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
The oddly named US Chamber of Commerce, in addition to taking money form foreign companies that specialize in outsourcing, recently dumped one million dollars into smearing Paul Hodes.
The UNH Survey Center felt the need to re-issue their earlier poll, apparently. Their new poll has literally all the flaws of their last one and even exaggerates them - like taking the youth vote down to 7% of the electorate from the historical 12-16%. The only positive adjustment was increasing the sample size.
As this year's campaign has unfolded, a common theme has emerged among the three Republican candidates for Federal office. Kelly Ayotte, Frank Guinta, and Charlie Bass - in addition to holding many similar hard right positions - have all shown themselves to be ethically challenged.
Other contributors to this site have provided the documentation to support that assertion. Suffice it for me to give a very brief overview.
As NH Attorney General, Kelly Ayotte violated a basic ethical tenet by letting her political ambitions influence her decision on the death penalty in a capital case. Frank Guinta can't give a credible explanation as to where an additional $355,000 came from for his campaign. Charlie Bass gave a classic example of the Washington revolving door in his assistance to (and subsequently profiting from) the New England Wood Pellet company.
Their three Democratic opponents, on the other hand, have shown themselves to be stand-up individuals. Paul Hodes, Carol Shea-Porter, and Annie McLane Kuster have well-deserved and solid reputations for being true public servants.
Voters in New Hampshire, therefore, have a very clear choice on one more front, namely, ethics. It's another reason for all Granite Staters of good will to rally in support of Paul, Carol, and Annie.
Today a group of "a group of former NH prosecutors--including a number of former Assistant Attorneys General and former United States Attorneys" blasted Kelly Ayotte for her politicization of the death penalty. An excerpt (via email):
The connection between her political ambitions and the application of the death penalty is clear and unambiguous. This back and forth devalued the gravity of the death penalty decision that Ms. Ayotte made. Instead of hinging her death penalty decision on notions of justice and the law laced with concern for the victims involved and society at large, her decision turned on self-centered thoughts of political gain. The fact that her analysis of a death penalty decision included the impact that it would have on her political future is a violation of New Hampshire's proud tradition where the Office of the Attorney General is not the place for political dialogue.
The fact that she turned to political operatives such as Mr. Varsalone as a sounding board during her time as Attorney General underscores this point. In Ms. Ayotte's response to Mr Varsalone, she stated nothing of the facts of the case, the proper application of the death penalty, the loss of an officer or the suffering of the family that he left behind. Instead, she responded to his description of a political opportunity by pointing immediately to the fact that her death penalty decision would be a hallmark of her political career
The signatories are John Garvey, John Malmberg, Michael Pignatelli, William Shaheen, James Rosenberg, Mark Abramson, Lincoln Soldati, Paul Maggiotto, and Steven Gordon.
Attorney General Kelly Ayotte hard at work in 2006:
"Recovering from the Democratic tsunami. With a dem gov, house and senate, its a whole new world. check out the UL front page from sunday. Future of the GOP article. Whose name is first?? Me. It must be killing Johny who is apparently already contacting people to say he has an interest in running for congress."
"Johny" [sic] would be John Stephen. Apparently there are rivalries among the spawn of the Benson Administration.
After reading Jack's post from Politico about Ms. Ayotte's response to E-Mail-Gate 2.0, and wondering why as a simple matter of personal integrity Ms. Ayotte would refuse to fire an employee who would make wildly abhorrent jokes about her prosecution of an ongoing capital punishment case, I wondered who is Rob Varsalone?
1) First, her "friend" Rob Varsalone was hired in June to be her campaign strategist.
Leapfrogging the somnolent state press, Hodes himself spread the word tonight on Hardball about Kelly Ayotte's cold embrace of capital punishment as a means to burnish her political aspirations:
I'll try to get it Scrib'd in a bit (UPDATE: a pic of the email exchange is below the fold), but for now, all you need to know is Ayotte's 2006 emailed response to a question about a possible opportunity opening up in NH-02 for higher office (the spelling errors are hers):
"Have you been following the last 2 Weeks. A police officer was klilled and I hannounced that I would seek the death penalty."
And while that is obviously the big shocker, it's also worthwhile noting that this is now another position Ayotte was considering besides US senator. Back in September, we learned she was thinking about the governor's office too.
It's no wonder the FRM ponzi scheme went unnoticed. That's what happens when an AG office is used - through pursuing executions and losing Supreme Court cases - as a proxy campaign vehicle.
http://kellyayottesenate.blogs...
http://seminal.firedoglake.com... Ayotte claims to be a protector of Women's interests but her tenure as a New Hampshire Attorney General tells quite a different story. She and her crew allowed for bad LE to run amok, assaulting and threatening men, women and children throughout the State of New Hampshire, and that's a FACT.
Borrowing from Alexi, this is the question everyone should be asking alleged fiscal hawk Republicans Kelly Ayotte, Charlie Bass, and Frank Guinta:
The question, for Kelly, Charlie, Frank:
The $700 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans - we don't have $700 billion - so my question for you is which country do you plan on borrowing $700 billion from? The Saudis? China?
I realize that in our current media paradigm Republicans are automatically exempt from criticism about their positions and actions relative to the deficit, but that's a darn good question, imo.
A new poll is out from ARG, who isn't normally a pollster I put a lot of trust in. Their previous poll was the one that claimed a tie in the gubernatorial race and that Ayotte was winning independents two to one. In this case, though, I think the poll deserves a little notice. For one thing, the demographics actually match state numbers much, much more closely than the risible UNH Survey Center poll from last week (and may even have a slight oversample of Democrats by a point or so, though there's still no cell phones in the sample).
Much more importantly, though, this poll clearly shows that the big mo is on Paul's side! In a matter of two weeks, ARG says he's picked up ten points of support and closed the gap by nine. Both Hodes and Ayotte have their bases behind them, though this sample shows a breathtaking 29-point gender gap (with Paul winning women by 8 and losing men by 21). With an MoE of 4, ARG now shows a race well within the margin of error (and with that MoE, libertarian Ken Blevens could bring in -3% of the vote).
How many Bahrainians are contributing to the effort to elect Kelly Ayotte?
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and Rep. Paul Hodes is being targeted again, this time in a nearly $1 million two-week television ad buy by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Thank you Justices Scalia and Thomas, for ensuring that our elections will be manipulated by non-Americans.
The delicate press of New Hampshire might want to touch on this aspect of who is paying for the TeeVee deluge Granite Staters are under.
Adding: and beyond the foreigners - how much money is BP and AIG and the like funneling into our elections this way?
"I have already contacted members of the (Division 1 House Finance Committee) to ask them to reconsider their vote. I will continue to fight to restore these funds," wrote Ayotte, the Republican nominee in the U.S. Senate race.
Two roads diverged in the yellow woods of campaigns, and Sarah Palin endorsed Kelly Ayotte took the phony one.
A frightening right-wing extremist, the $5k a plate DC crowd, and our own "independent" Kelly Ayotte:
A group of Republican Senate candidates including Sharron Angle of Nevada are gathering in Washington tonight for a $5,000 per person fundraiser, party officials confirmed.
Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, John Boozman of Arkansas, Dan Coats of Indiana and Marco Rubio of Florida are set to benefit along with Angle.
(US Senator Jim) DeMint said if someone is openly homosexual, they shouldn't be teaching in the classroom and he holds the same position on an unmarried woman who's sleeping with her boyfriend - she shouldn't be in the classroom.
So when will she be backing DeMint's idea to discriminate in the workplace against people for their sexual orientation, or, if women, their marital status?
Kelly Ayotte wants to repeal the private health insurance reform law for you and me, but when it comes to getting health care from the government, she's down with that.
If it's for her, I mean:
Ayotte would vote to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law and replace it with free market insurance reforms such as letting insurers sell coverage across state lines, letting businesses pool their coverage and placing limits on damages from medical malpractice lawsuits.
But while working for the state as Gov. Craig Benson's legal counsel, Ayotte was on the taxpayer-subsidized New Hampshire health plan.
In the latest entry in an ongoing series, the UNH Survey Center has some very funky numbers in their latest polling (all slanting to Ayotte's advantage, of course). Their sample size and poll composition tell one story: They're still living in Cloud Hampshire.
I've been concerned for a while now that Paul Hodes is missing the boat in his campaigning/ advertising. A little while back he was just a few points behind Ayotte and, according to a poll I just saw reported on MUR, he has slipped behind much more.
The first TV ad Hodes ran was the one where he was speaking over a hot dog eating contest, comparing DC with the gluttony going on behind him.It was hard to hear him and it was silly. I thought then he should ditch the cute and go for a serious, direct talk with the voters. These are serious times, frightening times, that require serious, direct communication. Instead, he has opted for more cute, ducking his vote for the stimulus and saying he's the fiscal conservative. This does not do the voters justice.
Hodes needs to defend his positions and votes directly and with conviction. He needs to talk about special interests and the fact that Ayotte is in lock step with the party that has fought every attempt to protect the middle class. He needs to defend the health care bill in terms that people understand and not just the 2 points about pre-existing conditions and kicking people off their policies. He needs to show passion and conviction about how the Republicans have fought tooth and nail against any provisions that support patient's rights over insurance companies; have fought tooth and nail against any financial reform to hold banks and other corporations accountable and protect consumers. He needs to combat the myth of Obamacare as government run healthcare. He is letting the Repugs frame the issues and he plays defense.
Now Ayotte is running exactly the kind of ad I was hoping Hodes would run. She speaks directly to the voters and delivers the talking points in a credible and un-scary way while walking through the New Hampshire woods. This is the way to gain credibility with voters.
It's time for Hodes to go on offense and attack Ayotte for her lax enforcement of mortgage fraud cases that came before her and generalize that to a lack of sympathy with working families - whether it's health care coverage/insurance reform, banking regulations or other regulations. She sides with big corporations. People need to understand how her lax enforcement as AG reflects her priorities and sympathies. When she was AG, she had the chance to use her position to stand up for home-owners and did she? NO!
Stand up, Paul, talk to the camera and tell the voters why you will protect them from the runaway tea party train hell bent on dismantling the middle class, and worrying only about the well off. Tell the voters you are in Washington to protect them against the very powerful corporations that have demonstrated in so many ways that all they care about is their profits. Tell the voters what will happen to the middle class if Repugs take over. Paint the picture. Take on Ayotte's positions on issues that effect our lives and our futures. If she calls it class warfare, tell her someone better fight for the middle class because if they don't it's going to disappear!
