I have friends that are Democrats. I’d venture a guess that many of them can best be described as "Reagan Democrats", or, as the more up to date term goes, "blue dog" Democrats. You know the type- they come from a family of long-time Democrats. Proud to have won WWII. They rooted for America during the Cold War. Some of these Democratic friends might even be pro-life to a certain extent and, believe it or not, actually want us to WIN the current war we are fighting. Secretly, I’m sure these friends of mine probably wish the Howard Dean/ MoveOn.org crowd would do just that: move on.
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With all that being said, I’m sure that these friends of mine, these somewhat conservative-type Democrats must find themselves in an awkward position as they consider who their chosen Party has picked to lead NH Democrats: Ray Buckley. And they didn’t just "pick" him, either. No, as the Union Leader reports, they bent over backwards to "land" this fish:
In order to elect Buckley, Democrats had to amend their state party constitution to allow write-in votes. They did just that by a unanimous vote at the start of the day’s business.
Buckley then recieved 109 write-in votes, while his opponent, who appeared on the ballot, got 17 and another who withdrew got 6. The Dems overwhelmingly chose their guy, Ray Buckley.
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I’m glad the NH Democratic Party has chosen Buckley as their standardbearer. It may help NHerites better understand what they bargain for when they elect Dems to vital positions in the state government. He may cause the thinking voter to think twice before casting a ballot for a member of "Buckley’s Party".
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As for my "blue-dog" friends, I would encourage them to view this video, if they haven’t already, and extend an invitation to cross the aisle and join the GOP. It’s not like they’ve been much different than the Dems on many state issues, but at least as Republicans, my friends won’t suffer the embarassment of flipping on the TV and seeing their "leader", an embarassment to party and state…