Saturday, November 04, 2006

Pataki's Visit and GOTV Operations

Today, George Pataki visited New Hampshire. He went to Nadeau's with Jeb Bradley and went ward walking with Charlie Bass in Concord. Later Saturday night, Pataki attended a "Victory Party" with Bass, Bradley and Coburn. Pataki argued that Republicans should focus on the economy and security. He also said, "They’ve [Dems] got the billionaires and the Barbra Streisand and Hollywood celebrities bankrolling the negative ads and we’ve got the best ground game money can’t buy. People act like this 72-hour campaign to get out the vote is something magical that’s come down from Mars. It’s not. It’s the back-breaking work of the volunteers that will win this election for Charlie Bass and Jeb Bradley.’’ At the ending of the event Pataki, Bass, Bradley and Coburn went on stage and recited "God Bless America." The literature drive, organized by the NH GOP and Pataki's PAC, featured 250 volunteers, knocking on 12,000 doors with brochures helping over 80 Republican candidates.

Romney Helps Bass

Mitt Romney will make an appearance in the Granite State. Tomorrow Romney will attend a spagehetti dinner with Chuck Morse and Charlie Bass.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Rudy Preaches Compromise

Today, Rudy Giuliani addressed a town hall forum on leadership. The forum was sponsored by Victory New Hampshire. At the event was about 120 people and an additional 60 college students. The students were given complimentary tickets. Rudy stressed the importance of compromise. He said, "We have to figure out how to work together. Maybe it's a bad time to be talking about that, a few days before an election ... but the day after it's over, we've got to return to the spirit of 'We're all Americans.'" Mayor Giuliani also cited Ronald Reagan as his political hero. Moreover, Giuliani said that the the United States can not pull out of Iraq and praised the Patriot Act. He also mentioned that character was important during a time of crisis. After the town hall forum, Rudy attended a rally at Manchester City Hall. There was about 25 people there, almost all were either staff members of Jim Coburn or Jeb Bradley.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Sabato Predictions

University of Virginia professor, and political guru, Larry Sabato announced his predictions today. Sabato predicts that the Dems will gain control of both houses of Congress. The Democrats will take the Senate with 6 six seats (VA, MO, MT, OH, PA and RI), they will also pick-up 27 seats in the House. I will post predictions of other political scientists once they become avaliable.

UNH Poll: See Ya Charlie, Hello Paul

A new UNH poll has some bad news for the New Hampshire Congressional delegation. In the poll, Charlie Bass is down by 8 points to Paul Hodes. While, Shea-Porter has pulled within 5 points of Jeb. I wonder if this is the Jim Coburn effect? Coburn will be lucky to get 25%. It was noted earlier in the week that Bass is only polling at about 80% with Republican voters. Meanwhile, Hodes is polling at 90% with Democrats.

Gravel at the NHIOP

Last night, former Alasaka Senator Mike Gravel spoke at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College. In his speech he laid out three main tenants of his foreign policy. He stressed that the United States "should immediately withdraw from Iraq, eliminate most of its nuclear stockpiles, and repudiate a growing culture of militarism in favor of more diplomacy." Gravel also added that the U.S. is "not the world leader in terms of education, health care, and compensation of workers." Gravel is running for Democrat presidential nomination.

Kerry Cancels Hodes Event

Due to the controversy, surrounding his recent remarks, John Kerry has canceled an event planned for Sunday. Kerry was suppose to appear with Second Congressional District Democratic candidate Paul Hodes in Nashua. Also, Kerry has canceled campaign appearances in Iowa, Pennsylvania and a number of other states.

George Phillies: A Serious Man for Serious Times

George Phillies, 2008 Libertarian Presidential candidate, addressed the New Hampshire Libertarian Party's state convention in Concord on Saturday. Democratic candidate Mike Gravel also addressed the group. Here are some of the main points from Phillies speech:

-The National Debt climbs a half trillion dollars a year.
-The Trade deficit is twice that.
-I'm George Phillies. My trust theme is 'a serious man for serious times'. 'As trustworthy as your grandmother's banker'. My physics doctorate is from MIT. I pay my taxes. Open my closets, and no skeletons will fall out.
-End the war on Iraq
-Reverse Kelo. Repeal No Child Left Behind.
-Save the Republic: End warrantless wiretaps. End torture without trial.

The full speech can be found here:
http://libertyforamerica.net/node/313

CNN Poll: Clinton, Rudy Lead Fields

A new CNN poll was released today. It shows that Rudy and Clinton lead their respective presidential fields.

Dems:
Hillary Clinton- 28%
Barack Obama- 17%
John Edwards- 13%
John Kerry- 12%,
Al Gore- 13%

GOP:
Rudolph Giuliani- 29%
John McCain- 27%
Newt Gingrich- 12%
Mitt Romney- 7%
Bill Frist- 6%
George Pataki- 5%

Perhaps the two surprises in this poll. Obama is now second and McCain is only down by 2%.

Will: Romney's Gain, Allen's Lost

Today, conservative columnist George Will wrote that Mitt Romney is the politician that has the most to gain from a fumbled George Allen presidential bid. Will writes, "Yet with Allen much diminished and perhaps out of contention, and with Rudy Giuliani not yet doing serious groundwork for a national campaign, the Republican field is already down to two. That is good for only one of them: Romney." Will also argues that McCain might not be able to replicate his 2000 New Hampshire win.

Rudy's Trip

Tomorrow, Rudy Giuliani will be speaking before Victory New Hampshire's "First in the Nation Forum on Leadership." www.victorynh.com He will also be taking a bus tour of New Hampshire visiting Manchvegas, Laconia, Rochester and New Castle. Comments from the forum will be posted here as soon as the event is finished.

For more information check out this press release:
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=75564

Mitt Meeting Evangelical Leaders

The Boston Globe reported that Mitt Romney has privately been meeting with evangelical leaders.

"Governor Mitt Romney is convening meetings with small groups of evangelical leaders to seek guidance for his possible presidential run, as Romney and Mormon supporters intensify efforts to allay concerns about his faith.

Romney, who is ramping up preparations for a 2008 campaign, huddled privately at his Belmont home last Thursday with about a dozen evangelicals, including conservative activist Gary Bauer, president of the group American Values, and Richard Land, a prominent leader in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Two weeks earlier, Romney met with about a dozen Baptist pastors at a private club in Columbia, S.C. Today, he is set to meet with more Christian leaders at an activist's home in Greenville, S.C."

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Kerry: I'm A Distraction

While appearing on Imus, John Kerry said "I'm coming back to Washington today because I don't want to be a distraction to these campaigns." Candidates throughout the country have been cancelling campaign visits with Senator Kerry. Does anyone else think he just lost any shot he had at being the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008?

McCain on Kerry

In response to Senator Kerry's recent comments, Senator McCain made the following statement, "The suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq, is an insult to every soldier serving in combat, and should deeply offend any American with an ounce of appreciation for what they suffer and risk so that the rest of us can sleep more comfortably at night. Without them, we wouldn't live in a country where people securely possess all their God-given rights, including the right to express insensitive, ill-considered and uninformed remarks."

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Hunter's Already Been To The State

Congressman, and declared presidential candidate, Duncan Hunter has already been to the state. Hunter visited New Hampshire last week to campaign with Charlie Bass. Hunter took part in the dinner with Bill Frist and visited BAE Systems. There was no press coverage at the time of his visit.

Herald Slams Mitt...Again

It now seems that almost everyday The Boston Herald or The Boston Globe will run a critical article about Mitt Romney. Today The Herald released a report which argues that Massachusetts is not prepared for a large emergency or disaster. Among the report findings:

-The state’s police and fire departments have lost more than 1,100 employees Sept. 11, 2001

-Just 9 percent of police departments and 18 percent of fire departments have equipment that lets them communicate with federal, state and municipal partners.

-Regional homeland security councils are not addressing the needs of localities, and the state is funding regional projects without adequately assessing usefulness.

I should note that the report was conducted by the Democrat controlled Senate Post Audit and Oversight Committee. The Romney administration accused the committee of politics and trying to affect the governor's race.

Pataki on Iraq

New York Governor George Pataki was in Portsmouth yesterday. Speaking before the editorial board of the The Portsmouth Herald, Pataki voiced opposition to an Iraqi timetable of withdrawl. He said "We can't simply decide tomorrow we're going to go home and allow a safe haven for people who've attacked us before and who want to attack us again." Pataki also stressed that the United States should make it clear to the Iraqis that they need to "handle much more of their own security and not allow them to indefinitely rely on the sacrifice of brave American soldiers." Unlike McCain, Pataki does not favor more American troops in Iraq. Instead, the United States and the Iraqi government should appeal to the international community for help.

Another Newt Visit

On November 28th, Newt Gingrich will speak at the Politics and Eggs issues forum. The event will be taking place in Concord. So far Newt will be making two visits to the state, after the mid-term elections. In addition to being in the state on the 28th, New will be in Manchester on December 15th. Two trips in three weeks? Sounds like a presidential schedule to me. These events will mark his fourth and fifth visits to the state.

Rudy Catches The Big Fish?

According to the The Washington Post’s Kathleen Parker, RNC Chair Ken Mehlman “is going to be leaving the National Republican Committee, possibly heading over to the Giuliani camp.” If this is true then Rudy has caught the biggest fish in the campaign. Mehlman was a part of the 2000 and 2004 Bush victories. He also was instrumental in the 2002 GOP mid-term success and has led the party's GOTV efforts this fall. Next to Karl Rove, Mehlman is the brightest Republican political operative.

Presidential Race Breakdown

Since I have nothing to do, I have broken down the presidential race into various tiers of candidates.

GOP:
Serious- Romney, McCain, Pataki, Rudy
Flirting- Newt, Frist, Huckabee
Still Thinking- Tommy Thompson, James Gilmore
No Chance- Duncan Hunter, Tancredo, John Cox

Dems:
Serious- Clinton, Kerry, Edwards, Biden
Flirting- Bayh, Richardson, Obama
Still Thinking- Gore, Vilsack
No Chance- Mike Gravel

Any comments or critiques are welcomed.

Invasion of New Yorkers

This weekend both Rudy and Pataki will be in the state. On Friday, Rudy will be at a town hall forum with Victory NH. He will then take part in a bus tour of the state. On Saturday, George Pataki's PAC is organizing a statewide lit drop. The Governor will pay a visit to volunteers in the afternoon. How many New Yorkers does it take to campaign in NH? Apparently Two.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Bush In NH...It Was The Popular One

First Lady Laura Bush paid a visit to Manchvegas today. She shared the stage with Gregg, Coburn, Sununu, Bass and Bradley. Bradley, Bass and Coburn all gave speeches before Bush. The NH GOP said that about 230 people showed up, others say it was closer to 150. Mrs. Bush saved her ammunition for Democrats who question the War in Iraq. She said, "Responsible candidates understand that the men and women of our military are risking their lives for us overseas, and we must conduct our debate here at home in a way that does not jeopardize our troops." I am not sure how her message was received by the media. A group of students were asked whether or not they could tell if Mrs. Bush was wearing pearls.

New York Surplus Grows

This news may help New York Governor George Pataki with fiscal conservatives. Reports out of New York report that the state " is on track for an over $1 billion surplus for the 2006-2007 fiscal year. The mid-year report is due out Monday. It points to better than expected economic growth and lower spending levels for the surplus. The extra money will head to several funds, including the state's Rainy Day Reserve fund.The surplus also gives state reserves a boost. The Governor's office reports over $3 billion in total reserves."

Romney/Bush '08

This morning The Boston Herald claimed that Mitt Romney is considering Governor Jeb Bush, as a running mate. "There has been substantive talk between the two of them. Everyone in Florida is expecting an endorsement by Gov. Bush (of) Romney.” Also, Romney has been tapping some of Bush's top staffers and campaigned with Bush in Florida last week. You can already hear the 2008 Democrat Convention rallying cry: GOP-Back Into The Bushes!! If Jeb Bush is elected Vice-President in 2008 and serves eight years. It would mean that there would be a Bushie in the White House for 28 out of last 36 years.

GHW Bush: 1981-1993 (VP/POTUS)=12 years
GW 2001-2009 (POTUS)=8 years
JB 2009-2017 (VP)=8 years.
Jeb President 20017-2025?

Hunter Goes Hunting

It was announced today House Armed Services Committee Chair Duncan Hunter (R-CA) plans to announce today that he is forming an exploratory committee to seek the Republican nomination for President in 2008. To consider his candidacy a long-shot, must be an understatement. The Duncan Hunter-John Cox debates should be pretty interesting.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

RIP Red


Legendary Boston Celtics coach "Red" Auerbach died yesterday. During his coaching career, Red won 938 games and nine championship titles. Moreover, under Auerbach’s guidance as coach, general manager and team president the Celtics won 16 titles. Red also was the first NBA coach to hire a black player, Chuck Cooper, and a black coach, Bill Russell. In his honor smoke a cigar and visit his a life-sized sculpture at Fanueil Hall.

Newt Back in NH

The Manchester GOP recently announced that former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich will attend their annual Christmas & Holiday Dinner. The dinner will take place on Friday, Dec. 15. Will he announce his candidancy at the dinner? Stay tuned!