A few years ago, I got a call out of the blue one evening from a person that I did not know, was very polite (especially to this ordinary schlub blogger), seemed to know me fairly well, and wanted to talk about my thoughts about politics in general. And wanted to know if he were to do something in the world of politics, what were my honest thoughts about it? I told him “I don’t think this is the right time right now”. Even with that, Doug and I had him onto our radio show soon after and were very impressed (after all, he had saved the town of Bristol $500,000 while on the Budget Committee), and had him back for subsequent sits at the mic. We knew that this was a person that we should keep our eyes on – and that turned out to be a correct assumption.
It is now that right time now. And that “something” is now the NH GOP Chair. And that person was, and is, Andrew Hemingway. And all of us here at GraniteGrok that are voting Members of the NH Republican State Committee, will be voting for Andrew Hemingway. We wholeheartedly are endorsing him in this race and we are asking to join us in voting for Andrew Hemingway at the NH GOP meeting Saturday, 1/26/13 in Bedford.
Just like after 2006 / 2008 walk in the wilderness when the Party had to have a radical change in direction and in leadership (in our opinion, also riding the back of the vigor of the TEA Party movement), after the results in 2012, we need that same radical change in direction and leadership. The Party is bereft of a message, bereft of technology, bereft of a reputation that appeals to many and seems to be more in love in winning versus winning for a specific purpose and achieving certain goals.
This must change – business as usual will result in the what seems to be the usual results in three of the last four election cycles.
Fortunately, one of the two people running for the NH GOP Chair present the alternative to “usual” – and is presenting an “opportunity” outlook. We believe that Andrew is the right person that can successfully address these problems. As, I said, we’ve been watching – and he’s been making sure that every activity he has been engaged in has been one in which he has had to stretch, learn new skills, and grow politically. Some might say “Oh, he’s just gone and ‘checked off the right checkboxes’ – nothing could be further from the truth.
He knows messaging – he realizes that while our Principles are superior, we have not been the most articulate how they are better for the individual person.
He knows the technology – he has been immersed in it ever since I have known him and shown me that he has that entrepreneurial spirit as he has started several successful digital companies that are analogous to what is needed here. This past Presidential election showed exactly how technology can be that “disruptive force” in politics in a big way; Andrew is the only candidate that truly understands and is actively involved in those technologies applied to the political realm.
He has the political background – each “move” in the political sphere has given him new experience and, more importantly, larger responsibilities (e.g., from being the RLCNH Chair (finding, evaluating, and promoting candidates that share New Hampshire Advantage values) to the last being running the digital part of a national campaign (and running the NH part of that national campaign before that).
Most of all? He’s a true grassroot activist – and has proven his bona fides by staying true to those roots. He is beholden to no one nor any one faction; he owes nothing to anyone and there are no strings that can be pulled. A down to earth person that knows, at the end of the day, that one’s word is their bond and a handshake means much. Politics, even in this day and time of bits and bytes, sound bites, TV ad wars, and photo ops, means and still relies on the personal touch of speaking one-on-one to each and every potential voter.
We believe that Andrew, via his varied and vetted experience, is the only qualified person in this NH GOP Chair race that can lead the NH GOP by retaining the tried and true but applying them in the new and needed methods.
