You’ve seen the commercials. They feature once great or at least well-known personalities pitching insurance … or adult diapers. It was the sort of ad you used to see late at night, sandwiched between the psychic hotline and those girls who were up late too and just wanted to talk (for however many dollars per minute).
Those “once-great personalities” were clearly out to pasture but refused to get off the stage. Maybe they needed the money.
Is that New Hampshire Democrat State Party Chair Raymond Buckley? Ray isn’t exactly nice, or good, or a personality, but he has been the New Hampshire Democrat Party (NHDP) grand poobah for too long, and I have to think he knows it. After some early success standing on Barry Obama’s coattails, NH Democrats have been unable to consistently secure any majorities in local elections. Republicans have controlled the Governor’s Office, Executive Council, and Legislature for quite a while, with the odd exception, and you can see how great that’s been for Granite Stater’s. The Fraser Institute has named New Hampshire the freest state in North America for six years running.
One year with Dems “in power” would have wrecked that streak.
In 2024, Democrats lost Manchester, a huge chunk of the North Country, both chambers of the State legislature by larger majorities than last session, the governor’s seat again (to a different Republican), and (drumroll) they can kiss the first in the First In the Nation Presidential Primary (FITN), goodbye. It’s not coming back. Not on the Democrat Calendar. The crown jewel.
Republicans will keep their FITN primary, and the New Hampshire Secretary of State will keep it First, but I don’t think the DNC is going to play here first or officially, and that’s going to cost those NH Dems money and influence – and it’s all their fault. All they had to do was nominate a person of color to any federal race, but they couldn’t do it, and I have to think it’s because they are convinced New Hampshire is too racist to elevate one.
To that point, Democrats in NH CD2 had multiple occasions to vote based on skin color over party and refused. They picked the pasty white Dem chick spouting diversity BS every time.
And it probably wasn’t just the lack of diversity. The DNC’s top ticket favorite rarely wins here. That’s why Biden wanted to skip it – that racist turd didn’t give a damn about diversity. He wanted to come out of the gate strong, but he’s never done well in New Hampshire (except for the expensive and meaningless write-in campaign in 2024, which he had nothing to do with).
The NHDP is relegated to national meaninglessness, with Dems defrocked from their FITN finery. No big names are coming here. Dems lose out big on media relevance. Not as many microphones to hold or cameras to stare into. And, I have to suspect that there will be fewer fat donor donkeys to milk. You can’t charge 30K for a voter list for a primary that no longer matters.
Where the DNC drops the Dems NH Primary date remains to be seen.
The 2024 Primary Calendar pushed New Hampshire out to April 30th. And while the DNC agreed to count the ballots cast in January and count them in April (to apportion delegates), it’s not the same. And we’ve no guarantee they’ll keep doing that, and even if they do, the bloom is off the rose.
Ray Buckley stayed on the stage too long, and the state party has been reduced to the political primary equivalent of selling adult diapers at 2 a.m. He needs to go, but I doubt he is ready or willing or that the state delegates will vote him out. Much the way big-city Democrats endure the misery of Democratic rule, I don’t know if they are capable of escaping the political co-dependency they’ve come to embrace.
They are like battered women unable to escape a bad relationship. He beats me because he loves me.
There is also the rumor that big progressive money is coming to the Granite State to try and sweep Team Blue back into the majority in 2026. Ray won’t want to be outside looking in for that. And we should never underestimate Republican’s ability to squander a majority.
