I have a feeling that this is gonna be a long (and fun) campaign with stuff whizzing back and forth. It seems that Maggie Hassan is the front leader on the Democrat side (taking into account some of the undeclareds) and may well be the nominee. Problem is, we believe her to be the antithesis of what the spirit of New Hampshire to be (and fits rather well with the Progressive mantra that Government should be as big as it has to be in order to make sure of equal outcomes vs equal opportunity (e.g., healthcare: MaggieCare, free market be damned), making sure Government gives you stuff instead of being self responsible and acting like an adult ("Diapers R NH Govt!"), and if you don’t like it, we’ll regulate your speech instead of honoring your right to free speech (HassanSpeech here and here). Live Free or Die makes no sense to the Progressive mindset.
Well, there was a spat in the Union Leader between Shrill Kathy Sullivan and Pat Hynes over that free speech (complete snippet after the jump) part:
Granite Staters will begin hearing from Hynes’ version of the Forum today when it unveils a radio ad going after the new Democratic candidate for governor, former state Sen. Maggie Hassan, just two days after she announced.The spot accuses her of supporting:
"more than 80 taxes and fee increases, including the LLC tax."
"Hassan even hatched a harebrained scheme to have state bureaucrats take control of our hospitals," the ad charges, saying "it’s no wonder" she lost a bid for reelection to the Senate last year.
Right after that, I got a "boo hoo, they’re attacking me!" email:
Dear Friend,
As you may know, I announced my campaign for governor of New Hampshire on Tuesday. It did not take but two days for an extremist PAC to start running radio ads attacking me.
But what’s worse is that they are doing this because they want to direct attention away from an out of control legislature with an extremist agenda and the right wing gubernatorial candidates who would be a rubber stamp for their policies.
But you can help fight back against these attacks by contributing $10, $25, $100 right now.
This attack is a perfect example of what’s wrong in Concord.
Funny, during her announcement speech, you called both the Republicans and your announced opponent, Ovide Lamontagne, extremists. So Maggie, if you are going to accuse others of inciting a food fight, it’s a done deal that you threw the first dish of chocolate ice cream.
Here’s the ad itself
This ad is extremist only if one thinks that one’s past actions (and her leadership in those actions) being read back to you. Let me give you a piece of advice – extremist is the new racist, and is entirely overused and not effective.


The Eldest, a couple of years ago, called us up and said "I need some help!". Turns out, the landlord of the house that he and a couple of friends had been renting had been accepting their payments but not paying the mortgage – it was eviction time through no fault of their own. Of COURSE, we grabbed his stuff, loaded it up, and stuffed it into our house (I keep joking that his stuff is in every room of our house except my bedroom). Parents are and should be there for their children in times of need – that’s a given.