Prog Blogs, Orgs & Alumni
Bank Slate
Betsy Devine
birch, finch, beech
Democracy for NH
Live Free or Die
Mike Caulfield
Miscellany Blue
Granite State Progress
Seacoast for Change
Still No Going Back
Susan the Bruce
Tomorrow's Progressives
Politicos & Punditry
The Burt Cohen Show
John Gregg
Krauss
Landrigan
Lawson
Pindell
Primary Monitor
Primary Wire
Scala
Schoenberg
Spiliotes
Welch
Campaigns, Et Alia.
Paul Hodes
Carol Shea-Porter
Ann McLane Kuster
John Lynch
Jennifer Daler
ActBlue Hampshire
NHDP
DCCC
DSCC
DNC
National
Balloon Juice
billmon
Congress Matters
DailyKos
Digby
Hold Fast
Eschaton
FiveThirtyEight
MyDD
The Next Hurrah
Open Left
Senate Guru
Swing State Project
Talking Points Memo
50 State Blog Network
Alabama
Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
As of the time of this post, there are still a handful of small towns that haven't reported, so it's not an exact science. That said, I think I'm ready to call this race.
In the contest between which self-funder got the most bang for his buck, the winner is clear: Jim Bender.
So far, Bender earned 12,431 votes, while spending $1,549,050 of his fortune purchasing candidate viability. That means it cost Bender roughly $125 per vote.
Bill Binnie, on the other hand, wasted a whopping $5,337,594 of his own treasure. However, he got a meaningfully higher - if not electorally important - vote count of 19,151. That puts his one vote purchase price at about $279.
For less than half the price-per-vote ratio of Binnie, Bender kept within 5 percentage points of him. Well done!
Political types: I just received a robocall for Jim Bender for Senate on my cell phone, which (I've now confirmed) is in the National Do Not Call Registry. Am I correct that this despicable behavior is illegal in New Hampshire?
and
Just got another one on my home phone, also on the NDNC Registry. Filed a complaint with the NH Attorney General's office (DOJ-CPB@doj.nh.gov). I hope everyone who receives an illegal call will do the same.
(I'm keeping this off the front page until/unless we can corroborate this with more examples.)
On economic issues, all of the candidates agreed they would repeal any remaining money from the federal stimulus package.
OK then:
President Obama's much-maligned economic stimulus package added as many as 3.3 million jobs to the economy during the second quarter of this year, and may have prevented the nation from lapsing back into recession, according to a report released Tuesday by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
In its latest quarterly assessment of the act, the CBO said the stimulus lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.7 and 1.8 percentage points during the quarter ending in June and increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million. The higher figure would come close to making good on Obama's pledge that the act would save or create as many as 3.5 million jobs by the end of this year.
Adding: I have a dream that someday I will be able to have a genuine policy disagreement with the opposing party's ideology that is grounded in reality.
They're too chicken to go after Boomers and seniors - they know it'll cost them votes. Instead, New Hampshire Republican candidates for federal office are gunning to loot Gen X-ers and Millenials and the disabled, who they think are paying less attention.
Frank Guinta:
When it comes to reforming Social Security and other programs, he would consider creating personal accounts and increasing the retirement age.
"Everything has to be on the table," said Guinta.
Sean Mahoney:
"But the younger generations, they need to understand there should be other options. Your retirement age may be later in life than your parents' were."He also said younger people should "be able to have a private option, take some ownership over your own retirement."
The Jim Bender for US Senate Campaign will be hosting a forum entitled,
"No Compromise: Secure our Borders Tight and Solid" Forum and breakfast with special guest speaker Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project on Wednesday, September 1st. The event will be held at Bickford's Family Restaurant in Nashua.
Jim Gilchrist:
On the other hand, he says, Congress could spur an insurrection from the anti-illegal immigration side if it approves a plan that would legitimize those now in the country illegally. Such a move, he says, would undermine this country's rule of law.
"I'm not going to promote insurrection, but if it happens, it will be on the conscience of the members of Congress who are doing this," he said. "I will not promote violence in resolving this, but I will not stop others who might pursue that."
and:
Several prominent civil rights groups support Chase's claim that Gilchrist allowed members of the National Alliance, one of the United States' largest neo-Nazi organizations, to help with his 2005 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives. A former volunteer in Gilchrist's campaign told researchers from the Southern Poverty Law Center that "they were basically allowing skinheads and white nationalists to work the phone banks and do IT and distribute National Alliance fliers targeting non-whites," and that "[when I told them] that I didn't want to work for a campaign that was tainted by white supremacy in any way, they told me not to cause a stir."
The Seacoast Republican Women hosted a candidate forum last night in Portsmouth. The doubleheader began with the six GOP candidates for the 1st Congressional District seat, followed by 90 minutes with the six GOP U.S. Senatorial candidates. My observations and impressions follow.
General
Atmosphere: Large, enthusiastic audience. The moderator stressed the event was "educational and informational" in nature and discouraged confrontation. The candidates followed her orders. No fireworks.
Format: The questions were provided to candidates prior to the event, eliminating rude surprises. No questions from the audience. Included a "lightning round" featuring litmus test questions, limited to almost unanimous simple yes/no answers.
The candidates: The lesser known candidates (Congressional candidates Peter Bearse and Rick Parent; Senate candidates Dennis Lamare and Gerard Beloin) were more spontaneous, more thoughtful, less guarded, and less scripted. They, of course, have no chance to win.
It's August; why not trot out a cancer version of ObamaCare Death Panels? Jim Bender:
"The Food and Drug Administration or any other government agency should not be making the decision as to whether continued treatment with the drug Avastin is worth it. If this medicine extends the life of a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a friend, it most certainly is. The FDA's job is to look at product safety and effectiveness and their decisions should not be impacted on cost of treatment," said Jim Bender.
Uh-huh. OK, then:
But the FDA and its advisory panels don't consider cost effectiveness when reviewing drugs for approval; the agency is charged only with reviewing a product's health risks and benefits. An independent panel of cancer experts convened by FDA voted 12-1 last week to recommend dropping the agency's endorsement of Avastin's use against breast cancer. The panel cited recent studies finding that the drug did not extend patients' life spans and also increased the incidence of side effects and other complications.
Drew Cline reports GOP U.S. Senate candidates Kelly Ayotte, Jim Bender, and Bill Binnie have signed a pledge vowing to repeal all federal estate and gift taxes. The facts:
Less than half a percent of estates pay any estate tax.
The average small business or family farm pays about 12 percent.
37 percent of the value of estates worth more than $1 million and 56 percent of estates worth more than $10 million have never been subject to taxation as income.
Repeal would cost at least $500 billion over 10 years.
Repeal costs about 15 times more than extending unemployment benefits did, and we heard that the benefits were too expensive to finance with deficits.
"I believe in the freedom of religion and all of the protections guaranteed by the US Constitution. There are over 100 mosques in New York City, and Muslims are free to worship at those locations. It's not about rights; it's about doing what's right. To build a mosque on this site near where so many died on September 11th is wrong, like deliberately pouring salt into an open wound."
Shorter Bender: Freedom of religion is okay so long as we put a quota on the Muslims.
Bender may think this will add relevancy to his losing senate bid in these waning days of the primary, but all it does is attach shame to him in this most sorry episode of the 2010 election cycle.
Oh, and thanks, Harry, for opening the floodgates. Who's next?
I'm flippin' pissed at Mr. Bender this afternoon -- he sent me a political ad via SMS text message to my phone. Unsolicited. My phone isn't listed anywhere, and I never even provide it except to coworkers and such, so he's spamming.
And he cost me a quarter. I don't have any text message allowance because I don't typically send or receive them; I think the last one I sent was three years ago (special circumstances.) So every message in either direction costs me a quarter.
The message advertises a YouTube video which (by the way) my phone also can't handle. I'm not going to bother to copy the random character string into this message.
I've called his office and given the poor volunteer at the end of the line a flame-o-gram to pass along, and also my phone number to be removed from the list. If I get another message, I'm sending a bill.
I'll keep this simple since the two top (self-funder) contenders, at least in my area of New Hampshire, are light years ahead of all others in both parties.
Who's winning the Pointless Signs on Nobody's Property demographic? We all know how the scruffy weeds vote can tip an election in a swing state like ours.
A fat, burping (flatulent?) Uncle Sam ad isn't going to change the fact that two self-funder guys with disyllabic last names starting in B in a four-way primary is one self-funder guy with a disyllabic last name starting in B too many.
All I imagine Bender doing at this point is shaving votes off of Binnie, and making Ayotte's path to the nomination a bit easier.
(Thanks for stopping by Congressman. Only 160 days until we get to vote for you to be the next Senator from the great state of New Hampshire. - promoted by Mike Hoefer)
For 43 days, thousands of barrels of oil have been spilling into the Gulf Coast. 43 days of environmental disaster because big oil companies were given a blank check on offshore drilling with little regulation and poor oversight.
Now, with the recent failure of the "top kill" strategy, there is no end in sight to the amount of oil that is spilling into the Gulf. This spill is poisoning our waters, suffocating our plants and wildlife, and jeopardizing the health of our citizens - threatening jobs, businesses and communities along the Gulf Coast.
My thoughts and prayers are with the people and communities down on the Gulf, who are dealing day and night with the devastating aftermath of the spill.
This disaster was a warning sign. When government puts the profits of Big Oil first, when politicians listen to special interests instead of the people they are supposed to represent - then we put the safety of our workers, communities and economy at risk.
Remember, waaaaay back, yesterday morning, when legacy candidate (Ayn) Rand Paul was suddenly the standard bearer and knight in shining armor for all senate candidates who don't have the official or unofficial blessing of the national Republicans and the NRSC? Ovide Lamontagne:
"Like Dr. Paul, I have been humbled at the outpouring of support for my campaign from a broad coalition of Republicans, Independents, Tea Party and 9/12 activists and other friends of freedom and liberty. I am the authentic conservative and independent-minded reformer in this race.
Jim Bender:
"Rand Paul is an example of the strength of 'We the People' versus they 'the DC insiders.'"
Well, what a difference a day makes.
Do Jim Bender and Ovide Lamontagne support the right of private companies to discriminate based on race? The Americans with Disabilities Act? The Fair Housing Act?
Or, just to put a twisted cap onto it: do those two support a candidate who is honest about his undiluted libertarian views in the morning, and then in the afternoon, after even Jim DeMint wouldn't touch him, becomes freedom's biggest phony?
And, not unrelatedly: I can't hardly believe it - we have a shot at Jim Bunning's seat.
Because she isn't a judge, Jim Bender and and Ovide Lamontagne can't even deign to consider voting for Elena Kagan.
Guess that leaves out poor Salmon Chase too. Sorry, Cornish; you'll have to make do with J.D. and Maxwell as your leading lights!
(Of course, we all know that Bender's and Lamontagne's opposition to Kagan has nothing whatsoever to do with Kagan herself or anything principled, and everything to do with trying to paint Ayotte into a corner over her previous support for The Wise and Overly Empathetic Latina.)
Don't know whether to laugh at this bit of sanity, or cry that it has become as rare as the dodo in the Republican party of 2010. From a Jim Bender press release:
The authorities have arrested Faisal Shahzad as a suspect in the botched Times Square car bomb attempt.
Mr. Shahzad is a naturalized citizen of the United States, and as such he must be tried according to the laws of the United States. If Mr. Shahzad is indeed the man responsible for these crimes, he is a wicked man who sought to bring terror and destruction onto American soil. Times Square is a tourist destination, busy with parents and their children. The people behind this heinous act are cowards seeking to destroy innocent American lives.
I'm no lawyer, but I read the Constitution, and it's clear on this subject. I would oppose attempts to strip Mr. Shahzad of his citizenship and his legal rights. The Founding Fathers knew there could be traitors even within our own country. The Constitution specifically speaks to the crime of Treason and our judicial system has over 200 years of experience fending off enemies from within. In recent memory, we can look to the case of Timothy McVeigh to see that it is possible to uphold our legal system and seek justice, and we can see that these goals are not in conflict with one another. In trying situations like these, it is more important than ever that we adhere to our Constitutional values.
Has the entire NHGOP, giddy with the MA-Senate race, gone insane?
Self-funder Jim Bender's release, after announcing that he raised a half-million dollars - from himself, states:
We also believe that a man is known by the company he keeps, and the friends which he has. Too many politicians, such as Barack Obama, and perhaps others in this election cycle, have only "paid friends." Nobody knows Obama friends from high school or college, or even Harvard Law School. When possible friends were discovered, such as Jeremiah Wright, they were immediately repudiated.
"Even the liberal voters are very concerned about waste -- they're concerned about fraud, they're concerned about how large our government has become. So, we've been really well received everywhere we've gone," Republican Senate candidate Jim Bender said.
I admit it. Sometimes I get really jealous of the GOP, who have stereotypes so durably believed, yet so divorced from reality. It must be nice for them.
Poor Fred Tausch - after an initial field clearing for Ayotte, the Very Serious self-funders are coming out of the woodwork. Say hello to Jim Bender:
Jim Bender of Hollis, a private equity investor who formerly headed Nashua-based Logicraft, Inc., confirmed yesterday that he will file an exploratory committee to formally begin weighing a run for outgoing Sen. Judd Gregg's seat.
...Bender, however, is very serious.
"I'm strongly considering a candidacy because we need to get the federal deficit under control and we need congressional term limits," he said.
And don't forget about William Binnie!
Binnie is keeping his cards close publicly on just how far along he is in the Senate exploration phase.
But Republicans who have spoken to him say he's very serious. They expect him to run.
I loooove self-funders. Richie Rich Tarrant's senate bid against Bernie Sanders in Vermont remains one of my all-time favs. And I suspect now that the go-go years of George W.'s radical free marketeerism are coming to an end, we'll see more of these captains of industry buying their way into nominations to "fix" things in DC.
So, where does Ayotte go now to ward off challengers? To the hard-right of the birthers and nullificationists, or the banksters? So many questions for Judd and Brooks and Big John to work out...
