Take Joanne Dowdell as an example.  Joanne was never involved before the Obama campaign.  She ran to be an Obama delegate and won. After the election she ran for Secretary of the NHDP and won, she now represents us on the DNC and is a member of the resolutions committee.  She is a candidate for congress.

I could honestly list a hundred from 2008 alone.

Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  

[ Parent ]
great example (4.00 / 1)
and I came to be involved have being very involved with the Dean Primary Campaign.

Do you think we would be any further along in solving our Structural Deficit if we did not get everyone busy with the Primary/Presidential every 4 years or so?

Adding, it perfectly reasonable answer to say that the only reason someone like me knows about or cares about our Structural Deficit is that the excitement of a presidential campaign got me involved with politics in NH.  


Hope >> Fear





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[ Parent ]
Quick answer is no. (0.00 / 0)


Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  
[ Parent ]
Mixed feelings (0.00 / 0)
Anti: Grossly unfair to the other states.

Pro: Taken very seriously, done at the retail level to avoid the dynamics of cable coverage. I never felt better about New Hampshire than I did after the MSNBC debate where Tim Russert tried to get the candidates to sign off on the approach offered by his former boss Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Off The Deep End (0.00 / 0)
The parade of Presidential hopefuls, a few clucks aside, has been fairly mainstream. At least since I've noticed, circa 1976.

I'm not sure how extreme your state politics has been, as a whole. Shaheen and Lynch are hardly flag burning hippie types. Benson has been demonized, but was he any worse than a Mitt Romney?

Unfortunately, the Free Staters are emerging in NH, just as the Teabaggers are grabbing the spotlight nationally. So, in the context of a primary, you have local extremists prostrating themselves at the feet of national quacks.

Meaning, 2012 could be a very low point for the NH Primary. Worse yet, the collateral damage to your homes.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

Save it (0.00 / 0)
It makes and keeps NH one of the most political states in the nation. As a politics junkie, thats a good thing. As a Granite Stater, its just one more thing that makes our state unique and awesome! Also, why can't we use it to highlight dangerous bridges? What would make more headlines than Anderson Cooper or Mitt Romney ending up in the Merrimack or Souhegan?
Straw Man: FITN bad for NH? | 36 comments

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