In doing some research in our archives, this popped up from way back in August of 2007: Announcing the GraniteGrok reader survey results: NH’s Power Players. It made for interesting reading and brought back a number of names that I haven’t seen in a long time (reformatted, emphasis mine):
The way it worked was simple– I asked readers to submit a list of 5 people who they thought were the new power players in NH; who are the most influential in today’s Granite state. I then listed all of the answers and then ranked them according to total votes cast for each. The goal was to create a list of twenty people that GraniteGrok readers felt fit the bill.
The top finishers were as follows:
- First place was tied: Gov. John Lynch and NH Dem Party Chair Ray Buckley
- Second place found Kathy Sullivan, former Dem Party Chair tied with John Stephen.
- Third place was a three-way between NH State Sen. Bob Clegg, US Sen.John E. Sununu, and a non-person, collective entity called “the Blogs.”
I rather liked reading that last entity. However, it has turned out that of all of the political blogs back in 2007, we are pretty much the only one left standing. Blogging is hard, can get you into trouble with friends and enemies alike, and it takes a lot of work, determination, and discipline. But Blogs, at that time, were punching well above their weight. It was pretty much us and Blue Hampshire (and they went to the Lefty Blog Utopia a long time ago now). Back to the vote getters:
Hard on the heels of the top vote-getters was this next group. All receiving approximately the same number of votes each, they appear to rather nicely fill out the list of the main players. They are listed in alphabetical order instead of rank, as they all pretty much tied with one another:
- “Activists” (another collective entity rather than an individual)
- GOP Chair Fergus Cullen
- Manchester Mayor Frank Giunta
- US Sen. Judd Gregg
- Former gubernatorial candidate Bruce Keough
- NH Senate President Sylvia Larsen
- NH House Speaker Terri Norelli
- Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen
- That makes fifteen. Rounding out the top twenty, we find
- US Rep. Democrat Paul Hodes
- Stonyfield Farm’s Gary Hirshberg (while a liberal, it’s nice to see a non politician on this list)
- Andru Volinski– victorious “Claremont Lawsuit” lawyer
- Former NH Cong. Republican Jeb Bradley
- Joe McQuaid– publisher of the NH Union Leader newspaper (diminished, but not out)
There you have it– the top twenty power players of New Hampshire, as chosen by the GraniteGrok readers. There were many other entries that, while not garnering enough votes to make the top twenty, certainly are worthy of our consideration, and shouldn’t go without mention. While not quite at the peak yet, they certainly might attain loftier heights down the road. These are in no particular order:
Acting DOT Commish Charles O’Leary; NHCLU Claire Ebel; NH Reagan Network’s Fran Wendleboe; Dem Cong. Carol Shea Porter; CNHT Ed Naile; GOP Minority Leader Rep. Mike Whalley; NH Sen. Ted Gatsas; Joel Maiola; Tom Rath; Robb Thomson; Tom Thomson; Judy Reardon; Paul Twoomey; Neal Kurk; Former GOP state Chair Wayne Semprini; Former NH Speaker Doug Scamman
Interesting. A FEW names are still around – many have lost their place or have left the field altogether. So, time for another one!
Rules:
- Leave a comment with your “names” (if on Facebook, in your REPLIES). Or EMAIL me if you want your “names” to be anonymous and not attributable to you.
- BE NON-PARTISAN – Let’s face it, there are names on both sides of the aisle right now (although you might be surprised, if you go to that old post, at what Doug said about this).
- Leave as many names as you want.
- On “voting” multiple times – just don’t keep putting in the same names over and over again – if you “vote” multiple times, I’m hoping that you’re just adding new names instead of “re-voting” current ones.
I reserve the right to add / modify / delete along the way. Let’s do this until August 10.
