It seemed Ronald Reagan’s political career was over in early 1980. Despite Gerald Ford having wrested the 1976 GOP nomination from him, Reagan gave the presidency one last try in 1980 at age 69—which Democrats said was too old. (Irony alert.)
Then George H.W. Bush trounced Reagan in the Iowa Caucuses. Reagan’s political obituary was published across the land.
Then came the First-in-the-Nation New Hampshire Primary.
A memorable Nashua debate made history. Reagan won N.H. in a landslide. Everything changed. Reagan would win two landslide presidential elections while turning our economy around and winning the Cold War. No wonder Reagan said, “God Bless New Hampshire.”
It seemed George H.W. Bush was politically dead in 1988 after also being trounced in the Iowa Caucus, finishing third behind Bob Dole and Pat Roberston. Bush came to N.H. and plaintively pleaded with Granite Staters for help.
“If you come through for me, then when I get to Washington, you’ll hear me say ‘Thank You New Hampshire’ forever.”
With Governor John Sununu’s crucial assistance, Bush won New Hampshire and then the presidency and kept his promise to forever thank New Hampshire.
It seemed Bill Clinton was politically dead in 1992 when the first of his major sex scandals broke, after he’d received 3% of the Iowa Caucus vote. Clinton came to New Hampshire to plead for help, like Reagan and Bush before him, telling a crowd in Dover that if Granite Staters gave him a chance, “I’ll be there for you until the last dog dies.”
Clinton’s strong FITN finish allowed him to proclaim himself “The Comeback Kid” and he went on to easily win two presidential elections.
And so it goes. New Hampshire shapes presidential races like no other state.
Which brings us to 2024. A clear majority of horrified Americans dread the prospect of a Biden-Trump rematch. Can’t we do better? But it seems like we’re locked into that terrible scenario.
Unless New Hampshire voters step up as they have in the past to point things in a better direction.
For Republicans that means voting for Nikki Haley. I completely agree with Haley supporter Chris Sununu that “We have a country to save.”
I followed FITN developments intently for many months before finally becoming the first State Representative to endorse Haley at the end of October. I won’t repeat the powerful case for her here. Fair and thoughtful voters have until Jan. 23rd to conduct their due diligence and hopefully figure it out.
My endorsement resulted in threats, but that’s okay. I’ve been in harm’s way before, from the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan. Trumpers tell me I’m “being watched” and that I’ll “pay a price.” I feel like Dr. Zhivago in that classic movie when a communist Russian commissar informed him that “Your attitude is noticed. Oh yes, it’s been noticed!”
On the Dem side, another classic movie comes to mind—the film featuring college fraternity pledges being paddled.
Okay, it was Animal House.
The pledges’ rite of passage required them to bend over to be swatted by fraternity leaders, whom we can liken to the Democrat “establishment.” I keep picturing Joe Biden wielding a paddle on bent-over N.H. Dems who respond as the movie pledges did when spanked: “Thank you, Sir. May I have another one, Sir?”
It’s pathetic to see N.H. establishment Dems trying to get voters to write in Biden’s name on a ballot he disdained. The better that Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips does on the Dem side, the better it is for the future of our FITN primary.
We’ll soon see if New Hampshire can save the country from a Biden-Trump redux. Not only does the future of our FITN require us to step up and redirect things, but more importantly, the future of our country demands it. History shows that informed New Hampshire voters can step up to change our world. It’s happened before.
Just ask Presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush, or Bill Clinton.
