TEA Party in NH?

Was over at Now!Hampshire looking at a post entitled "Binnie’s Ad campaign shows signs of bearing fruit". Certainly, I would have to agree – dropping $160,000 to kick off the TV campaign is no small potatoes this early in the season – and certainly it is giving him a boost.

But (for now), that’s beside the point. I was running through the Scribd version of Magellan New Hampshire Senate-Governor Republican Primary Automated Survey Release 020810 and came across this:

Tea Party Movement Image Rating

Among all likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, 68% have a favorable image of the Tea Party movement, 7% have an unfavorable image and 25% hav no opinion or have never heard of the movement. The Tea Party movement appeals to men more than women, with 75% of men having a positive image compared to 60% of women. Among voters 65 or older, 58% have a favorable image of the movement compared to 75% of 35 to 64 year olds.

And IBD is reporting that 3/4′s of all independents have good feelings about the TEA Party folks and their aims. And trust me, the Democrat Party is only trying to further denigrate these fine folk – and in turn, alienating the same folks that help sweep them into power nationally? Go ahead – keep it up!

Jack Kimball, as part of his campaign trail for Governor, was over in Raymond for an initial TEA Party meeting in that location – he relates that over 200 people showed up (who had never done anything like this before politically)! That same poll by Magellen shows Ovide Lamontagne at just 12% by the TEA Party folks; I’m bemused by that as I think, having listened to him, that he is a best fit for the movement having now heard him several times (with Jim Bender running in second) – I can only attribute it to name recognition at the moment.

Hmm, this certainly lends credence as to why Buckles the Clown ain’t smiling too broadly; Politico has the story:

Raymond Buckley, the Democratic chairman in New Hampshire, brought up the party’s wipeout in 1994, when it lost both the House and Senate two years after President Clinton was elected.

“The Democratic base … sat home,” Buckley reminded fellow party members from the Eastern region in a session that was part pep talk and part intervention. “And that was just enough.”

“We are nervous — we are all nervous,” added state Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, a vice chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. “We don’t have Bush on the ballot, and we don’t have the great presidential candidacy of Barack Obama in 2008.”

And Now!Hampshire relays another Buckley lament:

Raymond Buckley, the chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said the national Democratic party needs to help state groups elevate the Obama campaign rhetoric.

“We can’t win in 2010 if all we’re doing is celebrating the election of 2008,” said Buckley, who is also vice chairman of the DNC. “We haven’t gotten out the message of this administration’s successes.”

Yep, no more "bad guy" George Bush to whack around anymore, and certainly the results of the recent special elections here in NH aren’t helping the Hopey feelings over at NH Democrat central right about now;and with gay marriage passed, it is unlikely that the gay money (e.g., GilPac and the Colorado model) is going to make a big bulge in Ray’s wallet again either.

And Obama’s poll numbers are more like an ice-pick in the eye than a coattail to ride:

75% of likely voters now say they are at least somewhat angry at the government’s current policies, up four points from late November and up nine points since September. The overall figures include 45% who are Very Angry, also a nine-point increase since September.

Rasmussen: