New Hampshire: Republican

SOURCE:The Nation

Healthcare Enemy No. 1

100 Days

By Christopher Hayes

This article appeared in the March 30, 2009 edition of The Nation.

March 11, 2009

Rush Limbaugh offers Democrats an irresistible target as the de facto leader of the Republican Party, but for my money, Rick Scott is the man who best embodies the spirit of the current conservative opposition. The name may not exactly be a household word, or it may ring a faint bell, but Politico recently reported that the millionaire Republican would be heading up Conservatives for Patients' Rights (CPR), a new group that plans to spend around $20 million to kill President Obama's efforts at healthcare reform.

OK, so it's a budget committee position in the 'Grok hometown, and the elections are "non-partisan," but still-- let me repeat:

A conservative Republican has won a seat in Central NH.

Skip Murphy-GraniteGrok, MTNP radio

As Tip O'Niel famously said, "all politics is local," and what happens in our happy little hamlet is simply a microcosm of the state or country at-large. Fellow 'Grokster Skip Murphy has served on the Gilford Municipal Budget Committee for the past three years (I have served with him for the last two). During that time, we started this blog, shortly followed by the baby 'Grok focusing on local politics-- GilfordGrok.

I apologize - after having Rep. Dan Itse on Meet The New Press (MTNP radio promo here, MTNP podcast here, his appearance on the Glen Beck show here), we should have kept on this important NH House resolution.  It is a national deal as over half the States are starting to wake up to the fact that the Federal Government is running roughshod over them.

Want an example why this is important?  What do you say when the Federal Stimulus bill has a clause in it that allows the State Legislatures to override a Governor Veto if that Governor does not wish to accept that stimulus money (as several Republican and Democrat Governors have said publicly due to the strings attached to that money).

DiStaso:
But for the moment, Republican activists remain enamored of John E. Sununu. The message consistently in GOP circles is that Sununu has first dibs on a candidacy, but they're hoping that he sends a message relatively soon on his plans so that others can begin raising money if he's not interested.
Or, you could have learned that here last Sunday, and that John & John are going to leave everyone hanging until "sometime around the summer," at which point, of course, they will be at a distinct money raising, name rec disadvantage.

What DiStaso does say explicitly for the first time, but doesn't surprise anyone with a pulse, is that both Fergus Cullen and Dukakis supporter John Stephen are gunning for Carol's seat if she runs for senate.