Granite Slate

"Why New Hampshire?" Primary Fight Revisited

Part I

   Always First, Always Right. The unofficial slogan of the New Hampshire Presidential Primary expired in 1992, when Democratic voters chose Paul Tsongas over Bill Clinton and Clinton marched onward to the White House. The same anomaly occurred in 2000, when Republican voters chose John McCain over George W. Bush and Bush went on to win.

   But "Always First" remains, however tenuous a pole position.

   With the filing period for the New Hampshire Primary closing Friday, I reached for my bookshelf to read what the late Hugh Gregg had to say about New Hampshire’s primary importance, in the book he co-wrote with New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, "Why New Hampshire?" The former governor was the great steward of the first-in-the-nation primary. Cay Gregg, his widow, autographed my copy when the book was released at the New Hampshire Political Library. Cay wrote: "Hugh’s Last Hurrah."

   Is 2008 the New Hampshire Primary’s Last Hurrah?

   The shake, rattle and roll of this year’s presidential nominating process has Republicans and Democrats at the national level targeting New Hampshire. It’s not a new fight, but the number of states jockeying for early voting ensures a rough ride for another four years – let alone the final two months until the New Hampshire Primary (when Gardner picks a date, that is; most likely Jan. 8).

   Critics, like Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, argue New Hampshire is undeserving of the privileged role. He argues New Hampshire is not representative of the nation.

   How did Gregg and Gardner see the Primary as a national asset?

   "Citizens are constantly in an election mode. They are forever voting about something, whether it be at town meetings or on the municipal affairs of cities," the primary duo wrote.

   They point out that New Hampshire holds elections with greater frequency than any other state. It’s not just the importance on local control. New Hampshire has the largest Legislature of any state and the 424 members are elected every two years. The governor also has a two-year term.

   Beyond the politically savvy nature of the electorate, Gregg and Gardner tout the fertile ground here for retail politics, where there are more opportunities to meet the presidential candidates and candidates without Fort Knox campaign coffers can have more of an equal playing surface.

   Why New Hampshire?

   The first primary, held in 1916, was actually a week later than Indiana's and on the same day as Minnesota's. Four years later, New Hampshire assumed the lead-off position, with voters choosing just delegates. It wasn't until 1952 that voters cast ballots for presidential candidates. 

   It's become like a birthright in New Hampshire, Gregg and Gardner put it. But let the record show, it is much more than a "first come, first served" position.

Part II tomorrow: Carl Levin is right -- New Hampshire's not like the rest of the nation. (JFK dogsledding photo/ source: NH Political Library)

Conspiracy theory to Jam U.S. Senate race

  Like the old editorial page editors say, "You don't have to be right, you just have to be consistent." In the name of voting rights and in pursuit of some political points, it's clear the New Hampshire Democratic Party will consistently raise the 2002 phone jamming scandal as it tries to unseat U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, R-NH. In its latest move, the Democratic Party today launched an online petition asking Sununu to testify before Congress about it StopSununu.com. What did Sununu know, and when did he know it? The House Judiciary Committee is looking into the jamming of get-out-the-vote phone lines, orchestrated by a former state Republican operative and Washington connections. Sununu held off a formidable challenge by former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. Sununu has said he had no knowledge of the nefarious phone jamming and Republican Party officials have regularly panned the action. Now Democrats want to get Sununu on the record saying as much. This is going to be a take-no-prisoners campaign year.

Sweep Success for Sox, Romney rides Mile High

   Indomitable, incredible, inevitable. The Red Sox surgically took apart the Colorado Rockies, sewing up a four-game sweep and winning the second World Series of a very young 21st Century. And throughout this post-season dream, politicians have hammed it up for the microphones. If a baseball game is going to steal the spotlight and dominate the news cycle, why not make friendly bets on chowder and steak, or pledge allegiance to the Red Sox? New York Republican Rudy Giuliani  got hammered for rooting for the Sox, but at least he's not tone deaf. New Hampshire, politicians know, is no mere province of Red Sox Nation. And so it was, opening the Union Leader this morning, the story on New Hampshire Senior Senator Judd Gregg endorsing Mitt Romney for president. Romney, who is leading polls here, just landed the biggest endorsement in New Hampshire. It's as if Romney can celebrate along with the Sox, sans the Domaine Ste. Michelle. And just what does Gregg, as seasoned a politician as there is in the Granite State, tell reporters today? "I never thought I'd endorse a governor of Massachusetts for anything, but, I never thought the Red Sox would win the World Series twice in my lifetime, either." In the state's mill towns, candidates plug their ability to save and create jobs. In the White Mountains, candidates plug the environment. In the Seacoast, candidates plug their support for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. And, before and after they pledge their allegiance to the New Hampshire Primary, they root and holler for the Red Sox. Even cigar-chomping former prosecutors from the Big Apple. It's just that simple.

 

Bay State Pols Bleed North

   Demographers will tell us it was inevitable, but who would’ve thought it’d happen so quickly, this Big Blue Wave cresting over the New Hampshire Presidential Primary. Massachusetts residents have transplanted themselves for decades. Now their old politicians are following. Here's a snapshot:

• Former Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci is carrying water for Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani, taking shots, however weak, at Republican rival and former Gov. Mitt Romney.
• Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick this week endorsed Democrat Barack Obama.
• Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Sal DiMasi have endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Clinton’s landing additional Bay State endorsements, such as Congressman Jim McGovern, but some of them are really unknown commodities in New Hampshire. Most taxpayers in New Hampshire don’t know their state senators and state representatives. Does anyone really think they’ll have an inkling who Therese Murray is? And DiMasi, isn’t he that dapper North End guy who plays golf when the Legislature has heavy lifting to do? Governors and congressmen are one thing, but state reps from the South Shore? What's next, the Middlesex County dog catcher?

This is all a sign of "first-in-the-nation" New Hampshire being more of an extension of the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It’s not even Halloween and these professional politicians from south of the border are trick-or-treating for votes. Governor Patrick, for one, plans to campaign vigorously in New Hampshire for Obama. Who knows, maybe Romney, his predecessor, can recommend a cottage near his own shanty on Lake Winnipesaukee. Hey, everybody needs a good neighbor.

Primary Friends, Foes and Fires

  Just when you think New Hampshire's two main political parties can get along, such as showing some solidarity for the New Hampshire Presidential Primary, some national committee comes along to muck it all up and rekindle the partisan fires. Hours after the Republican National Committee moved to withhold half of New Hampshire's delegates, based on RNC rules and the ever-shifting 2008 nominating calendar, NH GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen shrugged it off DiStaso story in UnionLeader.com. Shortly thereafter, NHDP Chairman Raymond Buckley sticks a red-hot poker in Cullen's eye with a presser titled: NH GOP Abandons First In Nation Fight. "Just when it looked like it couldn't get worse for the NH GOP, it has," Buckley said in a statement. "Apparently they are desperate for money because in the same week that the RNC has threatened to take away NH GOP delegates, they are holding a fundraiser with the RNC Chairman Mike Duncan. Asking Duncan to headline a political event in NH is like asking Cheney to headline a gun safety conference." Buckley and The River Fergus have gotten along well since each took office. Today's events suggest a roller-coast ride through the 2008 general election. Like such an amusement ride, the chairmen will end up where they and their predecessors began.

Let Stephen Colbert Debate!

   The people cry out for a hero. Enter: Stephen Colbert, the faux ideologue from Comedy Central. It was a stroke of genius when he declared himself a "presidential considerer" last week. Somebody must maintain those ratings and sell those books so he can continue to say things like "grandson of a goat ball-licker," as he did when he plugged his candidacy on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Indecision 2008. Colbert, pronounced coal-bear (or perhaps ca-ching), is not the first joker to run for the White House. No, seriously. Some real comedians have entered the New Hampshire Presidential Primary before, shelling out $1,000 to officially become more than a "presidential considerer." Yet, questions remain. Will Colbert be allowed to debate? Is he a one-trick pony, a "lazy" candidate content to focus on his home state and ignore lead-off New Hampshire One Colbert Campaign Petition? Will he siphon Hollywood campaign cash from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, or from the likes of Fred Thompson? Who is on his short list for VP? Not to mention, is America ready to elect the first "grandson of a goat ball-licker" from South Carolina? Only time will tell. 

Another Pol bites the dust

  Tom Vilsack, Tommy Thompson and now, a darling of the right, Sen. Sam Brownback. The conservative Republican from Kansas is scheduled to announce this morning in Topeka that he is also dropping out of the race. Blip on the radar for most political consumers, but one has to think Mitt Romney's people are enjoying at least a brief chuckle or two. Brownback a few months back was battering the former Massachusetts governor as a flip-flopping candidate, a say-anything politician whose record and whose promises do not even closely resemble one another. The Brownback campaign had a field day, really. Just look at one missive from July, when it proposed adding "Mitt-amorphasis" to the Webster's dictionary. Here's the Brownback definition:

• A self-directed and self-contradictory cyclical process, occurring in even-numbered years, by which a Massachusetts politician transforms.
• The evolutionary process by which a member of the species homosapiens becomes a dolphin.
• The synchronized revolution at any given point in time consistent with the changing political winds
  Usage:
• Franz Kafka clearly understood the dangers of mitt-amorphasis.
• John Kerry personified mitt-amorphasis.
• The mitt-amorphasizing agent caused the politician to grow gills and flippers.

   And now, just like that, Sen. Sam Brownback is gone so quickly the door will not hit his principled derriere on the way out.

Trail Mix: Rudy is the Cream

   The Starter's Pistol fired awhile ago but its retort was muffled by the thunderous clamor that has become the New Hampshire Primary. Blink and you'll miss something from the campaign trail. Here are some odds and ends:

• Tommy Thompson endorsed Rudy Giuliani last week in South Carolina. Hard to believe that Tommy Boy himself was a candidate not so long ago, before dropping out after an embarrassing 6th in some lame Iowa straw poll. But in Tommy we get some folksy campaign juice. As in the following: "As a farm boy, I know first-hand that cream rises to the top. That's Rudy," Thompson said in trying to muster support for the former New York City mayor.
• Alan Keyes for President? Returning from vacation in late September, I was surprised to learn of his candidacy. Surprised, too, that the press hardly pays him any attention. Say what you want about Keyes and his brand of politics, but he's no fringe candidate. Keyes is quick to preach, but never quick to pander.
• Primary Importance: Each of the four women running for the state's Republican National Committee post last weekend cited their efforts to preserve the first-in-the-nation primary. Former state Rep. Phyllis Woods, a Dover native, won the treasured but unpaid position. Noteworthy: the Seacoast Republican Women is a force.
• Besides John McCain throwing elbows at Mitt Romney, the NH GOP meeting last weekend was a lovefest, as former executive councilor Ruth Griffin would say. Notably, there were plenty of atta-boys for John Stephen and Jeb Bradley, two men running for the Republican nomination in the 1st District. After listening to both, it is clear each is a better candidate than when they waged their last primary battle.
• New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner is not that indecisive. You know he's got a date picked for the New Hampshire Primary. He's just waiting for the political karma to be ripe. And still some in the White Mountain State are raising the prospect of a December primary. Yeah, when hell freezes.

Niki Takes the Fifth

Familiarity breeds contempt--and children. -Twain

   True, but familiarity also scores some points in the snooker-esque game of politics today. More than the knowledge of what to leave in and what to leave out, or how to tap campaign donors, a familiar face or a familiar name has value. Just look at Niki Tsongas, the Lowell Democrat who won a seat in Congress Tuesday. It was a closer election than anyone thought, but she still steamrolled and took the Fifth, the district once represented by her late husband, Paul Tsongas, and a district a certain lanky and decorated Vietnam Veteran possibly should have won in 1972. Would she have had a chance, even in the Democratic Primary, if her surname was Wyman (her mother's) or Sauvage (her father's)? On the campaign trail and in at least one debate, Tsongas referenced her connections in Washington. Bloggers soon nailed her on it, blasting away that she was touting her late husband's credentials. After all, she didn't represent Massachusetts. What's a spouse to do? Run for office. Like Hillary Rodham Clinton, she'll be making her own name for herself, but one that may never escape the legacy of their leading men. Tsongas even quoted Bill Clinton in her victory speech this week: 'When Democrats are united, we usually win.'

   It's all so, ah, familiar?

NH Presidential Primary Period to Open: Bien Venue the "Hurry Up Offense"

    Peak foliage is just now whimpering away. Birds are flying south. Halloween is still nearly three weeks away. And yet, it's time for candidates to file their intent to compete in the New Hampshire Presidential Primary. Everything is happening earlier this year, like it or not, in the mosh pit of early nominating states. Supervisors of the Checklist meet tomorrow to register new voters and process party affiliation changes. The most eye-catching change in the New Hampshire election calendar: the filing period for the Presidential Primary opens Monday. The window closes Nov. 2, more than a year from the 2008 General Election. There is some irony in all of this, starting with Granite State history on the first-in-the-nation event's beginnings. Once upon a time, common sense delivered the date of the Primary -- aligned with Town Meeting time in the spring, a matter of efficiency as much as convenience. At this rate, the Republican and Democratic nominees will clinch it long before Ice Out, perhaps even before Super Bowl Sunday. The "2008" Primary will be ... ? The state'll set a date later this year. Presumably, Secretary of State Bill Gardner will announce it sometime after the filing period, but who knows given the ups and downs this political season. There are plenty of ghosts and goblins in the political machinery. Trick or treat?

NH Primary Steward eyes December Date

  The New Hampshire Primary would be two months from tomorrow -- on Dec. 11, 2007 -- under an idea thrown out by one of the Primary's long-time stewards. Jim Splaine says he's not necessarily proposing that early date, which would jump nearly a month ahead of the leadoff Iowa caucus. He's just stirring up discussion. "The campaigns are well underway, so by setting our primary in December it's not like we're starting the election process itself any earlier," Splaine writes on Blue Hampshire Ho, Ho, Ho: How 'Bout a December Primary?.  "And while we'd be losing the attention of the candidates in those weeks of the Holidays leading to January 8th, we'd be gaining their more intense campaigning here throughout November into December." My first thought upon reading his commentary, which the Honorable Representative from Portsmouth emailed me after midnight, was that Splaine must be drinking too much elixir from his neighborhood Starbucks. And, For your information, the Supreme Court has roundly rejected prior restraint. This sounds as ludicrous as the winner of MLB's All-Star game getting home-field advantage in the World Series (not that we're complaining this year). In his commentary, Splaine not only knocks the fledgling Nevada caucus as irrelevant at this point (and "certainly won't come before us"), he calls the Iowa caucus irrelevant. So much for playing nice. While New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner has not yet set the Primary date, it looks like it could be Jan. 8, 2008. A Primary on Dec. 11 would stretch out the nominating schedule, according to Splaine. He says it would make the Iowa caucus more important, and give candidates more of a chance to compete in other contests, should they trip up in New Hampshire. Splaine, the author of the state law requiring New Hampshire to hold the Primary a week before a similar contest, always offers valuable insight. He's been coming up with bright ideas to protect the Primary for four decades. With his latest commentary, however, one gets the impression Splaine is playing a clever diversionary act as Gardner, the Man Behind the Curtain, plots to preserve the New Hampshire status. All the Primary is a stage, of course. Question today is, is this the final act?

Michigan Madness, Dems opt out

   Four Democratic presidential hopefuls spoiled the mood in Michigan today, the same day as Republican counterparts debated Motor City blues, asking the state to remove their names from the Jan. 15 primary ballot. They are Joe Biden, John Edwards, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson. It's out of protest for the state trumping the early nominating states, even as New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner now plans to hold the "first" primary no later than Jan. 8. Democrats earlier this fall agreed not to campaign in states that schedule a caucus or primary earlier than the national party's calendar. Is it a "cheap political trick," as one irate Michigan pol put it this afternoon, or mere cheap politicking for candidates currying favor in Iowa and New Hampshire? Ray Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, casts a liberal dose of salt in the Michigan sores. "Today's turn of events only further amplifies the fact that the Michigan primary is irrelevant," he said in response. Debbie Dingell, a Michigan DNC member, opined, "I'm livid." The Detroit Free Press captures some of her ire, but there is plenty of dry powder left with a little over two months until New Hampshire goes to the polls. And you can just count on the Democratic candidates, or their supporters, groaning over Hillary Clinton keeping her name on the Michigan ballot (though she does not intend to campaign there).

How to lose the Primary: One Candidate's Strategy to Win ... Restraining Orders

   We tell young people they can be anything they want to be when they grow up, even President of the United States of America. The Land of Opportunity. But this is increasingly fiction, even here in New Hampshire, where any candidate-eligible American with a spare $1,000 can compete in the New Hampshire Presidential Primary. And yet, here we celebrate the Also-Rans like no other state. Some of these fringe candidates you'll never hear of, while others you'll hear too much of, the latter category overwhelmed by such past luminaries of Bosa, Killeen, LaRouche. And then there's Robert Haines of Manchester, who could challenge the staff at McLean Hospital Haines' felonious reckless conduct. Perhaps you've seen this guy politicking around the Granite State, cowboy hat on head and fake badge on belt, some crazy literature in hand. As we skip along to the 2008 Primary, Haines is doing his best, ostensibly, to win votes (579 people actually voted for him in the 2004 Primary). His campaign methods are a little, shall we say, unorthodox. In Manchester yesterday, witnesses said the candidate was berating police officers after his car was about to be towed. Mere hours later, police received complaints Haines was yelling at young women outside Gill Stadium. It gets better, or worse. Earlier this week, the student newspaper at Dartmouth College reported Haines allegedly licked a young woman's hand and then, as he dropped his papers on the walkway and she was nice enough to help him pick them up, the candidate offered derogatory comments about how she was dressed. Oh, and by the way, please vote for me.

Election Year: More tolls for thee

  The Governor's Council has increased highway tolls to raise $24 million for aging infrastructure and the like, just in time for a campaign season in need of political ammunition. NH GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen jumps all over the council's action, calling it a John Lynch toll hike and reaching back to blame alleged highway department mismanagement on former Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen -- now candidate for U.S. Senate vs. Republican incumbent John E. Sununu. (Never mind the Republican administration, Craig Benson's, in between Shaheen and Lynch). The toll increase, including a 50-cent hike to $1.50 north and south at the Hampton toll on Interstate 95, takes effect Oct. 22. The political gamesmanship takes effect immediately, as we've seen via this Cullen handiwork GOP Toll Factoid. Former GOP director Charlie Arlinghaus throws a nice spiral with this political football as well, calling the toll increase a tax increase Charlie's commentary in Union Leader. The toll increase, for the record, was recommended by the interim transportation commissioner. But this will have some legs, especially in communities tired of paying up to go to the grocery store or visit not-too-distant family and friends. And in a little symmetry, tolls on the Spaulding Turnpike cropped up as a campaign issue nearly 20 years ago when a certain Democrat from Madbury was running for state Senate. The sad truth of it, the tolls will never go away, either as highway revenue generators or political Roman Candles.

Clinton "cackles" to the bank

   As all the news that's fit to print dissects Hillary Clinton's "cackle," the aw-shucks candidate is content to laugh her way to the White House. This is your primary politics. This is your primary politics on hyper-sensitive front-runner endorphins. As the AP reports this week, the "change agent" Clinton is more than happy to stick to the traditional front-runner strategy of dodging questions and playing it safe. She even hemmed and hawed when asked which team she'd support in a hypothetical World Series match-up, the Cubs or the Yankees. This is not so surprising. Every poll leader dances this jig at some point. But with the candidate Clintons, everything gets magnified and manipulated, at first by themselves and their coterie of "change agent" consultants and then by the media and the public questioning whether a twice-elected senator from New York really has the experience to lead the world's Super Power. The former First Lady, with orchestrated appearances by Bill Clinton, aims to project a been there, done that aura on the campaign trail. Likely voters are her campaign events in New Hampshire are too often too star-struck to cross-examine the candidate on the issues, not that today's campaign events lend themselves to mingling with all that many real people. For the leading presidential candidates, insulated by Secret Service protection and elevated by a large fan base, the campaign trail is too much of a silky cocoon. Back in '52, President Truman said the New Hampshire Primary was "so much eye wash." Granite Staters took exception, and helped Estes Kefauver win the first modern Democratic primary, where people could vote directly for candidates instead of their delegates. Is today's pageantry mere eye wash? Clearly, some is. To that end, the cackle's on us.