So says Jennifer Hallowell, Rudy Giuliani's former NH executive director (now part of McCain '08) to the Detroit News.
Not that Ms. Hallowell's comment is exactly "breaking news".
But fun all the same.
New Hampshire is a political bellwether (again).
So claims the Cook Report's Jenn Duffy in an article in today's New York Times highlighting the Jeanne Shaheen/John Sununu Senate race:
“It’s probably the best test out there of a political climate being a Republican incumbent’s worst enemy,” said Jennifer Duffy of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. “He does constituent service. He shows up to work. He votes. He brings home the bacon. There are not a lot of inherent things wrong with John Sununu except that he is a Republican.”Take that 49 other states!
The One Campaign and the American hero continue to see eye to eye.
From today's Rochester town hall:
We believe that the young lady in the white shirt is a well known documentary filmmaker.
We know for a fact that she was filming people outside the McCain town hall in Rochester, NH this afternoon.
Here's hoping that her third film is every bit as good as the first two.
The above pic was taken on March 16, 2007 (FOREVER ago).
We've ridden on the Straight Talk Express with Johnny Mac 6 times in the last 19 months (and we enjoyed our first "full access" look at Team McCain '08 back in the spring of '06).
We're like a bad penny.
But every experience has been an absolute blast.
He's a genuine American hero. And how many Clackers get a chance to sit and talk with genuine American heroes?
Besides, we've grown to really like many in McCain World (some gone, some still there).
So on to the Rochester town hall!
Where only the good Lord knows what we'll find.
Of course we're only kidding. Sorta.
But the Union Leader's Joe McQuaid isn't laughing about the bias of the MSM toward Barack Obama. The UL Publisher has written a front-page, above-the-fold editorial this morning titled "Obama Orgy" (we're not making the title up).
Per Mr. McQuaid:
The blatant bias of the major national news media toward Barack Obama is now so overwhelming that it would not be worth noting, except that the election of a President of the United States is involved. It is a propaganda blitz that would make the Kremlin blush.
By election day, we fully expect John McCain to be vilified as a Vietnam-era war criminal and worse. But that is only if the networks and other major media can tear themselves away from their Obama orgy.
A recent report found that since June the nightly newscasts of NBC, CBS, and ABC combined have spent 114 minutes covering Obama. McCain got 48 minutes.
But that was before this week.
The three major television networks are all scheduled to send their nightly news star "anchors'' to follow Obama on his trip to Iraq and the Middle East.
When was the last time you saw ANY of the networks do this with Sen. McCain?
If you can't recall, it is because it hasn't happened. McCain, who knows and understands and is intimately familiar with Iraq and Mideast issues, has been there many times, with little fanfare. It is because he understands these issues that he was able to argue so effectively for the surge that has dramatically improved the Iraqi situation.
The outrageous imbalance in the major media's coverage of the candidates means that the American people are going to have to work doubly hard to make the right choice in these perilous times.
There are other campaign staffers who played an important role in assisting Senator McCain clinch the Republican nomination, but a solid chunk of the American Hero's key Republican Primary staffers are in this picture.
And if you didn't know that - or you don't understand - you haven't been paying attention.
Taken right before the New Hampshire Primary.
Salad days for us all.
Alright, so, we once compared New Hampshire's Union Leader newspaper to a crotchety old uncle who wanders around a basement apartment whacking things with his cane.
NH town meeting for Obama, McCain
Now that Barack Obama has had his make-nice photo-op in Unity with Hillary Clinton, it is time he engage in the serious business of letting voters compare him up close and personal with John McCain. Sen. McCain has already suggested a series of joint town-hall meetings and we know just where and when they could begin.
Sen. McCain is due in New Hampshire two weeks from today. He is supposed to drop by this newspaper, but we would happily waive our time if he and Sen. Obama would agree to meet and take questions from New Hampshire voters.
Let's hear no excuses about negotiations and security and the need for months of planning. President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich were both here the same week in 1995 and, within three days of it being suggested, they held a joint question-and-answer session in Claremont.
If Sen. Obama would meet the president of Iran without pre-conditions, he can surely find time to meet with Sen. McCain and New Hampshire voters.
Sen. McCain has even offered to fly with Obama to such an event. Makes sense, given fuel prices.
How about it, senators?
A bit harsh?
Maybe, but not by much.
Here is Obama's latest ad running in 18 states (including New Hampshire):
Which promptly brought back a call of (pretty much) bullsh*t from the AP, the WaPo and Marc Ambinder.
The thing that we don't get (really, truly) is why Team Obama is even dipping their little toe in the "politics as usual" waters (of course, we didn't understand why they put the Obama brand in jeopardy by forgoing public financing for his campaign).
Maybe that's why the strategists on Team Obama get paid the big bucks.
But then again...
The Union Leader's Drew Cline blogs all about it here (we should also note that we heard from other members of the NH press corp yesterday who were far more colorful in their description of the event than Mr. Cline in his blog post).
Cline's final two graphs:
Here’s why this matters. The campaign easily could have chosen to hold this event in Chicago or Manchester or in any place that could have accommodated a large crowd. But it chose Unity for the symbolism, knowing that the logistics were awful. Then it didn’t limit tickest to a number that could be trucked in and out in a timely manner should anything go wrong. So for the sake of symbolism, the Obama campaign knowingly inconvenienced thousands of people, putting the elderly and children at risk, and didn’t adequately plan for their removal from the site.Yikes.
This is a campaign that imagines it can achieve an effective, rapid withdrawal from Iraq, but it doesn’t even have a competent exit strategy for Unity, New Hampshire.
New Hampshire isn't quite as blue as everyone thinks that it is (it's more of a purplish, reddish, bluish mess).
But, if there is one newspaper in the state that can still really deliver votes at the polling booth and drive the conversation, it's the (still mostly conservative) Union Leader.
The paper can swing close elections.
And the Union Leader is all in with The American Hero in 2008. They have been since the NH Primary.
Just ask Mitt Romney.
This morning the Union Leader published two anti-Obama editorials. Just in time for about 6 zillion press people to read on their way to Unity.
Publisher Joe McQuaid did one (key line: "Imagine having this inexperienced, opportunistic Obama in the White House with an anti-American, Islamist extremist state holding nuclear weapons.")
While his editorial team (Drew Cline?) takes Obama apart for not accepting McCain's town hall offer.
Ka-Blam! Ka-Blam!
Welcome back to New Hampshire Senator Obama.
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(UPDATED) Our email box blew up over our Drew Cline typo above (initially we used a "k"). We've corrected it. Apologies to Mr. Cline.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will appear together for the first time in Unity, New Hampshire on Friday.
From McCain's stop yesterday in Nashua:
Uh... New Hampshire?
Just released by the McCain campaign:
ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today released the following statement by Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker after accepting the invitation by the Ronald Reagan and Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Libraries to hold joint town hall meetings with John McCain and Barack Obama, and responding to the Obama campaign:
"We are proud to accept the invitation from Mrs. Ronald Reagan, Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson to hold joint town hall meetings at the Ronald Reagan and Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Libraries. As Luci Baines Johnson said in her invitation, these meetings offer an opportunity to 'deliberate the great issues of our time.' The American people deserve a great debate about the future of our country, and we hope that Barack Obama will join us for these important events at these historic venues."
Letter Sent To The Obama Campaign:
Dear Mr. Plouffe,
Thank you for responding to our proposal. Just to reiterate, we have proposed at least ten joint town hall meetings once a week until the week before the Democratic Convention begins. As we understand your counter-proposal, you have proposed only one town hall meeting before the Democratic Convention.
In keeping with our original proposal, we are planning a joint town hall meeting in Minnesota next Thursday evening (June 19, 2008). We will hold time on our schedule for joint town halls every Thursday night until the Democratic convention. I hope Senator Obama would reconsider his position and agree to join Senator McCain as early as next week.
We have also today accepted the invitation from Mrs. Ronald Reagan, Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson to attend town hall meetings in July at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. As Mrs. Johnson said, these town halls will truly be an opportunity to "deliberate the great issues of our time." Their sponsorship certainly meets our standards for a positive and productive opportunity for voters to interact with the candidates. I hope you will agree.
However, at this moment, we fear that our negotiations over joint town hall meetings are turning into a debate about process. That is exactly what we have always hoped to avoid, and why we proposed a town hall format that would render many of these process issues moot. As Senator Obama has said, he is prepared to meet "anywhere, anytime" for a town hall.
We remain committed to this idea because joint town hall meetings offer the best format for presenting both candidates' visions for our country's future in a substantive way. We have a chance to change the way presidential elections are run and elevate the political dialogue. Americans deserve this kind of opportunity, and we hope that Senator Obama will join us at town hall meetings throughout the summer months.
Sincerely,
Rick Davis
Tsk, tsk.
Noted: Not a big deal by any stretch of anyone's imagination. But you do have to wonder, why not get a local Granite Stater to run things?
Bush 3rd Term! Bush 3rd Term! Bush 3rd ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Huh, what, where are we?!!??
Now if only Chairman Buckley was so passionate about bringing a McCain/Obama town hall to New Hampshire for the good of all New Hampshire, we might get twice the political sex for half the foreplay.
Or something like that.
...but that doesn't mean that Team Shaheen ain't kicking Team Sununu's ass on optics.
Which counts. Especially in a close election.
The above pictures are taken from a Shaheen press release showing (according to them) the enthusiasm of Shaheen supporters at the former Governor's filing on June 6 vs. the lack of anyone at Sununu's filing on June 9th.
Two words Team Sununu: Ground. Game.
We received an email this morning from John Tabor, Publisher of Seacoast Media Group.
He had seen our postings calling for New Hampshire to move quickly on McCain's offer to do joint town halls with Obama and he wanted us to know that his newspaper was "relentlessly" pitching the two campaigns to allow the Portsmouth Herald host a town hall in New Hampshire.
He mentioned that both McCain and Obama had already participated in successful health care forums in their building during the New Hampshire Primary (see the above picture of Obama).
And while it is unlikely that the McCain/Obama camps will let the Portsmouth Herald "host" a town hall by itself (see what happened when ABC offered to do the same in NYC), we think that it is terrific that the Portsmouth Herald is pushing to bring a McCain/Obama town hall to New Hampshire.
And since a good chunk of New Hampshire - a battleground state - gets its news from the Seacoast Media Group well, they can move folks a wee bit faster than GMP1
Now, about those other New Hampshire MSMs...
And we all know how true New Englanders feel about New Yorkers.
ABC News has the details on New York City's offer to McCain/Obama (and we should note that we appreciate a heavy like Mayor Bloomberg getting behind McCain's town hall idea in a big way).
Tick-tock New Hampshire. Tick-tock.
You are a legitimate '08 general battleground state. And the sole holder of First-In-The-Nation.
So get on in there!
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(UPDATED) "Get on in there" in New Hampshire, just make sure that you leave the event open to all press.
From the AP (via Martin).
Hey, Steve Duprey is comfortable in woman's clothing. God bless him.
