“I don’t think either Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton have much time for my district.”
That being a rather interesting admission by rather elderly (in comparison) Democrat Maureen Mann running against youthful & vigorous (hey, if the Dems can play this game (see below), well, so can I!) Republican Yvonne Dean-Baily in the special election coming up (Concord Monitor). And haven’t I heard, over and over, that the Democrats are the “community of being communal” – an “all in and leave nobody behind?” and their legislation forces it. But when it comes to voluntary actions, like in this, it seems like Mann is being hung out to dry and on her own.
Wait! Isn’t that what the all the Democrat Socialists always saying about Conservatives and Libertarians?
From the Concord Monitor:
In primary season, a special election for state rep becomes a national affair
In a different year, a springtime special election for state representative would bring out only the diehard voters.
It’s a contest for one of 400 seats in the House of Representatives, which are down-ballot races even during regular elections.
But this time, it’s first-in-the-nation primary season. The state is already crawling with presidential hopefuls, and the race in Rockingham County’s 32nd district has become more than just Yvonne Dean-Bailey, the Republican, versus Maureen Mann, the Democrat. As the May 19 special election nears, two Republican candidates for president and a U.S. senator have campaigned with Dean-Bailey, the young Republican in the race.
In the past 10 days, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Texas governor Rick Perry have appeared with Dean-Bailey in Northwood and Deerfield. Last weekend, U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte went door-knocking in Candia with her former intern on Capitol Hill.
Ask officials in the state’s political parties, and it’s clear their thinking is at a higher level than a special election for a seat in Representatives Hall. For instance, when the state GOP was asked about Dean-Bailey’s ability to attract high-profile names to a relatively small-time state representative race, the response wasn’t about Dean-Bailey at all.
“Unlike Hillary Clinton, national Republican leaders enjoy working with local candidates like Yvonne to reach out to voters and spread our positive, fiscally responsible message,” Chairwoman Jennifer Horn said in a statement. “Hillary Clinton is an inaccessible and arrogant candidate who doesn’t respect New Hampshire’s tradition of town-to-town, door-to-door grassroots campaigning.”The state’s Democratic Party took a similar tack – just replace Clinton with former Republican House speaker Bill O’Brien and the Koch brothers.
“Yvonne Dean-Bailey is yet another devotee to the backward Bill O’Brien-Koch Brothers agenda that would turn back the clock on New Hampshire women and drastically cut critical economic priorities, including higher education, maintaining roads and bridges and caring for the state’s seniors and most vulnerable citizens,” Democratic Party communications director Lizzy Price said in a statement. “By openly campaigning for her and pledging their support for the Bill O’Brien wing of the New Hampshire Republican Party, Republican presidential hopefuls are underscoring once again just how backward and out-of-touch their policies truly are.”
Michael Dennehy, a longtime Republican adviser in the state, knows New Hampshire and presidential politics. He’s working for Perry’s New Hampshire campaign this cycle and brought Perry to Deerfield yesterday for a joint meet-and-greet with Dean-Bailey.
“There is a strange phenomenon with special elections for state representative in New Hampshire,” he wrote in an email. “They get more attention than many state senate races in an election year simply because they are a rare opportunity where the party leaders will claim victory on their overall message. For instance, if Republicans win they will say that the victory illustrates that Governor Hassan’s agenda is failing. And voters want a different direction. So national political figures want to help out the state party and offer any assistance necessary.”
In the case of the Hampstead-Kingston special election at the end of April between Republican Dennis Green and Democrat Carol Croteau, the state Republican Party did just that. Green – who went door-to-door with Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio – won, and the party issued a statement saying, in part, that his victory “shows that Granite Staters want to stop Governor Hassan’s reckless fiscal agenda that puts New Hampshire on a path toward an income tax.”
In Hampstead and Kingston, the town clerks were pleasantly surprised by a combined 12 percent voter turnout.
For presidential candidates, getting involved in state-level politics is beneficial on a few levels, said Wayne Lesperance, a professor of political science at New England College. It’s a chance to entice county chairmen, local sheriffs and the brand of active voters who can bring their neighbors onto a candidate’s team – and it’s hyper-local, which is important, Lesperance said.
“Not only are you supporting the local effort, but you’re really doing it in a New Hampshire way,” he said.
Dean-Bailey said it hasn’t been difficult lining up events, and, in fact, with Fiorina “it just kind of happened.”
“These presidential candidates, they’re all looking to meet as many people as possible, and I’m trying to mobilize my constituents,” said the 19-year-old political science student, who also said she is transferring next fall to the University of New Hampshire.
Mann, a three-term state representative, said this race has been “a far cry” from her first campaign seven years ago. She expected the out-of-state donations to Dean-Bailey from Virginia-based Kelly PAC and Liberty For All Action Fund, she said, but she didn’t see the big names coming.
“I think it’s just fortuitous for her, so to speak, that all these Republicans happen to be around looking for votes,” she said. “I don’t think either Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton have much time for my district.”
Mann said she’s raised more than $8,000 – the most she’s ever tallied – “in response to a lot of the attacks that happened” in blog posts and letters to the editor. Some current state representatives and residents have kicked in to support her as she attempts to retake a heavily Republican district, she said, adding, “I’m probably working harder than I’ve ever worked before” knocking on doors and making phone calls.
Still, she said, she knows what the message will be if she doesn’t win.
“Obviously if I lose then Maggie Hassan’s not a good governor or Jeanne Shaheen’s not a good senator,” she said.
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