Gardner to the rescue!

Secretary of State William Gardner, a Democrat, emphasized again Saturday that it will be his office, not Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who picks the state's primary date. "That's going to be based on state law, and it will be a date that honors the tradition," Gardner said after the DNC action. "It appears that he's in the driver's seat taking the Democratic National Committee on a collision course with the New Hampshire tradition."

Gardner, who has said he will decide next year when to schedule his state's primary, also said the plan to punish candidates who campaign in New Hampshire was an affront to a state with a long history of promoting greater participation in the political process.

"It's pretty insulting and disrespectful to the potential candidates and to the people of the state that they're being threatened," said Gardner.

Another Democrat flip flop?

In 2003 Howard Dean said:

"I'm absolutely committed to New Hampshire having the first primary... It's the only way that candidates with no money but with strong backing ... Have any chance at all."

However, in 2006 Dean had this to say:

“There will be earlier events, and there will be some events, or at least one event in between Iowa and New Hampshire.”

And today the DNC Rules Committee voted today to put Nevada ahead of New Hampshire's primary and after Iowa's caucus. Iowa would lead the presidential nominating process on Jan. 14, Nevada would have a "caucus" on Jan. 19, and New Hampshire would have the first "primary" on Jan. 22.

The move has been made because Democrats wanminoritieses, i.e. blacks anHispanicscs, to have more of a say in the nominating process. Instead, what will occur will be a loss of "retail politics." No longer will ordinary Americans who work in a paper mill get to host a presidential candidate in their living room for tea. Rather millions upon millions of dollars will be spent solely on advertising. Americans will not be able to tell what kind of a person they are electing.

"Eager to keep states from jumping in line, the DNC also passed enforcement rules that would punish candidates who campaign in states that ignore the party and set their own schedule. Some party members worry that would create an unseemly intraparty fight when Democrats can least afford it." Wrote Jim Kuhnhenn of the AP. The punishment is that candidates who campaign in these states would not have their delegates recognized at the 2008 DNC Convetion.

It will be very interesting to see what Sec. of State Bill Gardner does, will the NH primary be as early as December 2007 or the end of November 2007??

Dodd To The Rescue?

This weekend the DNC will vote on the primary calendar. If the calendar stands then the Nevada caucus will be between the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. However, the Secretary of State, Bill Gardner, has promised to make sure that NH will be the first contest in 2008. On another note Kathy Sullivan, Chair of the NH Democratic Party, told the Union Leader that Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd told her, "He promised to speak with the Connecticut DNC delegates about opposing the rule change." Iowa and Indiana (thanks to Sen. Bayh) will be opposing the calendar with New Hampshire. Senator Dodd will be visiting New Hampshire September 15th, 16th and 17th. So add another Senator to the list of possible Presidential candidates.

Just A Normal Weekend

This weekend both Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Virginia Gov. Mark Warner will be in the Granite State. Gov. Warner will be visiting Concord, Plymouth, North Conway, Keene, Stoddard, Bow, Portsmouth and Kensington. While Senator Frist will be at the Nashua GOP Steak Out on Sunday August 20th with Congressman Charlie Bass. Meanwhile the Bow GOP will be having a straw poll on Saturday the 19th. Will McCain come in first? Where will Romney place? Which political commentator will use the straw poll on the Sunday morning talk shows? We will post results as soon as they become available.

He Came With Gifts

On his most recent visit to NH, New York Gov. George Pataki gave the GOP a little gift. According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, "New York Gov. George Pataki handed a $10,000 check to the state GOP on Tuesday night in Concord. The GOP Presidential hopeful will soon have his 21st Century Freedom PAC loan staffers to the Republican State Committee and various Republican candidates. The PAC will also open an office shortly in Manchester." No word yet whether or not that $10,000 will be used towards a racial sensitivity class for Republican Presidential candidates.

Former Gov. Mark Warner to visit NH this weekend

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner will be in New Hampshire this weekend. According to Gov. Warner's PAC, "Friday starts with a Janeway for Senate event hosted by State Representative Christina Hamm followed by an afternoon with State Senate Candidate Deb Reynolds. That night features a Coffee and Dessert Social for the Conway Democratic Committee."

Saturday morning Gov. Warner will tour Keene with State Senate Candidate Molly Kelly. "Then he headlines an event with the Stoddard Democrats before heading to the Annual Merrimack County Summer BBQ and Potluck Picnic in Bow, with a stop in Portsmouth to support State Senator Martha Fuller Clark before ending at dinner with New Hampshire Governor John Lynch."

More information can be found here.

Wanna See My Name in Hotline On Call!!

Our humble blog appeared this morning in the Hotline blog. Here is a link to the blog: http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/ You can find the link under the "Troika" section. The link reads, "Gov. George Pataki (R-NY) accidentally called New Hampshire "Vermont." One wag calls it his Admiral Stockdale moment." This appearance reminded me of the song Cover of the Rolling Stone, by Dr. Hook. So I have re-written some of the lyrics, I know it's extremely corny:

Well we are big political bloggers, we've got golden fingers
And we're known everywhere we go
We blog about Republicans and we blog about Democrats
At no cost
We read all kind of blogs to give us all kind of thrills
But the thrill we've never known
Is the thrill that'll get you when you get your name
Mentioned in the Hotline on Call

Bayh Offers A Helping Hand

According to the PoliticsNh, "Democratic Indiana Senator Evan Bayh's political action committee announced they will send 15 staffers to the state to work on behalf of Democratic candidates through this election year." This is the largest offer by any PAC this election year. It will be interesting to see what other PACs make similar annoucements in the coming weeks. Stay turned because these annoucements allow for a hint into whose serious about running for President.

Where's The Beef?

This past weekend Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee visited our fine state. At the Politics and Eggs breakfast in Bedford he gave a speech on healthcare, specifically on obesity. Among his various quotes on obesity were:

"We spend more on health care than any nation in the world, And we are still the most unhealthy people in the world."
"If we can prevent things through education, it will be less expensive on the back end. If we cut that to 11 percent we will save $700 billion. And we will still be spending more than anybody else."

Gov. Huckabee is an expert in losing weight because he managed to lose 110 pounds!!

Excerpts of speech were in the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Can a President provide the music at his inaugural ball?

This past weekend Republican Mike Huckabee, Governor of Arkansas was in NH but he wasn't alone -- he brought his classic rock cover band "Capitol Offense!"

The visit started with a Pig Roast fundraiser for Executive Councilor Ray Wieczorek where the entire band played. NH 2008 is told that the band played four stops on their tour across New Hampshire.

However, this was not strictly a rock tour as Governor Huckabee did speak at an early morning breakfast in Keene and was the keynote speaker in Bedford at the famed Politics & Eggs. Gov. Huckabee also took part in fundraisers for State Senate candidate Nancy Wall and the NHGOP.