This from BlueHampshire, a favorite NH blog of the Democratic Party that has fiscally destroyed New Hampshire over the past four years:
Democrats Might Deny Bill O’Brien House Speakership, by Dean Barker
This is somewhat encouraging – according to an analysis by Pindell, the Dems might be able to throw the House Speakership to Chandler:
"Chandler and his allies have stressed that they can work with Democrats. If Democrats want to they can give their entire 98 votes to Chandler and if he has 103 votes in his pocket he can get to 201. However, for O’Brien to win he needs to 201 votes and prove it on the 18th before Democrats entertain the notion of playing spoiler like they did in 2004."
And Pindell again, with an interview with Terie Norelli:
"Pindell: Do you believe that Democrats will swing all of their votes to pick a Republican Speaker of the House?
Norelli: The sense of what I am hearing is that neither lead (Republican) candidate has enough to be elected speaker."
While the idea of voting for either of these gentlemen is unpleasant, this is the first real battle involving Democrats as they evolve into a strong opposition party in the state house.
Bill O’Brien’s agenda will likely cause more harm to vulnerable Granite Staters and embarrassment to New Hampshire than Chandler’s. That the Dems, if unified, can play a role in preventing him from being House Speaker, is good news.