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Jennifer Donahue, Political Director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College:
"Now [Shaheen] has to take the best of McCain and the top of Obama and own it" instead of being just a Hillary Clinton supporter, Donahue said.
Question of the day: what is the "best of McCain" that Shaheen needs to own to win? Inventing the Blackberry, running ads more dishonest and dishonorable than Bush/Cheney ever did, or proclaiming that the fundamentals of our economy are strong?
While we're all sad to see Peter Burling move on from his outstanding legislative accomplishments, it's good to know that Senate District 5 will be well served by the next generation of progressive leader in Senate candidate (and current House Rep.) Matt Houde from Plainfield.
Matt graciously agreed to answer a few questions for me that might be of interest to you. Personally, I think this district is a great springboard for even higher office for a Democrat, so this is a race and a candidate I will be following closely.
And it's important to remember, in light of all the work and time and money that we put into the POTUS and federal races, that the State Senate candidates need your help as well, which is why I just threw some (admittedly paltry) dollars Matt's way. You should too (except the "paltry" part)!
Here's the interview; you'll see that Matt didn't shy away from my geeky policy questions:
Where do you see the education funding issue going, and how do you hope to get it there as state senator?
I think the Legislature did a terrific job of moving the ball forward last session by defining an adequate education, to include kindergarten, and costing it. SB 539 fulfilled the state's constitutional obligation to cost an adequate education. (See * below for a comprehensive discussion of SB 539.) It did not, however, resolve funding for it, and that will be a challenge for the state in the next term. However, the Legislature understands the need to fund education, and will make it a priority to do so. It remains to be seen whether we will take up another proposal to amend the state Constitution to allow for targeted aid (before adequacy is fully funded per pupil). Two efforts failed last term, and I see the question as having been whether the state should target available funds or distribute those funds on a per pupil basis regardless of need (what we do now).
What can be done on the state level about the home heating oil crisis before it hits us this winter?
People should not have to choose between heating their homes on one hand and buying medicine and/or food on the other. Federal representatives from New England are seeking more federal funds (and even advocating for a release of amounts from the Home Heating Oil Reserve). Local agencies are also coordinating internally in order to be prepared to address increased need, and state representatives can not only facilitate that process, but also educate and inform people about available options so they know what resources exist. For example, forum are being held across the state to raise awareness and provide relevant information - such as dialing 2-1-1 in New Hampshire, which will connect callers to resources in their communities. Individuals should also consider acting now - whether to weatherize homes or determine whether they qualify for various assistance programs.
What would be your top legislative priorities upon becoming a state senator?
* Providing a solution to the education funding situation that has been an ongoing struggle for far too long.
* Expanding access to affordable health care (the House Commerce Committee, on which I served, recommended passage of several bills that expanded access to health care, including requiring coverage for dependent children up to the age of 26 and providing early childhood intervention therapy services). I am eager to continue looking for ways to expand access to health care in an affordable way.
* Economic security for the most vulnerable among us (the Legislature raised the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years, and capped interest rates on "payday" and title loan lenders - lenders that were causing too many NH residents to fall into a negative debt trap), and economic opportunity to keep NH strong.
* Environmental concerns. We took steps to protect and preserve our quality of life by finally providing funding for the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, banning the burning of toxic construction and demolition debris, and requiring the state to rely on renewable energy sources for at least a quarter of its energy needs by 2025. I believe there is an intersection of the environment and economy in moving toward renewables - which will benefit not only the environment, but provide high tech, high paying jobs as well.
When I ran for the House, I talked about the importance of community service. Knowing this can take many forms, I pursued service in Concord because I believed that public service on that level could have a dramatic impact on policy as well as day-to-day life. After this session, I feel even more passionately about that. I want to continue my efforts to affect positive change in Concord - while preserving the best of what we have. For more information about my Senate campaign, please visit www.matthewhoude.com
Be sure to check out the Living Room Candidate from the Museum of the Moving Image. It's got TeeVee ads for POTUS stretching back to 1952. Really amazing stuff, even if watching it makes you feel like you're stuck in a time loop. Will we ever learn that we can't trust Republicans with the economy?
Choosing a candidate is an individual decision, Howard said, and she hopes every voter takes the time to think and pick their candidate based on their merits. "I think everybody should take the time to seriously decide, look at the issues," she said. "People take lots of time when purchasing a vehicle and this is definitely as important as buying a vehicle. They should take as much time when deciding their candidate."
The problem with running an AM Talk Radio Fantasy Campaign... is the talk radio part.
More memories, via an NHDP release, on Jennifer Sarah Horn-Palin:
· Jennifer Horn supports Republican efforts to privatize Social Security. "Americans must be given the option to invest their Social Security savings," she wrote. "The government needs to stay out of the way and give citizens the opportunity to invest money that is rightfully theirs." [Granite Grok Blog Candidate Questionnaire]
· Jennifer Horn supports Bush's plan to keep the Guantanamo Military Prison open [Granite Grok Blog Candidate Questionnaire]
· Jennifer Horn supported the Republican Congress's efforts to demand that Terri Schiavo be returned to her feeding tube in a 2005 Nashua Telegraph column [Nashua Telegraph, 3/3/05
Now, John E. "Smartest Man in the Senate" isn't alone in supporting the most governmentally intrusive, least Yankee libertarian Republican act of the Bush years.
I sure can't wait for Jennifer Sarah Horn-Palin and the Sprinter to intrude on my medical decisions!
The Union Leader is happily assisting Fergus' new talking points about Jeanne Shaheen and nuclear energy. No surprise there.
But as long as we're taking a trip down memory lane, is there anyone in our state (or national media) who would mind bringing up the fact that radical community disorganizer John E. Sununu once campaigned proudly for abolishing the Department of Education?
Or that Jeb Bradley has flirted with the Social Security privatization bandwagon on more than one occasion?
Or that Cold War II Warrior John McCain supported closing the Portsmouth Naval Base, a decade before he used it as a backdrop prop to announce his candidacy?
Plenty of memories of how badly Republicans behaved during the Clinton years are ready and available for reporters who choose to dig. Just sayin'.
McNascar in New Hampshire: If only you had agreed to my phony campaign wedge issue, I wouldn't have had to lie to America that you want to teach kindergartners about sex before they can read:
Asked if he was sorry about the negative turn the campaign has taken, McCain repeated what he said last week, after his campaign blasted Obama for his "lipstick on a pig" remark - it could have been avoided had Obama joined him in regular, town hall-style meetings.
"If we'd have done it every several days, that would have been really what the campaign coverage would have been about," he said. It's not too late, he added.
And it's your fault I have to say this surrounded by race cars and spectators instead of in a town hall.
And while we're at it, if you hadn't been cruising to such an easy victory, I wouldn't have had to pick the most shallowly political, least qualified Vice Presidential candidate in memory. And America, my friends, it's all your fault you all might be my heartbeat away from someone who isn't intellectually curious enough to know what the Bush Doctrine is, but who has betrayed a governing style that is intuitively Bush Doctrinaire.
Lehman, 158 years old, is dying. Merill Lynch is quite likely next in line. AIG and WaMu are in critical condition. This a week or so after the collapse of Fannie and Freddie.
This is what happens when you put Republicans in charge of the economy and they throw regulation out the window. This is Sununu's radical free market dream - and our nightmare - realized.
This is a Nation of Whiners' Open Thread on the Economy.
(Absolutely frightening words from PermaBear Roubini below the fold)
Ever since the Spawn of Rove took over McFailing's campaign, they've been limiting his trademark "Town Halls," since they are well aware that in the age of YouTube, Maverick McCain is easily revealed as Say Anything McSame. And indeed, fresh of some disastrous press events without Palin (the top of the ticket), I can understand why they'd want to hide him from actual voter scrutiny.
So instead of honoring the type of New Hampshire primary campaign he constantly brags about, McCain flak Tucker Bounds, with the help of the Fournier led AP, spins like a top about today's Nascar event:
"In a state like New Hampshire, no one knows better than John McCain that it's direct voter contact that sways the electorate. Seizing the opportunity to meet with voters on a large stage in New Hampshire makes an enormous amount of sense," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.
Yeah. House parties and town halls are exactly the same as an audience of thousands of spectators there to watch cars race around a track.
...and read this long article from the NYT detailing how Sarah Palin has no understanding whatsoever of what it means to be a public servant.
And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor's career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.
"You should be ashamed!" Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. "Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!"
But that's really the least of it. It's truly frightening stuff - including new insight on her homophobic book banning - an absolute must read. Think a "backwater, End Times Dick Cheney," except she could very well obtain as much power as he in less than eight weeks. An absolutely terrifying toxic combination of zero qualifications for the job, visionless ambition, anti-democratic religious fundamentalism, and personal vendettas.
I will never forgive John McCain for the reckless, politically motivated decision he made. He has, without hyperbole, put our nation at risk. He turned the most important decision a candidate can make over to the Rush Limbaugh crowd, and then he never vetted her. Reckless!
So stop blogging! Stop blogging right now! Instead, spread the word, donate, phonebank, canvass, visibility, rinse and repeat.
Adding: in an earlier post, I compared Palin to Craig Benson, and someone rightly noted that Benson was such a unique creature that such comparisons don't apply. But this article has me thinking again - the two share a total lack of understanding of what a public office and a personal life mean.
So, the top news story just now (7pm) when I clicked on Google News is Lauren Dorgan's writeup of the Concord Obama event for the Monitor.
She included in her piece what I thought were two of the best moments of the night. One from Obama,
Obama said that McCain, an Arizona senator, has voted with Bush 90 percent of the time and that his promises of change are hollow.
"They must think the American people are stupid," Obama said...
, and one from the crowd:
Using papers from a college bulletin board and sticks of lipstick borrowed from fellow audience members, they made signs reading "Hockey Moms for Obama."
And now millions of people will be reading about it. Hoo-ray!
Here's a photo of the hockey moms, next to "Republicans for Barack":
Meditation for those bloggers who have been doing this from before the 2008 cycle: how crazy is it that these days you can rely on a campaign to have a YouTube up and ready almost immediately for those events you can't make it to yourself? Some of the DYI aspects of political blogging are going away as the medium grows and evolves...
To those who have become excited by the presidential campaign through Barack Obama's candidacy of change, please read on:
Almost a year ago, when there were seven contenders vying for the Democratic nomination, when Hillary Clinton was ahead in the polls, and when much of the state political establishment was behind her, freshman Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, who had previously been neutral, surprised everyone and endorsed Barack Obama.
Carol Shea-Porter was there for Obama when he needed her the most. And now it's time for Obama and his army of fired up Granite Staters to be there for her.
You see, since her victory in 2006 is defined as something of a surprise fluke - the truth is actually the opposite - the Republican party, debased nationally, feels as if this is one of the few races they have a shot at taking back.
In her short time in Congress, Carol Shea-Porter has been the consistent voice for change that Obama will herald in a new presidency. Just imagine a House and Senate and White House united to undo the damage done these past eight years.
So, fans of Obama, if you are at today's mega-rally in Manchester, consider stopping by to see Carol Shea-Porter, who is kicking off her re-election effort today. It's within walking distance of the rally.
CAMPAIGN KICK-OFF
SATURDAY, SEPT. 13 AT 2PM
CONGRESSWOMAN CAROL SHEA-PORTER at THE CHATEAU RESTAURANT
201 HANOVER ST. MANCHESTER
WWW.SHEAPORTER.COM
for more information call 603-397-3190
Update: CSP, from the kickoff:
"I have kept my promise to you - to stand up against special interests and represent the rest of us," said Shea-Porter. "I am fighting for better veterans care, energy independence and jobs and healthcare for the middle class. Our future requires vision and boldness. We can't go back to the days of rubber stamping failed policies and with your help, we won't. "
And this is brilliant. Courtesy the 'Ticker:
"John Stephen and I disagree on a lot of things, but we agree on one thing and that's Jeb Bradley is [per the vid] was what's wrong with Washington," Shea-Porter told supporters at Chateau restaurant.
So that you don't have to plow through the love letter editorial dressed as interview journalism, a summary:
* John Sununu wears sweaters and has a folksy manner, so it's easy to forget he votes with Bush 90% of the time to protect Big Oil & Big Pharma, prolong the Iraq war, etc. etc...
* John McCain thinks John Sununu is the Smartest Man in the Senate. So smart that, like Sarah Palin, he refuses to acknowledge the influence of humans on climate change.
* Ignore all the data about our shifting state demographics, please. We have an election to keep close.
My favs are the kids and the Hockey Moms for Obama.
Note: Sometimes the Flickr slideshows aren't working for me in the latest version of Firefox, so if you see a blank screen, try an earlier Firefox or some other browser like Safari.
Sprintin' Sununu put out another ad today which consists largely of him about to break out into actual sprinting, and plenty of misleading metaphorical sprinting away from his Republican, Bush-enabling identity. For example, it touts how he called for Gonzo to be fired, but nowhere mentions that he supported him as AG in the first place despite the scandal of the torture revelations.
Shaheen and the DSCC both fought back today too. The first ad shines a light on Fergus' ridiculous "radical community organizing" talking point (for much more on this see Kathy's outstanding diary), and the second is just pretty straight ahead hard-hitting on how out of touch John E. is:
Somehow, I made it to NH Tech Institute, so we've got a liveblog giong here.
CNN LIVESTREAM HERE
We only had to walk around the building twice to go to the wrong door and have someone tell us to go back again. In the rain. But it's all good. I'm sitting behind the "Reserved for the Union Leader" table.
Liveblog notes below the fold, and more and better pictures coming soon...
Jeb Bradley beat John Stephen 18,559 to 16,766 in the Republican 1st District Congressional race. Geoff Michael received 534 votes and Dave Jarvis 414. Running unopposed, Democratic incumbent Carol Shea-Porter received 20,989 votes.
Yes, obviously, when you count up all the GOP votes, you see that more of them showed up for primary day.
But when Carol Shea-Porter, unopposed, can match roughly 2/3rd of the total of all the GOP candidates in a competitive primary, that speaks loud and clear.
This race is a top priority. Carol is as genuine as they come, and as progressive as they come. We owe it to her to work our hearts out. Donate, volunteer, canvass, phonebank, visibility, rinse and repeat.
Gov. Sarah Palin linked the war in Iraq with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."
...Palin's return to Alaska coincided with her first extensive interview since she became the Republican vice presidential nominee. In the interview, with ABC News correspondent Charlie Gibson, Palin struggled when asked to define the "Bush doctrine" on foreign policy, leading to repeated follow-up questions from Gibson about whether she believed in the right to "anticipatory self-defense" and crossing other nations' borders to take action against threats.
John McCain has obviously become a shameless, dishonorable puppet of the Bush/Cheney machine. That much is clear, and has been for some time now.
But here's today's not so deep thought, which hit me like a ton of bricks. Sarah Palin is Bush 2.0 - an example of a mindset created by the extensive damage of the Bush years. She may not believe in evolution, but she represents the next mutation of the species elephans Bushensis. That's why she doesn't have a clue about the Bush doctrine - in her world, it's natural for America to start aggressive wars. And that's why she's incapable of separating Osama bin Laden and a country that had nothing to do with him or his attacks - because eight years of lies have altered her genetic code.
Living through Bush/Cheney is nightmare enough. God help us all if America becomes led by people infected with Bush 2.0 DNA.
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