(UPDATE: Analysis of results click here.)
Today is primary day here in NH for state and national elected offices, many of which remain safely held, as they have for years, by Republicans. The major primary races such as the US Rep seats will undoubtedly remain the possesion of the incumbents. Jeb Bradley and Charlie Bass (no conservative, he) should then go on to win their seats again the general election this November. Neither of our US Senators are up this time around.
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Neither party has a primary for governor, setting up a Jim Coburn(r) / Gov. Lynch(d) match in November.
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The only real excitement are a handful of state senate races and a couple of executive council seats. Unfortunately, none of the contested executive council races include my district, where long-time incumbent Ray Burton (R-ino) is unnoposed. (Read a post on Burton from our sister-blog here). This guy is so "not a Republican" that the Dems rarely run a candidate against him.
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Over in the 3rd District, it is a different story. Businessman Sean Mahoney, outgoing state senate Finance Chair Chuck Morse, and former state Sen Russ Prescott are all vying for the seat vacated by long term Executive Councilor Ruth Griffin. I have friends and aquaintances, most conservatives, that are evenly split in their support of all three. It appears that this race is one of those rare ones where any one of the three would be a great choice. If I voted in that district, it would be a tough choice. In the end, based on what I know about the candidates, which is admittedly not much, I would cast a ballot for Sean Mahoney. Having the opportunity to have the business talents Sean would bring to the conduct of our state’s business is one that ought not be passed up. I supported Sean when he ran in the primary for US House and I would support him today. Pat Hynes over at AnkleBitingPundits agrees.
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Back in my neck of the woods, we do have what has turned out to be a very competitive challenge to incumbent Senator Rob Boyce, a conservative’s conservative, by long-time football coach/ teacher Jim Fitzgerald. What has really made things interesting are the shenanigans of the local dems and their liberal friends as they switch parties to sway the "party" choice. I wrote on our sister-blog (gilfordgrok.com) back in July:
The July 9th Concord Monitor reports (hat tip- John H)
.Kinney O’Rourke, co-owner of the Black Cat Café in Laconia, is a lifelong Democrat. But after he learned Jim Fitzgerald would challenge Sen. Robert Boyce in a Republican primary, O’Rourke changed his status so he could vote for Fitzgerald..
While anybody is free to do this, it still doesn’t set well with me. The purpose of a primary is for the party members and adherants to select a candidate who will represent them in the general election. The problem, of course, is that in these parts, Democrats don’t fare very well in elections. Therefore, they run as Republicans. Most of us in the know call them R.I.N.O.s- Republican In Name Only.
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Jim Fitzgerald is certainly more "Republican" than some, but he is not a rock-ribbed conservative right winger like the incumbent Boyce. The Monitor piece accurately describes Boyce’s lack of accessability but it also correctly reports on his voting record- very solidly conservative. On the face, one might conclude that the primary challenger may not be that different from Boyce in how he represents the district in the NH Senate. That would be the wrong assumption to make. The Monitor article helpfully, in addition to the O’Rourke changes party angle, reports on some of the challenger’s supporters. Besides flaming liberal O’Rourke switching parties to support Fitzgerald, Alida Millham and John Thomas, RINO and almost RINO respectively, seem to enthusiastically support him as well. Why would that be, if the challenger is nearly as conservative as those interviewed by the Monitor claim him to be?
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Click here to read the whole article, which is very informative and accurate. Oh, and Kinney, why don’t you just stay in your own party- we don’t want your kind here…
Senator Boyce is what we would call a "grok-ribbed" conservative. He is not a showhorse. He is a good, reliable vote in the Senate. He gets the vote of all of us here at the ‘grok that live and vote in the district.
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John Distaso, senior political reporter of the Union Leader, has a good overview of the rest of the handfull of actual races in NH. Click here.
