Author Archive

NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions released a list the other day of 70 congressional seats the GOP believes are winnable, and both NH-1 (CSP) and NH-2 (open seat) are on it. Starting out on on the list is critically important; while seats can and will fall off the list (usually due to promising candidates who don’t pan out), almost [...]

Kelly Ayotte is expected to attend the next summer social held by the Winnipesaukee GOP on Tuesday, August 11, at 6:00 p.m. at the Wolfe Trap Restaurant on Bay Street.  To the best of my knowledge, this will be Ayotte’s first appearance before a group of grassroots Republican activists as a candidate.

I had a “right place, right time” treat this afternoon while waiting in Perkin’s Cove in Ogunquit to go out on a lobster boat tour with Jenny and the boys.  Up pulled an SUV and out stepped former President George HW Bush, accompanied by Mrs. Bush and Jeb Bush and others, about 10 in all, [...]

Rep. Paul Hodes still hasn’t filed his personal financial disclosure form, which was due May 15 - two and a half months ago.  Sorta makes ya wonder how many lawyers he has tidying things up for his senate campaign.  Looking like you might have something you’re trying to hide can be worse that actually having something [...]

I have a new column in today’s Union Leader that breaks some news. For what I believe is the first time anywhere in the country, the Union Leader today publishes online every line item of congressional office spending for NH’s members of congress, Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes, for the 2007-2008 session of congress.  The reports reveal that [...]

Charlie Arlinghaus of the Josiah Bartlett Center is the main guest on NHPR’s “The Exchange” with Laura Knoy tomorrow, Wednesday, at 9:05 a.m. for a show about taxes.  You can read the latest reports from the Duke of Argyle at http://www.jbartlett.org/main/page.php?page_id=9

Here’s the preview from NHPR:  Many Granite Staters derisively refer to the Bay State as [...]

Kathy Sullivan and I are the guests on WGIR’s  “Political Roundtable” with Charlie Sherman and Angela Anderson tomorrow, Wednesday, at 8:05 a.m.  You can hear it in Manchester at AM 610, Rochester at AM 1540, or streaming online at wgiram.com UPDATE:  James Pindell is also a guest.  Didn’t mean to leave him out, just didn’t [...]

Two things of note about House passage of the climate change bill that taxes energy production in the name of reducing carbon emissions.  First, both Reps. Hodes and Shea-Porter voted for the bill, which passed with 219 votes, just one more than the 218 needed for a majority in the House.  Raising the cost of [...]

There has been a change of plans regarding AG Kelly Ayotte’s attendance at the upcoming Winnipesaukee GOP 4th of July breakfast; she will not be there.  Ayotte has long avoided partisan audiences in her tenure with the AG’s office.
Footnote: Wolfeboro has one of the best parades for politics in the state, as politicos on both sides [...]

Here’s a key passage from the Union Leader’s coverage of Haley Barbour’s visit to NH last night:
“Barbour said the party should also strive to be inclusionary, adding that the need for coalitions and to attract more voters means it is not the time to focus on ‘purity.’ ‘If somebody agrees with you 80 percent of [...]