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One week later with, nearly 300 votes cast, three potential candidate separate themselves from the pack. Hassan, Connolly, and Cilley seem to have the early enthusiasm of the Netroots.
With 11 month months to go to the primary certainly many things can change. Also keep in mind (AFAIK) only Hassan has taken actual steps towards candidacy with the establishment of a PAC (and Website) to collect campaign funds.
We hope that BlueHampshire will be an open and productive sounding board and discussion commons during the campaign cycle for this important office.
For our next poll we would like to gauge your sense of the priority of the issues facing the Dem Nominee. Please use this thread to "Nominate" your issue to be included in the November Poll.
New Hampshire Republicans were giddy with the news that John Lynch is not seeking another term.
As with their actions in Concord this year, actions that will hurt so many women, men and children of this state, their hubris prevents them from seeing clearly.
With Lynch's announcement the floodgates have opened. We have a number of talented Democrats who are openly considering running, and others who will surprise us.
On their side is Tea Party favorite Ovide Lamontagne and anti-equality leader Kevin Smith, who already directs Bill O'Brien's radical agenda.
Some months back, I happened by chance to meet one of Vermont's 2010 Democratic candidates for Governor. (Vermont, like New Hampshire, has a late primary, and you may recall that the gubernatorial contest was a nail-biter. Part of what put Peter Shumlin over the top was that the other four candidates whom he defeated in the primary worked non-stop for him up to election day.)
I asked what the secret was to a successful party primary. He said there were two key elements: 1) More than two credible candidates, and 2) They all happened to have known and/or worked with each other before in the legislature.
Both of those elements kept the race about the issues, and the number of candidates kept Democratic voices and values constantly in the media's eye.
Governor Lynch has handed us a golden opportunity to showcase new leaders and new ideas, and most of all, to present a stark contrast to the dim reality we face today in light of the veto-proof GOP majority.
Let's not waste it by pre-anointing one candidate on the one hand, or by character attacks on our fellow candidates on the other.
(UPDATE: Here are Parts Two and Three of the series as well - Dean)
John DiStaso at the Union Leader has put out his second puff piece to help along the Kevin Smith for Governor trial balloon.
Smith, you may recall, was, like Kelly Ayotte, a functionary of the one-term Benson era, and is currently the director of Cornerstone, which released the single most immoral, offensive ad of the 2010 campaign season in New Hampshire.
In his ode to Smith DiStaso writes: "He said several legislative leaders 'thanked me' for not pressuring them to focus on the social issues."
Does DiStaso read his own paper? Here's the Union Leader's Tom Fahey on how thankful Republican reps are not to be pressured by Kevin Smith, or Kevin Smith's proxy:
O'Brien lobbied last week to save from certain doom a bill that barred state funding for Planned Parenthood and any other abortion provider.
Health and Human Services Committee clerk Rep. Susan Emerson, R-Rindge, steamed, "I really resent being pressured like that" when she emerged from the GOP mini-caucus with O'Brien.
She complained later that a bipartisan subcommittee from both sides of the abortion argument met for hours before voting, 8-0, to kill the bill, HB 228. They worried about the effect it would have on 26 hospitals and 24 health clinics across the state, as well health insurers, Emerson said.
"I've been here 10 years, and I have never had a speaker call us in and tell us he wanted a bill passed," Emerson said. "He told us he did not want that bill killed because Cornerstone wanted it passed."
I think this is a great idea. Many voters do not even know what the Executive Council is. But with Kevin Smith as the Republican nominee for governor, all of New Hampshire voters who are appalled at what was done to the women of this state will have a very identifiable person to keep in mind as we march into our town halls and schools on voting day to toss the EC out and keep Smith from getting in.
CONCORD, N.H. -- Democratic Gov. John Lynch has overcome an anti-incumbent groundswell and defeated Republican John Stephen to win a historic fourth consecutive two-year term as New Hampshire's governor.
Are there enough donuts in Massachusetts to make up for this sweep? (No, of course the UL doesn't count.)
UPDATE: And here comes the Laconia Citizen!
Lynch has succeeded in steering this state through treacherous waters these past two years. He has managed to accomplish this without resorting to a sales or income tax. Moreover, he has not yielded to the enticements of those who push for expanded gambling.
Meeting this challenge has not been easy and, yes, there have been missteps. But Lynch has remained focused and sensible. He has been even-handed and serious. And, most importantly, he is someone who is widely respected, both in government and in the private sector.
Followers of Stephen have exploited [SB 500] irresponsibly, including one mail piece that depicts photos of Lynch and several sex offenders and calling the group "Team Lynch."
We've seen negative campaigning aplenty, but this attack by Cornerstone Action was particularly troubling and shameful.
...But of all of Stephen's claims, his allegation that Lynch is not a leader rings the most hollow. Lynch is a populist. It's hard to imagine a hand in this state he hasn't shaken in his nearly six years of leading New Hampshire.
There were many reasons for the Telegraph to endorse Lynch. But in my fantasy version, it was Cornerstone's disgusting act which was the deciding factor.
Will any paper outside of the Union Leader go for the donut guy?
Even through difficult economic times, New Hampshire has fared well under Democratic Gov. John Lynch. He has earned re-election to a fourth two-year term.
Under Lynch, job growth has occurred at the second fastest rate in the nation, second only to Kentucky. Unemployment has been moderate, with the seasonally adjusted rate for September at just 5.5 percent, well below the national average of 9.6 percent for the same month.
Lynch has tackled the recession head-on with an innovative programs to limit job losses and get people back to work.
Adding: We're all a little busy right now with the election right on us, but after Lynch wins a historic fourth term, I think I am going to spend a fair amount of time on Cornerstone for their Karl Rove/Lee Atwater mailer. It is easily the sleaziest, most shameful ad I've ever seen in New Hampshire politics. And considering some of the slime that has passed through the pipes from the GOP or pro-GOP groups in recent years, that is really saying something. John Stephen deserves to lose solely on the basis of not publicly rebuking that ad. Here's hoping WMUR's Josh, who has really been a great debate panelist these past two nights, brings it up tomorrow.
In 1998, Karl Rove’s mentor, Lee Atwater, masterminded an infamous political ad that played on racial fears and portrayed Gov. Michael Dukakis as soft on crime. The Willie Horton ad featured the menacing mug shot of Horton, an African-American convicted of assault, armed robbery, and rape while out on a prison furlough. The ad was roundly condemned as racist and Atwater eventually issued a deathbed apology to Dukakis.
Histoy repeats itself in a direct mail piece attacking Gov. John Lynch. The mailer from Cornerstone Action attacks Lynch for his support of SB 500, the prison parole reform bill Cornerstone describes as "John Lynch's sex offender release bill." The mailer features Lynch in a line-up with four sex offenders, including two African-Americans and a Latino.
Why hasn't John Stephen denounced this mailer? Where's the outrage?
(How ironic that a group with alleged Christian values is basically, and falsely, equating John Lynch to a sex offender. John Lynch, who has been more successful than any other governor in keeping poverty at bay for his citizens. Disgusting. NB: both links are in .pdf format. - promoted by Dean Barker)
ACTION ALERT: MAKE SURE YOUR NEIGHBORS KNOW THE TRUTH!
A vile, outrageous and false attack from the National Organization of Marriage/Cornerstone Action arrived in many of mailboxes across New Hampshire this week. We need your help to make sure your neighbors know the truth!
The mail piece, which you can see here, continues John Stephen and company's false attacks on Gov. Lynch's strong record of public safety.
Here's how you can help. Print out this flyer and distribute it your neighbors so that they know the truth: John Stephen's attacks are what the Portsmouth Herald has called "a cheap political trick."
John Stephen can't wait to get back into power so he can be like Kelly and start frivolous lawsuits, the goal of which is to keep you uninsured:
Stephen said one of the first things he would do if elected on Nov. 2 would be do "make sure... New Hampshire is the 23rd state to join the lawsuit" alleging the health care bill is unconstitutional, which received hearty approval from many in the church.
(The "many" there refers to the 912 Glenn Beck crowd.)
After all that bluff and bluster, after all those misleading ads from hate groups, and even with a typically pro-GOP UNH sample, Johnny Stephen is still turning out to be (.pdf) 2010's version of... what was that fellow's name again?
John Lynch: 51%
John Stephen 37%
Undecided: 9%
Other: 3%
709 respondents, 10/7-10/12, MoE +/-3.7
Is it mixing metaphors to stick a fork in a donut?
Oh, and: thanks to the careful stewardship of John Lynch and the Democratic majorities in House and Senate during this Great Recession, New Hampshire saw its unemployment drop yet again last month to 5.5%, among the lowest rates in the nation (release below the fold).
A: This is easy to see, thanks to the Union Leader devoting it's front page real estate to a big font notice of the latest Rasmussen poll (I saw it at the check-out counter at the grocery store).
Rasmussen, which is to polls what FAUX News is to actual journalism.
Meanwhile, the most recent poll in the Land of Reality shows John Lynch with a commanding lead.
Fiscal conservative John Stephen knows how to run a frugal campaign!
WHEN A QUESTION comes up about Republican John Stephen's campaign for governor, it usually goes to Greg Moore for an answer.
But Moore's name does not appear on Stephen's campaign finance reports as having received a paycheck -- yet.
..."I have not received any compensation from John Stephen or from anybody else for the purposes of work I have done for the campaign. None. Not one dollar," he said.
Frugal, I tell you!:
Some of [then HHS Commissioner] Stephen's other moves struck State House observers as galling. For instance, he added a former campaign aide, Greg Moore, to the health department's payroll as his public affairs director. Moore described his mission at the time as "to communicate all the good things we do." But the hiring seemed little more than political patronage to some.
"That was a standing joke in the State House," former Republican state representative Elizabeth Hager said of Moore's position.
Moore is now a spokesman for Stephen's gubernatorial campaign.
Whether it's using the state money to create a position for former campaign help, or secretive $300,000 payoffs to clean up after the mess made from a partisan resume building exercise, New Hampshire Republican candidates for higher office are frugal!
"The John Stephen campaign has accepted $33,058 in contributions - including $23,000 from the Dunkin' Donuts franchises in Massachusetts and Connecticut - that appear to be exceed those allowed under state finance law and previous interpretation of that law," said Pamela Walsh, campaign manager for NH for John Lynch.
"We are asking the Attorney General to quickly clarify whether these contributions are acceptable under New Hampshire law, or whether they exceed legal contribution limits and should be returned," Walsh said.
And then there's this, which is appalling:
About 13 percent of John Stephen's campaign funds - $124,000 - come from a series of businesses that share two addresses in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Lynch campaign has called on Stephen to come clean about the donors, including their interests in New Hampshire, and about whether there are any New Hampshire businesses or citizens who are invested in these companies.
