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(Bumped, because I voted and BOY did it feel good to vote! - promoted by Dean Barker)
Granny D, shortly before she was arrested at the Capitol:
Dear friends, we would never seek to abolish now what has become our dear United States. But it is our constant intention that it should be a government of, by and for the people, not the special interests. Our right to alter our government must be used to sweep these halls clean of greedy interests so that people may use this government in service to each other's needs and to protect the condition of our earth. This we declare.
In the end, that's what election after election in this country comes down to: You and I and the Rest of Us against the powerful interests of the super-wealthy. They will always have a bigger and more expensive megaphone. But whether or not that megaphone drowns us out from time to time, there will always be more of us than them.
This is an Election Day Open Thread. Please leave your thoughts, observations, last-minute info, etc... in the thread.
And VOTE!
Adding: Until voting results come in, this is one of the least active days in political news, despite being our biggest traffic day on the site. So if you are new here, please enjoy on the following links on our highest-profile races: NH-Gov, NH-Sen, NH-01, NH-02.
(The following is a letter written by my daughter, Ariana, which I wanted to share with all of you)
You may know Paul Hodes as a public servant, a lawyer, or perhaps as a musician. I know him as something entirely different and unique. With less than a week left to go before New Hampshire decides who they'll send down to the US Senate, I want to tell you what I know about my father.
My father is a man of integrity, thoughtfulness, and strength of character who can stand behind any decision he makes because it's his own. He's smart, kind, and genuinely sensitive to the needs of his constituents; the combination of which allows him to weigh different outcomes of a situation, see the big picture, and understand how individuals might be affected by different decisions.
Out of everything I know about my father, the one thing that proves his earnest desire to do good is a simple choice he made many years ago: the decision he and my mom made to raise their family in New Hampshire.
Need another reason to GOTV? How's this from one of the last thinking conservatives in America:
At this point, it appears that Republicans will gain 35 seats. If all of the toss-ups broke for the Republicans, they could realistically gain 41, which would be just enough, but all of them are not going to break their way. The most certain pick-ups are pretty well-known, but I'll list them here: LA-03, TN-06, KS-03, AR-02, CO-04, FL-24, IL-11, IN-08, MD-01, OH-01, OH-15, TX-17, TN-08, VA-02, PA-03, NH-01, PA-11, VA-05, FL-08, NY-29, and AZ-01. The likely pick-ups include: NM-02, M1-01, IN-09, IL-14, FL-02, PA-07, IL-17, PA-08, WI-07, OH-16, WA-03, and WI-08. The least certain pick-ups are AR-01, ND-AL, OH-18, MI-07, NH-02, NV-03, and SC-05, but I am still assuming Republicans win these. Democratic pick-ups will include the three everyone expects in LA-02, DE-AL and IL-10, and will most likely include Hawaii's First District and Florida's 25th.
Larison is predicting the GOPers, contrary to all conventional widsom, will not pick up the House. But as you can also read, according to him it will likely be extremely close. And both NH-01 and NH-02 figure large in that outcome.
Talk to everyone you know between now and next Tuesday about this election. GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV GOTV ...
The Tea Party is coming to town. Yesterday, Sarah Palin--Kelly Ayotte's biggest supporter--kicked off the Tea Party Express' national tour.
The Tea Party's final stop on their tour will be on the steps of our state house in Concord the night before the election.
Sarah Palin, Karl Rove, Glenn Beck and their friends on the Tea Party Express are working hard on Kelly Ayotte's behalf. Ayotte proudly accepted Palin's endorsement and groups like Karl Rove's American Crossroads and the Glenn Beck-backed Chamber of Commerce have spent millions of dollars to boost her campaign
The current American electorate is unlike any electorate most political observers have ever seen. Democrats went in to the 2010 cycle having completed their strongest electoral performances in over 40 and perhaps even 70 years. Democrats won 52% and 53% of the vote in 2006 and 2008, with 2008 being the best Presidential performance since 1964 and only the 2nd time since 1944 Democrats won more than 50.1% of the national vote in a Presidential election. Simply put more people voted for a Democrat in 2008 than in 44 years. In contrast, the Democrats went into 1994 having only won 43% of the vote in 1992, giving them a very different relationship to the electorate than the current Democrats. In essence the ceiling for Democrats is higher in this midterm than it has been in a very long time, which may help explain why the Democrats are defying conventional wisdom and gaining ground in the end game of 2010.
Some say Rove and and his bad seeds left the GOP but I am here to tell you do not accept the GOP lies-He and his friends never left!
http://beforeitsnews.com/story...
Text removed for copyright violation. Please restrict use of copyrighted pieces to short excerpts. - Laura
Why are we letting out of state billionaires use the TeeVee to try to swing our elections here in New Hampshire? No self-respecting Granite Stater should put up with that.
(Imagine the positive impact of having both Paul Hodes and Jeanne Shaheen in the Senate... now go make some phone calls or knock on some doors. - promoted by Mike Hoefer)
Yesterday, I stood with environmental leaders in New Hampshire to talk about my dedication to a national renewable energy standard. I challenged my global-warming denying opponent, Kelly Ayotte, to take a position on the issue. She responded that she would look at the proposal.
It's puzzling. Why would someone who doesn't think global warming exists think that we need to enact a proposal aimed at reducing carbon emissions? Why would someone who supports things like drilling off the coast of New Hampshire all of a sudden try to convince us she'd be supportive of renewable energy efforts in the US Senate?
In her competitive primary, we watched Ms. Ayotte move to the far-right wing of her party. Now, with the general election less than a month away, she's trying to have it both ways. She's hoping New Hampshire won't notice that big oil and coal companies continue to fill her campaign coffers as she talks about drilling off the coast of New Hampshire.
The bottom line is that Kelly Ayotte has as many doubts about global warming as I have about her ability to stand up to her special interest donors in the oil and coal industry.
After the Cheney Administration ended, and was left uncontinued thanks to the massive rejection of McCain/Palin by the American people, the Republican party has been left largely leaderless, especially among the DC elites who normally call the shots and direct the talking points.
That left GOP "strategy," such as it is, up to FAUX News and Hate Radio and the billionaires and corporatists who sowed the astroturf of the Tea People.
As a result, the collective tactic (because it really is not a strategy) that has emerged has been to put on a two-year long shrillfest, featuring Birthers, Tenthers, Fourteenthers, race baiting, religion baiting, gun baiting, gay baiting, immigrant baiting, phony conspiracies, and most of all, an ubiquitously repeated lying campaign that somehow Barry Hussein is responsible for the economic catastrophe that Bush's eight years (and in a more general sense, the dominant fiscal paradigm since Ronald Reagan) caused.
(Bumped... what are you seeing out there? - promoted by Mike Hoefer)
Will Kelly Ayotte stumble across the finish line?
Will Bill O'Brien make it onto the Democratic fall ticket?
Will Jim Bender pick up his signs and leave us alone?
Just three of the many questions that will be answered today.
This is a Primary Day Open Thread.
p.s. Go Annie!
Adding: To be very serious for a minute. I think perhaps the most important thing you can do today, besides voting, of course, is to let your friends and fmaily and colleagues know you are voting, and remind them of the election in the fall. Waking up the presidential drop-off voters is in my opinion the single biggest challenge from now until November.
Mr. Sununu's petulant comments are partisan politics at its worst. Instead of engaging in a thoughtful conversation or offering any ideas for putting New Hampshire back to work, Mr. Sununu resorted to petty political attacks and childish name-calling. He showed disrespect to the Office of the Presidency.
As I travel across the Granite State on this campaign, there seems to be one thing the people of New Hampshire can agree on - Washington is broken. It doesn't matter if you're a Republican, Democrat or Independent. You've seen exactly what I see down there: a system that is simply not serving the needs of our middle-class families and small businesses any more. A system that has become rigged against the people it's supposed to support.
That's why yesterday I announced my proposals to change the Senate rules to increase accountability and break the partisan gridlock in Washington. Right now, Washington Republicans in the Senate are blocking a vote on a critical bill that will provide tax cuts and increased credit to New Hampshire's small businesses. My plan calls for an end to anonymous holds and gradually lowering the threshold needed to end debate and hold an up or down vote on Senate bills.
I just wanted to make sure you all saw the latest video from my campaign, which is about my time on the trail this week and my upcoming statewide tour:
(I'll have more later on Fred Malek. I took an especial interest in him during the 2008 Presidential race. - promoted by Dean Barker)
Kelly Ayotte and the Washington special interests behind her campaign are getting nervous. They're seeing the same things we are: my campaign is surging in the polls and the Sarah Palin endorsement is backfiring.
So what do they do? Launch an attack ad full of facts and figures so misleading I have a feeling they were taken straight off Glenn Beck's chalkboard. They're attacking me for standing up to the special interests and big oil companies and supporting efforts to reduce our dependency on foreign oil and address climate change.
The special interest group funding the ad, American Action, is headed by Washington insider Fred Malek, a top backer of the Ayotte-Palin team. He's a life-long K-Street Republican from Washington who wants to tell Granite Staters how to vote.
We knew this would happen. Ayotte and her special interest backers see that we're within striking distance of taking a senate seat that has been in Republican hands for the last 30 years. So they're throwing everything they can to stop my momentum. Plus, Republicans can't help themselves. They have nothing to offer this country but the failed policies of the past and nasty attacks.
I've spent a lot of time on this blog talking about how we need to end business as usual in Washington. Earlier this week, we got another disheartening reminder of what business as usual has become. Rather than stand up for the voices of the people who define and deliver democracy in this country, the Republicans in Washington resorted to political obstructionism and caved to the special interests, once again. They successfully filibustered the DISCLOSE Act, which is a crucial first step in undoing the damage inflicted by the Citizens United Supreme Court case. It would have allowed us to start closing the door on corporations trying to buy our elections.
You know what? I wasn't surprised by their filibuster. I was expecting it. I'm sure you were too.
But I think everyone here can agree - it is one sorry state of affairs that leads us to expect special interest-funded obstructionism from our public servants.
(Great advice from Tim, veteran canvasser and state rep candidate for Goffstown/Weare! - promoted by Jennifer Daler)
Clipboard in hand, I pause for a moment. Check the name, age, party affiliation. Take a deep breath, smile, and press the doorbell.
Between now and November 2nd, most of us will knock on hundreds, if not thousands of doors. It is essential that we do so. Ads, mailers, events, blogs and viral video are all important parts of political campaigning today, but we all know that the foundation of any campaign is the ground game. Nothing compares to face to face conversations with voters. Yet many candidates and volunteers are reluctant to go door to door. It's intimidating, some say. Some procrastinate, say it's a waste of time, find other ways to fill their schedule.
I'd like to share my personal experiences and hopefully inspire these reluctant door-knockers to not only tolerate and endure canvassing, but take pleasure in it.
Basil Marceaux for Governor of Tennessee. Hell, yeah!
When I first saw this video, I thought it had to be a hoax. This couldn't possibly be real, I said to myself. But after the video checked out as legitimate, I began to wonder how this happens. And the only logical explanation I can come up with is that the dog whistles are so loud on the right, that all manner of strays are coming home.
I visited his websiteand had a great time, and thought that Gov. Lynch might get a few good ideas from Basil. I especially enjoyed this campaign promise: VOTE FOR ME AND IF I WIN I WILL IMMUNE YOU FROM ALL STATE CRIMES FOR THE REST OF YOU LIFE!
You can almost see the willpower being exerted by the news anchors as they introduce Basil. Good stuff.
Over the past six months, my opponents have constantly reminded me of how crucial this race is. Whether it's a woman's right to choose or a family's right to affordable health care - they've shown us time and time again what we all stand to lose if Kelly Ayotte, Bill Binnie, or Ovide Lamontagne wins.
Granny D, shortly before she was arrested at the Capitol:
