And no, it wasn’t Matt Mowers (who blew us off at the last minute) – he got zero votes from the GraniteGrok writers. I hope that helps you determine who you’d vote for come September’s New Hampshire Primary.
As you may know, we’ve been doing a series of GrokGauntlets. That is our version of the “round tables” that journalists do. But we ask FAR different questions, and they last about 2 hours. Life isn’t scripted, and we certainly aren’t scripted at all with our questions. A couple of generic questions, sure, and then most are all ad hoc and a bit deeper or probing on matters of policy.
Every GraniteGrok author is invited to attend these sessions and they can more or less ask any questions they want.
When all the candidates have been grilled, everyone has the chance to vote. And we always include an additional “candidate”: No Endorsement in this Race.
The vast majority of the time, that is who is selected (e.g., no one), NO endorsement wins the team vote. But individual Groksters can personally endorse anyone they want in any race they choose on the pages of GraniteGrok, an official GraniteGrok Endorsement takes a majority of the authors.
This time, for the NH CD-1 Grok Writers vote, “No Endorsement” lost.
For the record, were never able to contact the Prescott or the Huff-Brown campaigns even after we let folks know that we were looking for them.
And not only did Matt Mowers decline our invitation but Chuck Morse decided that you folks didn’t need to watch him facing a long and involved questioning as well (we recorded the sessions) for the US Senat contest.
One has to ask why if these folks can’t stand up to a handful of lowly Conservative/Liberty & Freedom bloggers, how the HECK should we expect them to rebuff the media pressure, the Congressional Leadership, the high-priced lobbyists, and all the other advocacy groups that inhabit the Hill?
You know the answer, they can’t.
In CD-1, it was the “Young Guns” candidates that manned up to face us, and we thank them for doing so:
- Tim Baxter
- Karoline Leavitt (because of yet another scheduling snafu, an abbreviated one)
Both are fine candidates, and we’d have no problem with folks choosing one over the other. With all that said, only one could receive an endorsement.
Both reached high to meet the standards on issues and political philosophy that we expect from our elected Representatives. Only one, however, could receive an endorsement. Thus, the roll was called, and the votes cast, and our decision for a GraniteGrok Endorsement is:
Karoline Leavitt.
Her response to my informing her early this afternoon of the decision of the GraniteGrok writers:
“I am honored to receive the endorsement of GraniteGrok, New Hampshire’s home for conservative news, opinion, and activism. Freedom-loving Granite Staters need and deserve a homegrown Representative in Congress who isn’t afraid to take a punch from the Establishment and will fight to put America First again, and I’m proud to be that Candidate. I look forward to winning the Republican Nomination on September 13th and finally beating Chris Pappas in November!”
