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date: July 16, 2008

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Insurers required to cover stomach reduction surgery

New Hampshire Union Leader
July 16, 2008

CONCORD – Health insurers will be required to add stomach reduction surgery to the list of procedures they have to cover. Gov. John Lynch allowed Senate Bill 312 to become law without his signature yesterday. It takes effect in 60 days...
 

NH gov lets bill become law on weight-loss surgery

Associated Press
July 15, 2008

CONCORD, N.H. --New Hampshire health insurers will be required to offer bariatric surgery as an option in treating diseases and ailments caused by obesity. Gov. John Lynch decided Tuesday to let a bill become law without his signature at midnight that mandates coverage as one option in treating the diseases. The law takes effect in 60 days. The bill required patients to pass a number of medical and psychological hurdles first...
 

Gov. Lynch signs business court bill

By Tom Fahey
New Hampshire Union Leader
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

CONCORD – A new business court system Gov. John Lynch has signed into law is meant to save companies money on arbitration costs and move their cases more quickly. Lynch signed into effect Friday a bill that creates a specialized court docket to handle business issues, much as the state has a family court to handle divorces and custody cases...
 

Press Release: Governor Lynch Signs Legislation Creating Business Court

Office of the Governor
July 11, 2008

CONCORD - Gov. John Lynch today signed legislation creating a specialized business court docket in the New Hampshire superior court...
 

Evergreen clauses bill signed by Lynch

Associated Press
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

CONCORD (AP) – Gov. John Lynch has signed a union-backed bill requiring public employers to honor existing provisions of an expired union contract until a new contract is in place – commonly called an "evergreen clause." The bill had strong support from employee unions as needed to keep some employers from walking away from negotiations and leaving no contract provisions in place. The bill took effect Tuesday with Lynch's signature, but only applies to new bargaining agreements.
 

Bill's veto reflects changing times
Lynch blocks effort to evict tenants soon after foreclosure auctions


By Kevin Landrigan
Nashua Telegraph
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

CONCORD – The national credit crunch and rising foreclosures here prompted Gov. John Lynch to veto legislation to let those who bid highest in a foreclosure auction get a jump on evicting tenants, bill supporters said Monday. The veto appeared to kill for 2008 a move by state Rep. Cynthia Dokmo, R-Amherst, to clear up inconsistencies in state law over eviction proceedings after a routine property transfer and property obtained through foreclosure...
 

Savings key in N.H. plan to lay turf at center
Detention officials like idea of saving some $225,000, despite health concerns over fake grass


By Kevin Landrigan
Nashua Telegraph
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

CONCORD – State juvenile detention officials defended their plan to spend $37,200 to install synthetic turf on a 6,000-square-foot, play space within the John H. Sununu Youth Services Center. Director William Fenniman said using the labor of state maintenance workers deeply dropped the price of this contract that otherwise would be $262,019...
 

Student debt in N.H. 2nd in nation

Portsmouth Herald
July 15, 2008

CONCORD — New Hampshire student loan borrowers have the second highest debt burden in the country. Eighty-two percent of the 1,500 borrowers surveyed said that without student loans, attending college would not have been possible, according to survey results recently released by the New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation Network Organizations. The NHHEAF said recent survey results support the need for its program designed to educate student loan borrowers about the serious consequences of defaulting on a loan...
 

Economic forum targets potential of Concord-to-Boston line

By Joseph G. Cote
Nashua Telegraph
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

MANCHESTER – Rails from Concord to Manchester to Nashua to Boston isn't just a good idea. It and rail systems like it are essential to the future of New Hampshire economies. That's the message that the leaders of a movement to create a passenger rail system along the so-called Capital Corridor gave to the roughly 250 people at a forum titled "Rail as the Economic Engine for NH: A Time for Action" at Saint Anselm College in Manchester on Monday night...
 

Downeaster has big uptick in riders

By Robert M. Cook
Foster's Daily Democrat
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

DOVER — Ridership and revenue on the Downeaster has seen a dramatic increase out of the Dover train station in the past year, according to some of the latest figures posted Monday by the Dover Planning Department. Ridership and revenue was up nearly 48 percent between the Dover train station and the Boston-North station in June compared to June 2007, according to the figures. Nearly 4,000 people rode the train in June and generated more than $48,000 in revenue compared to 2,636 riders who spent more than $29,000 in ticket sales a year ago...
 

Sens. try to soothe anxious council

By John Koziol
Laconia Citizen
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

While it was clear they still had questions and concerns, the members of the City Council on Monday got some detailed answers about what House Bill 2 really means for Belknap County and by direct extension, Laconia taxpayers. Adopted by the Legislature in 2007, the bill "establishes the liability of counties for nursing home costs and removes county liability for payment of certain youth services costs beginning July 1 and a commission to study the matter." Given the "volatile relationship for a number of years" between the Legislature and the counties, HB2, explained State Sen. Lou D'Allessandro, D-Manchester, was intended to improve the relationship between the two parties by making it clear who was going to pay for what...
 

Latest vote on sheriff upheld

By Bea Lewis
Laconia Citizen
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A Superior Court judge has ruled that the method the Belknap County Delegation used to reappoint Meredith resident Craig Wiggin as interim county sheriff was legal and should stand until the general election. Political activists Tom Tardif of Laconia and Doug Lambert of Gilford had challenged the methodology the County Convention used to fill the unexpired term of former Sheriff Dan Collis, who resigned to take a security job in the private sector...
 

Cupboard is bare: Summer not bountiful for food pantries

By Adam D. Krauss
Foster's Daily Democrat
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

ROCHESTER — John Rogan, an ordained minister and captain at the Salvation Army Community Center, stood in the ministry's depleted pantry Monday, motioning to where food used to be. Before the summer hit, donated food rose 5 feet high off four wooden pallets, he said. Now, the pallets hold two boxes of corn flakes, and many of the shelves are barren, save for cans of sweet peas and diced tomatoes recently purchased at a generous rate from the United States Department of Agriculture...
 

NH unemployment unchanged from May to June

Associated Press
July 15, 2008

CONCORD, N.H. --New Hampshire's unemployment rate has stayed the same in June. The state says the jobless rate was 4 percent in June, the same as it was in May...
 

Governor hears truckers' frustrations

By Lorna Colquhoun
New Hampshire Union Leader
July 16, 2008

COLEBROOK – Like trucking companies around the state and beyond, those in northern New Hampshire have concerns, from the cost of fuel, to bureaucracy, to the lack of cell phone service in some areas of the North Country. Yesterday, nearly two dozen representatives of trucking companies in the region met with Gov. John Lynch to talk about the challenges they are facing, and it's not only the high cost of fueling their rigs...
 

Weekly 'Argus' ending publication
Publisher: Paper lost money each month


By Chelsea Conaboy
Concord Monitor
July 16, 2008

The Argus Champion, a weekly newspaper that has covered the greater Lake Sunapee area since 1823, will stop publication at the end of this month, according to this morning's edition. In a letter to readers, Publisher Harvey Hill said the newspaper has been losing money each month...
 

The future of brewery, employing 500, cast in doubt

By Ashley Smith
Nashua Telegraph
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Merrimack has good reason to be concerned about its brewery now that Anheuser-Busch agrees to be sold to an overseas brewer famous for its appetite for cost-cutting, an industry analyst said Monday. InBev, the Belgian brewer poised to buy the American beer giant for $52 billion, says all 12 U.S. breweries will remain in operation, including the smallest, which is in Merrimack. But there are doubts...
 

Few changes expected in A-B buyout

By Jim Kozubek
New Hampshire Union Leader
Monday, July 14, 2008

MERRIMACK – InBev spokeswoman Nina Dezlin said yesterday InBev's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch will result in few changes for Anheuser's Merrimack brewery...
 

Business leaders speculate about fate of Merrimack plant

Nashua Telegraph
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

MERRIMACK – Local business leaders gathering at Cinemagic on Monday night expressed mixed emotions about the pending $52 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., which employs about 500 people at a local brewery. Fears that the Daniel Webster Highway brewery is poised for closure coincided with complete faith in Belgian brewer InBev SA executives who said the company planned to keep all 12 brewery plants in operation once the deal was finalized...
 

Senate votes to repeal 1913 law
Bill to OK wedding of nonresident gays now goes to House


By Eric Moskowitz
Boston Globe
July 16, 2008

The state Senate voted swiftly and unanimously yesterday to strike down a 95-year-old law that blocks gay and lesbian couples from most other states from being married in Massachusetts, drawing condemnation from Catholic Church leaders but delivering a victory for advocates who have fought for the repeal and who say that same-sex marriage has become an accepted part of the state's culture. The atmosphere during Senate deliberations lacked most of the drama of previous Beacon Hill debates over gay marriage. There were no chanting protesters outside, and not a voice on the Senate floor was raised against the repeal...
 

State sees economics of gay marriage
Senate to vote on repeal of 1913 ban on out-of-staters


By Eric Moskowitz
Boston Globe
July 15, 2008

Morality, personal liberty, and constitutional law have been the usual battlegrounds in the fight over gay marriage. Now Governor Deval Patrick's administration is injecting something a bit more pedestrian to the debate: economic development. A study conducted for the state's Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development predicts that an economic boomlet in hotel bookings, banquets, and wedding cakes would result from repealing a 1913 state law that prevents gay and lesbian couples from most other states from marrying in Massachusetts...
 

Legislature approves bill banning trans fats

By Samantha Sondag
San Francisco Chronicle
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

California is poised to become the first state in the nation to ban restaurants and other food facilities from using trans fats, which are known to increase the risk of heart disease, under a bill approved by the state Legislature Monday and sent to the governor. The measure, passed with a bare majority, comes two weeks after a similar ban in New York City became fully effective. California doctor and consumer groups support the law, while restaurant groups have offered a lukewarm response. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position, a spokesman said...

 

 
  People/Candidates
 
 
 

In N.H. delegation, opinions differ on offshore drilling

Associated Press
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) – New Hampshire's congressional delegation was divided along party lines on President Bush's decision Monday to lift an executive ban on offshore oil drilling...Democratic Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes called the president's action shortsighted, saying it won't address the nation's long-term energy crisis...Republican Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu supported Bush's decision...
 

US SENATE
 

Shaheen, Sununu Report Record-Breaking Fundraising
Candidates Announce Campaign Finance Numbers For Second Quarter


WMUR
July 15, 2008

Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and U.S. Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., are claiming record-breaking fundraising numbers in their race against each other. The Senate race between Shaheen and Sununu is drawing lots of attention from state and national donors, translating into big money for both campaigns. Shaheen's campaign said it has $1.6 million this quarter with $2.1 million on hand...
 

JEANNE SHAHEEN
 

Shaheen switches campaign managers, brings in Clinton campaign star

By James W. Pindell
Politicker NH
July 15, 2008

Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen switched out campaign managers for her U.S. Senate campaign in recent days, replacing her manager with a former rival, several sources tell PolitickerNH.com. The switch occurred Friday. Gone is Bill Hyers, the camera-shy field oriented guy who has been managing her campaign since November...Hyers wasn't let go because of incompetence, but personality clashes, sources said. The new manager is Robby Mook, who got his first taste of major politics here in New Hampshire serving as the deputy field director for Howard Dean. Prior to that he worked for two cycles in Vermont...
 

Shaheen to talk Medicare in city

Portsmouth Herald
July 16, 2008

PORTSMOUTH — Former governor and current candidate for U.S. Senate Jeanne Shaheen will be in the city Wednesday to meet with seniors and discuss a recent bill in Washington that could have meant a cut to Medicare access for 200,000 New Hampshire seniors. Shaheen will speak at the senior citizens center at Parrott Avenue Place, 127 Parrott Ave., next to Portsmouth Middle School. She is running against incumbent Republican Sen. John Sununu...
 

SUNUNU
 

Sununu reports $5M in bank

By Brian Lawson
Politicker NH
July 16, 2008

U.S. Sen. John SununuU.S. Sen. John SununuU.S. Sen. John Sununu's (R-Waterville Valley) campaign has announced that the campaign has $5.1 million cash-on-hand. According to the campaign that is a record for a federal office candidate in New Hampshire. The campaign also said that it raised $1.1 million during the second quarter...
 

Sununu leads health center funding fight

By John DiStaso
New Hampshire Union Leader
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

MANCHESTER – Sen. John Sununu said yesterday he is confident a $200,000 earmark he secured to help fund the Manchester Community Health Center's new $3 million facility will remain in the 2009 federal budget. Sununu said the money in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriation bill was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee and is included in the bill being sent to the Senate floor...
 

GREGG
 

Committee approves $2M in bridge project funding

By Shir Haberman
Portsmouth Herald
July 14, 2008

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH, on Monday announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $2 million for the expansion and upgrade of the Little Bay Bridges/Spaulding Turnpike in Newington and Dover...
 

SUNUNU/GREGG
 

D.C. coalition seeks energy answers

New Hampshire Union Leader
July 16, 2008

WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan coalition that includes New Hampshire Republican Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu and Maine Republican Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins yesterday called for a bipartisan national summit with the President to develop a consensus proposal that addresses the current energy crisis. Joining the New Hampshire and Maine senators on the letter were...
 

CD-01
 

Defining the House Playing Field

By Chris Cillizza
Washington Post The Fix
July 11, 2008

The news that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reserved more than $35 million worth of air time in 31 districts across the country gives us our first real sense of what the House playing field might look like this fall. The initial ad buy, which represents the earliest stage of the cat and mouse game that the two House campaign committees will play with one another in districts around the country between now and Nov. 4, is -- despite its size -- somewhat on the cautious side...
 

Bradley, Stephen square off again tonight in New Castle

By Charles McMahon
Foster's Daily Democrat
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

NEW CASTLE — The latest round of Bradley versus Stephen will take place tonight at the town library. The event may have been pitched as a forum for discussion between the Republican First Congressional District candidates, but there is bound to be no shortage of debate. Fresh off a debate in Newington on June 9, both Jeb Bradley and John Stephen will also be accompanied by fellow candidate Geoff Michael of Merrimack. The event is slated to begin at 7 p.m. in the Macomber Room of the New Castle Town Library and is sponsored by the New Castle Republican Committee...
 

Stephen: Offshore drilling would have immediate impact on gas prices

By Rebecca Correa
Lawrence Eagle-Tribune
July 15, 2008

DERRY — Republican congressional candidate John Stephen knows the price of gas is hurting most families, which is why he agrees with President Bush's decision yesterday to lift the executive ban on offshore oil drilling...
 

CD-02
 

Clegg congressional campaign to list donors

By Kevin Landrigan
Nashua Telegraph
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

CONCORD– Republican congressional candidate Robert Clegg, of Hudson, is revealing today that 238 new donors helped him raise about $60,000 during the past three months, according to campaign officials...
 

STATE SENATE
 

Knytych preparing to kick-off campaign

By Brian Lawson
Politicker NH
July 14, 2008

State senate candidate Greg Knytych (R-Laconia) will launch his campaign with a free BBQ on July 20. Knytch is a Laconia city councilor challenging state Sen. Kathleen Sgambati (D-Tilton) for the senate district four seat...
 

BILLY SHAHEEN
 

Billy Shaheen to speak at Dems office opening

By Brian Lawson
Politicker NH
July 14, 2008

Billy Shaheen will be speaking at the official opening of the headquarters for various Granite State Democratic campaigns. Billy Shaheen, often a fixture on the campaign trail, has rarely been seen at events since he resigned as co-chair of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire campaign in December. Shaheen will be representing, his wife, Jeanne Shaheen's (D-Madbury) U.S. Senate campaign. The event will celebrate the opening of the offices for the Manchester Democratic Committee, the New Hampshire Democratic Party, the House and Senate caucuses and U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter...
 

MERRILL
 

State's agriculture chief has farming in her blood

By Paula Tracy
New Hampshire Union Leader
Monday, July 14, 2008

STRATHAM – New Hampshire's agricultural leadership continues down on the farm. Just as retired Agriculture Commissioner Steve Taylor of Plainfield was known for milking the cows before heading to Concord, new Commissioner Lorraine Merrill begins each day on the only remaining dairy farm in this Seacoast town...
 

DODDS
 

Decision on Dodds release expected this week

By Aaron Sanborn
Foster's Daily Democrat
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

DOVER — Authorities at the Strafford County House of Corrections will decide this week if Gary Dodds' stay in jail will extend beyond the week. On Monday, Superior Court Judge Steven Houran imposed two previously suspended, 12-month sentences from Dodds' conviction involving a staged car crash in April 2006...
 

Jail time for Dodds: Judge calls letters found in home 'deeply disturbing'

By Jason G. Howe
Foster's Daily Democrat
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

DOVER — Gary Dodds clutched a cluster of envelopes as he shuffled silently from Strafford County Superior Courthouse Monday, jail bound. Tucking his chin into his chest, Dodds refused to comment on a judge's order that will send him to jail for up to a year for violating bail conditions on July 3, when he allegedly detained and assaulted his wife, Cindy, at Cutts Mansion, a historic rental property in Portsmouth owned by the couple...
 

Dodds' bail revoked

By Jason Schreiber
New Hampshire Union Leader
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

DOVER – Former congressional candidate Gary Dodds could spend the next year behind bars after a judge yesterday revoked his bail amid allegations that he assaulted his wife and held her against her will in a confrontation earlier this month...
 

Bail is revoked for Dodds in crash
Returns to jail to serve sentence


Associated Press
July 15, 2008

DOVER, N.H. - Bail was revoked for former congressional candidate Gary Dodds after prosecutors said he assaulted his wife. Dodds had been out on bail following his February conviction for faking his disappearance after a crash on the Spaulding Turnpike in 2006. Police said Dodds assaulted his wife last week by grabbing her arm and briefly detaining her at a rental property they own. The bail revocation means Dodds was sent back to Strafford County Jail to serve out the 20 days in jail he was originally sentenced to in April. Officials said he has five days left on the sentence because of credit for time he has served...
 

THE BROWNS
 

Feds keep Brown on the move

By Kristen Senz
New Hampshire Union Leader
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

PLAINFIELD – Former Plainfield resident Edward Brown has been transferred to at least five different federal penitentiaries since his capture less than a year ago, most recently moving to a facility in Illinois...
 
 
  Political Columns  
 


 

John DiStaso's Granite Status: Shea-Porter's campaign has about $750K

By John DiStaso
New Hampshire Union Leader
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

TUESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE (UPDATED): First District U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter raised more than $260,000 from 2,589 contributors from April 1 to June 30 and ended the second quarter with about $750,000 on hand...

MONDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Barack Obama’s presidential campaign will announce its press team for New Hampshire later today...
 

Press Release (not available online)

Portside for July 17th

Is there a possible therapeutic benefit of using LSD?  Is America finally starting to emerge from the dark ages of the drug war? On Thursday's Portside, Burt Cohen speaks with author Charles Shaw regarding new scientific inquiries into possible psychological benefits of the controlled use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs. Tune in and turn on your radio Thursday July 17th, noon to one, streaming live at portsmouthcommunityradio.org. And then from one to two, turn off your mind, relax and float downstream with DJ Burt Cohen on Fine Aged Rock, again at portsmouthcommunityradio.org.
 

 
  NH Polls  
 

 

 
  Op Ed  
 

 

Editorial: Methadone clinics under fire again
What authority should communities have in the clinics' location?


Foster's Daily Democrat
Monday, July 14, 2008

The licensing of methadone clinics in New Hampshire is coming under review. It comes following a request by the board of selectmen in Conway that the state not license any new clinics until host communities are given more authority over where they are located. It is not the first time the location of methadone clinics has come under fire by communities or their residents. It's a hot-button development issue — a not-in-my-back-yard one...
 

Editorial: Bush veto on Medicare defies logic

Portsmouth Herald
July 16, 2008

For reasons that can most charitably be described as stubbornly ideological, President Bush vetoed a bill Tuesday designed to protect doctors from a 10.6 percent cut in their reimbursement rates when treating Medicare patients...This is legislation that initially passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the House (355-59) and the Senate (69-30). So when measuring what the president called a "wrong," we are left wondering just how Bush and New Hampshire's own Republican Sens. John Sununu and Judd Gregg — who both voted against the bill twice in the past two weeks — measure the overall public good...
 

Editorial: Drill now! Congress blocks the bit

New Hampshire Union Leader
July 16, 2008

ON MONDAY, President Bush lifted the 18-year-old executive order banning oil drilling off of America's coastline. Now all that blocks the drill bits are Democratic congressional leaders and their knee-jerk anti-drilling lapdogs like Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes...
 

Editorial: Congress excuses the phone companies from spying on us illegally

Keene Sentinel
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

It didn’t exactly signal the death of the Fourth Amendment, as some people have suggested, but last week’s U.S. Senate vote giving telephone companies retroactive immunity for violating citizens’ privacy rights was an indication that constitutional principles don’t carry much weight in Washington these days...
Speaking of future administrations, Barack Obama voted for this bill, although he had said: “I strongly oppose retroactive immunity in the FISA bill. No one should get a free pass to violate the basic civil liberties of the American people — not the president of the United States, and not the telecommunications companies that fell in line with his warrantless surveillance program.” That turned out to be just so much piffle. John McCain, who didn’t vote last week, also supported the bill. To her credit, Hillary Clinton voted against it, as did New Hampshire’s two members of Congress, Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter, when the measure was in the House. Senators Judd Gregg and John Sununu voted for the bill. And both made a strange point about it...
 

Editorial: Our view: Rail service bills many to benefit a few

Lawrence Eagle-Tribune
July 15, 2008

Where are the private investors ready and willing to build a rail line from Lawrence to Londonderry, N.H., and operate the trains that would run on it? There are none. Why? Because laying track and running a train system is a hugely expensive proposition. And there isn't one thin dime to be made on such a venture...
 

State borrow-and-spend budgeting is worse than we thought

By Charles M. Arlinghaus
New Hampshire Union Leader
July 16, 2008

THE STATE government's version of a credit card spending spree is the most serious threat to New Hampshire's traditional fiscal stability. The recent effort to borrow $80 million to help address a potential $200 million revenue shortfall has been in the news. Less widely known is that the state's highway trust fund is only balanced in the current budget because it borrowed another $60 million to pay operating expenses...
 

Offshore drilling's amazing safety record

By Andrew Cline
New Hampshire Union Leader
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

ON THE MORNING of Jan. 28, 1969, a Union Oil drilling site six miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., sprang a leak. The ensuing spill stretched for miles, killed thousands of birds, and gave America the image of wildlife and shorelines covered in black crude. That spill is widely considered to have conceived the modern environmental movement. A year later, the first Earth Day was held, followed by passage of the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act...
 

Vote to certify a new union should continue to be by secret ballot

By Jim Roche
Concord Monitor
July 15, 2008

Organized labor has a proud history of protecting and advancing the rights of working men and women. From establishment of the federal minimum wage to creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, labor unions have helped ensure that employers treat their employees with dignity, respect and compensate them fairly for a fair day's work. So it seems inconsistent at best, hypocritical at worst, that the No. 1 goal of organized labor today is to overturn another proud and important tradition in this country: the right to cast a confidential, private ballot...
 

We need true citizen representation in Congress

By Jennifer Horn
New Hampshire Union Leader
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

CONGRESS is failing the American people, and the people know it. According to a recent Rasmussen poll only 9 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. It's not hard to understand why. Gas prices continue to skyrocket, people are losing their homes and the economy is in disarray. Personal gain and political gamesmanship have replaced public service as motivation for serving in public office. Government no longer works for the people it was created to serve; special interests win over the average voter every day...
 

Straight-Ticket Voting: Some Numbers

By elwood
Blue Hampshire
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

For the 2006 election the Secretary of State's office published on the web, for the first time, the number of straight-ticket votes cast in each party. The straight ticket option was eliminated since then: in the future, voters will have to explicitly mark a choice for each office. Here are two widely-held beliefs about straight ticket voting:...
 

The "Artful Dodger" strikes again. Jeanne Shaheen and her human campaign shields...

By Doug
GraniteGrok
July 15, 2008

In what is an interesting story, given their oft-stated claims to the contrary, these videos demonstrate that the Democrats aren't "holier than thou" when it comes to the filming of their candidates at meetings. Recall that Republicans have received flak on more than one occasion for seeking to ban members of the opposition party from meetings, including one occasion right here in our own neck of the woods. As reported by the Citizen newspaper back in May:...
 

Required reading for Jeanne Shaheen

By Drew Cline
New Hampshire Union Leader Blog
Monday, July 14, 2008

Jeanne Shaheen still thinks speculators are behind the rise in oil prices. Obviously, she doesn’t read The Wall Street Journal or other financial publications. Nor has she seen recent reports in which experts in the commodities markets have discounted that theory. Here, for her education, are links to a few op-eds and articles that should disavow her of this mistaken theory:...
 

Bush, Sununu, Gregg: Privateers Overridden by Change

By Dean Barker
Blue Hampshire
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A rare, golden, happy sight - Bush's perverse Medicare bill veto today was overridden.  First in the House, by 383-41. Three hundred and eighty-three to freaking forty-one. The Senate followed suit an hour later, passing it with a  huge bi-partisan majority of 70-26. So, who thought it would be better to stand with George Bush and the private health insurance industry rather than with seniors and doctors?...
 

Sununu getting attacked by stealth Universal Healthcare advocates

By Skip
GraniteGrok
July 15, 2008

You just KNOW they aren't going to like this one little bit.  Liberals HATE to be challenged on anything as they believe that they, and only they, possess the superior knowledge for us all (our opinions / needs / wants / desires don't count - after all, they are our betters, right?). So, when I saw this at PolitckerNH, I just couldn't let it go (just wish I had had the time to fisk it earlier). Sure thing, Ms. Hawkins.  Let's see what's up, shall we?...
 

Billy

By Doug
GraniteGrok
July 14, 2008

I was thrilled indeed to read the headline at Politicker.com: Billy Shaheen to Speak at Dems Office Opening...
 

 
 
 

Primary News

 

 
  Democrats  
 

 

NEW HAMPSHIRE
 

She's singing Obama's praises
King encourages transition from Clinton


By Lauren R. Dorgan
Concord Monitor
July 16, 2008

Legendary songstress and political activist Carole King tapped her songbook yesterday in support of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, asking a Concord crowd to make the "Earth move" for Obama. A former supporter of Hillary Clinton's candidacy, King was billed by the Obama campaign as a speaker on women's issues. After brief remarks at Gibson's Bookstore, King took time to sympathize with another former Clinton supporter who took her candidate's loss so hard that she cried for three days...
 

Editorial: Parlez vous stupide?: You embarrass Obama

New Hampshire Union Leader
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

MONSIEUR Barack Obama said last week that it was "embarrassing" that Europeans speak more languages than Americans do. He said we should all teach our children Spanish. Well, maybe. But there's a reason Europeans speak more languages than we do: they have to; we don't...
 

OTHER NEWS AND VIEWS
 

Obama takes show onto global stage
His foreign-policy credentials will likely be tested as he travels abroad.


By Peter Grier
Christian Science Monitor
July 16, 2008

Barack Obama is about to embark on high-profile foreign travel that could have a powerful influence on how US voters judge his ability to act as the nation's commander in chief. The question is, what sort of presumptive Democratic candidate will his domestic audience see? Will it be someone reminiscent of John F. Kennedy – cool, articulate, and the center of cheering foreign crowds? Or will it be a traveler more like candidate Jimmy Carter – an inexperienced, provincial politician on a learning tour?...
 

Obama stands by timetable for Iraq
The Democrat offers a plan for the U.S. to reorient its national security priorities. He maintains he hasn't changed positions.


By Peter Nicholas and Robin Abcarian
Los Angeles Times
July 16, 2008

WASHINGTON — As he prepares for an extensive trip overseas, Barack Obama delivered a sweeping foreign policy address Tuesday in which he sought to reassure his supporters that he remains committed to ending the war in Iraq. Obama, who has been trying to counter perceptions that he has softened his position since he locked up the Democratic presidential nomination, said the nation's future hinged on reorienting its national security priorities so that Iraq is no longer the central thrust of the U.S. military...
 

Europe awaits Obama with open arms
The continent's leaders and ordinary citizens are enthusiastic about Obama, but they recognize that their embrace could backfire in the U.S.


By Geraldine Baum
Los Angeles Times
July 16, 2008

PARIS — From prime ministers to college students, Europeans want to cloak Barack Obama in a warm embrace when he arrives on the continent next week. But they're also aware that anything that looks or smells like elitist Old Europe could hurt the Democratic contender with voters back home. Obama has yet to finalize his itinerary for Europe. However, he is already set to skip Brussels, the capital of the modern united continent, for the traditional symbols of economic and military power: London, Paris and Berlin...
 

Obama says Iraq war must end

By Mike Allen
The Politico
July 15, 2008 12:30 PM EST

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) vowed to quickly end the war in Iraq and shift the focus of the war on terror to Afghanistan and Pakistan, declaring in an address today that the “single-minded and open-ended focus" on Iraq "distracts us from every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize”...
 

Obama re-admonishes African Americans
The Democrat's message appears to resonate with, rather than alienate, black voters.


By Peter Nicholas and Michael Finnegan
Los Angeles Times
July 15, 2008

CINCINNATI — Unswayed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson's disapproval, Sen. Barack Obama pressed his message Monday that African Americans needed to take more responsibility for their lives and families, a theme that had angered one of the icons of the civil rights movement. Obama got a standing ovation at the annual NAACP convention here, presenting himself as a symbol of the political power that earlier black leaders had won. Touting the sacrifice of these activists, Obama said their courage had allowed him to "stand before you tonight as the Democratic nominee for president of the United States of America"...
 

Obama strategy: Equal pay, not abortion

By Avi Zenilman and Carrie Budoff Brown
The Politico
July 15, 2008 1:18 PM EST

Move over, Jane Roe. Lilly Ledbetter has taken her place as the name on the tongue of Democrats courting female voters. On June 23, Barack Obama kicked off a “discussion for working women” with a speech directed at working mothers that criticized John McCain for his support of conservative judges, decisions and legislation. But he didn’t once mention or even allude to abortion or Roe v. Wade. Instead, he keyed in on Ledbetter, the woman whose suit against Goodyear for pay discrimination was thrown out by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision last year delivered by Justice Samuel Alito...
 

Hill Democrats miffed at Obama

By John Bresnahan
The Politico
July 15, 2008

After a brief bout of Obamamania, some Capitol Hill Democrats have begun to complain privately that Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is insular, uncooperative and inattentive to their hopes for a broad Democratic victory in November. “They think they know what’s right and everyone else is wrong on everything,” groused one senior Senate Democratic aide. “They are kind of insufferable at this point.” Among the grievances described by Democratic leadership insiders:...
 

In Obama's Circle, Chicago Remains The Tie That Binds

By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post
Monday, July 14, 2008; A01

For once, Barack Obama left his iPod and stack of news clips at his seat and worked the front cabin of his campaign's chartered plane, laughing and reminiscing with the people who know him best. The senator from Illinois does not typically travel with an entourage, instead spending his time on the plane reading, working or listening to music. But this was a special occasion -- the night last month when he was claiming the Democratic presidential nomination. Joining him and his wife, Michelle, for the flight from Chicago to St. Paul, Minn., were half a dozen of their closest friends, a biracial cross section of the city's business and professional elite: Martin Nesbitt, a parking lot magnate; Valerie Jarrett, a prominent businesswoman; Eric Whitaker, an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center; and John Rogers, the founder of an investment fund...
 

Obama Camp Hits McCain On Confusions

By Marc Ambinder
The Atlantic Blog
July 15, 2008

Here's a memo from newly titled "senior strategist for communications and message" Robert Gibbs painting McCain in the deep purple of confusion...
 

David Axelrod: architect of Obama's unlikely campaign
Barack Obama's chief strategist grew up loving the political fight while holding to the ideals in the message.


By Amanda Paulson
Christian Science Monitor
July 15, 2008

These days, it's hard to remember a time when Barack Obama wasn't a front-runner for the Democratic nomination. But last fall, Sen. Obama was down 33 points in one national poll, Hillary Rodham Clinton was the presumptive nominee, and Obama's campaign staff was under enormous pressure to shake things up and try a different tactic. They didn't...
 

Life in the catbird seat for Obama
Democrats have watched leads disappear before, especially when they sub "more of the same" for "change."


By Walter Shapiro
Salon
July 15, 2008

Timing may matter more in presidential politics than on a flying trapeze under a circus big top. Instead of silly-season carping at a New Yorker cover (oh, for the summer days when the magazine would run dainty watercolors of beach scenes), Barack Obama might have had a real scandal on his hands this week. With Fannie Mae needing a federal bailout, Obama might be spinning madly to defend his maladroit choice of Washington "wise man" Jim Johnson, the lavishly compensated former chief executive of the mortgage giant, as the head of his vice-presidential selection team...
 

Barack Obama and the necessities of nuance

By Dick Polman
Dick Polman’s American Debate
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I don't buy the notion, advanced by the McCain campaign, that Barack Obama has been flip-flopping on Iraq, that he has been cutting and running from his long-held antiwar convictions. And I will shortly demonstrate how he has remained broadly consistent. Having said that, however, there's no doubt that Obama is currently doing some nuancing. Indeed, the facts on the ground in Iraq require that he do so. Domestic political realities also require that he do so...
 

Purity and political suicide

By Dick Polman
Dick Polman’s American Debate
Tuesday, July 14, 2008

As a classic illustration of how liberals so often seem drawn to the rituals of political hari-kari, consider the comments of one Martha Slade, an Oregon artist, who declared in the press yesterday that Barack Obama has flunked her purity test, thus rendering him totally unacceptable: "I'm disgusted with him. I can't even listen to him anymore. He had such an opportunity, but all this 'audacity of hope' stuff, it's blah, blah, blah. For all the independents he's going to gain, he's going to lose a lot of progressives." The liberal blogosphere has been crying betrayal in the wake of Obama's gravitation to the center...
 

BAYH
 

By the Bayh

By Dean Spiliotes
NHPoliticalCapital
July 15, 2008

A brief scheduling item caught my attention earlier today. Barack Obama will travel to Indiana tomorrow to convene a national security summit at Purdue University. What is of particular interest to me is that this will be the first joint appearance for Obama and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, since Bayh strongly backed Hillary Clinton in her narrow win in the Indiana Primary on May 6th. Bayh has been mentioned as a potential Democratic vice presidential running mate as far back as 1992, when (at age 37) he was already finishing his first term as governor of the state. So this will be our first opportunity to see what a potential Obama-Bayh ticket might look like...
 

CLINTON
 

Clinton Diehards Want Convention Vote

By Shawn Zeller
CQPolitics.com
July 13, 2008

She may have given up, but a few of Hillary Rodham Clinton ’s people haven’t. The senator from New York is said to be negotiating a respectful presence followed by a graceful exit from next month’s Democratic convention, and last week the party announced that Barack Obama would formally accept the party’s nomination in the stadium built for the Denver Broncos. But there are Clinton supporters clinging to the hope that if her name is placed in nomination and the roll call of the states is conducted, she might — might — still win...

 

 
  Republicans  
 

 
 

NEW HAMPSHIRE
 

McCain to hold town hall meeting
GOP candidate will speak on war, economy

By Michael McCord
Portsmouth Herald
July 16, 2008

ROCHESTER — For the third time since his nomination-launching victory in January's New Hampshire presidential primary, Sen. John McCain is returning to the Granite State. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee will hold a town hall meeting at the Rochester Opera House on Tuesday. The Arizona senator visited Exeter in March after clinching the Republican nomination and was in Nashua for a campaign stop last month...
 

McCain coming here
To hold Town Hall meeting at the Rochester Opera House


By Adam D. Krauss
Foster's Daily Democrat
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

ROCHESTER — Arizona Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign is keeping things light ahead of his Town Hall meeting at the Rochester Opera House next week. Asked why the campaign picked Rochester — which has hosted McCain's Democratic rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and Bill and Hillary Clinton before him — for the Tuesday event, a top adviser quipped: "to announce Dick Green as his running mate." Really? "I don't think he was interested," said Senior National Adviser Mike Dennehy, who recently spoke to Green, a city resident and former head of the Pease Development Authority...
 

McCain campaign to make stop in Rochester

New Hampshire Union Leader
July 16, 2008

John McCain's visit to the state next Tuesday will include a town hall meeting at the Rochester Opera House. The campaign disclosed the stop in an email to supporters yesterday. Other events are planned, both public and private, but details have not yet been finalized. The Rochester event is open to the public and no tickets are required, according to the McCain campaign...
 

Measuring the McCain Effect, Part 1

By Dante Scala
Politicker NH
July 15, 2008

The minute U.S. Sen. John McCain clinched the Republican nomination, conventional wisdom immediately congealed around the assumption that the nominee would have the inside track in New Hampshire for the general election because of his long-term relationship with Granite State voters and activists. This special relationship was held up as especially important, given the recent decline of Republican fortunes in the state.  It even inspired GOP chair Fergus Cullen to unleash his inner Yoda and describe McCain as his "only hope." Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne was impressed enough with the McCain mystique that he labeled New Hampshire a "jump ball." All of this talk begs the question: How much is McCain's "special relationship" worth in the Granite State?...
 

Who are you calling old?
Believe me, McCain's campaign schedule is plenty rigorous


By Steve Duprey
Concord Monitor
July 13, 2008

In the June 29 Sunday Monitor, Katy Burns speculated that John McCain's age might make him too old to serve as president, based on the myth that McCain takes weekends off. I have a unique perspective. I have known John McCain for more than 20 years...
 

OTHER NEWS AND VIEWS
 

John McCain: The return of the reformer

By Kenneth P. Vogel
The Politico
July 16, 2008 12:18 AM EST

The Republican reformer is back. After a primary in which John McCain sought to avoid talking about his fight to reduce the role of money in politics — an issue that put him at odds with many GOP activists — the Arizona senator is once again embracing his campaign finance reform credentials. It’s a central part of McCain’s political identity, the genesis of his national profile as a reformer, a fact highlighted by the attacks he endured during the nomination fight over the sweeping 2002 campaign finance overhaul that bears his name...
 

McCain's turn before La Raza in San Diego
Vying with Obama for Latino votes, he addresses immigration, education, economic issues and border security.


By Robin Abcarian and Nicole Gaouette
Los Angeles Times
July 15, 2008

SAN DIEGO — He didn't break into Spanish, nor did he back down from his emphatic position that border security must be the cornerstone of immigration overhaul. But Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) continued his fervid courtship of Latino voters Monday, speaking to about 2,000 people at the National Council of La Raza's annual convention the day after his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, came calling. In an indication of how highly valued these voters are, this was the third time in the last 15 days that each presidential candidate has appeared before a major Latino political group...
 

McCain Names More Top Fund-Raisers, Including Lobbyists

By Michael Luo and Kitty Bennett
New York Times
July 16, 2008

Senator John McCain released an updated list of his top money collectors on Tuesday, revealing that nearly a fifth of those who have brought in the largest amounts for him, more than $500,000 each, are lobbyists or work for firms that engage in lobbying. Mr. McCain added more than 400 names to an existing list of just more than 100 elite fund-raisers that his campaign first posted on its Web site in April. The campaign had promised to update the list regularly, but The New York Times reported last week that both Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican, and his probable Democratic opponent, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, had not been living up to promises to fully disclose the identities of those who “bundle” millions of dollars in campaign contributions for them...
 

Facing Criticism, McCain Clarifies His Statement on Gay Adoption

By Michael Cooper
New York Times
July 16, 2008

As several gay rights groups criticized Senator John McCain for saying he opposed gay adoption, the McCain campaign issued a clarification on Tuesday saying that he believed the issue should be decided by the states, and that such adoptions should not be subject to a federal ban...
 

McCain attacked over gay adoption
He says matter up to states; not seeking US ban


Associated Press
July 16, 2008

NEW YORK - Advocates for gay and lesbian families are denouncing Senator John McCain, an adoptive father himself, for opposing adoptions by gays, which prompted his presidential campaign to clarify yesterday that he does not seek a federal ban on the practice. Only one state, Florida, outlaws gay adoptions, which have become commonplace in much of the nation. The presumptive Republican nominee was asked for his views on the subject in an interview published Sunday in The New York Times. "I think that we've proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don't believe in gay adoption," McCain replied...
 

Editorial: McCain Math
A budget-balancing plan that won't work


Washington Post
Monday, July 14, 2008; A12

SEN. JOHN McCain says that President McCain would balance the federal budget by 2013. The plan is not credible...
 

McCain's Potential Problem on Gay Adoption

By David Brody
CBN
July 15, 2008

I’m confused. John McCain gave an interview to The New York Times this week saying he was against gay adoption but then his Communications Director sought to clarify those comments afterwards by saying it was a ‘state issue” and that “caring parental figures are better for the child than the alternative” of abandoned children. Huh? That sound you just heard was a can of worms opening up. More analysis below but first the facts:...
 

LIEBERMAN
 

Lieberman attacks Obama's principles

By Matthew E. Berger
First Read / MSNBC
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 4:40 PM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) spoke for McCain Tuesday before the Center for U.S. Global Engagement and said Obama’s foreign policy plan  “troubles” and “confuses” him. Lieberman said he was unsure whether Obama supports a firm deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq, a more flexible goal...
 

ROMNEY
 

Romney Rises

By Marc Ambinder
The Atlantic Blog
July 15, 2008

Here's First Read: ““I’m appreciative every time I see Mitt on television on my behalf. He does a better job for me than he did for himself as a matter of fact.” Bada bing. If McCain can start joking about someone, you know they've made it into his mental inner circle.” This is correct, I think...
 

Romney's Rationale

By Seth Gitell
New York Sun
July 15, 2008

The coming weeks will answer one very important question about John McCain: does he want to be the Republican Party's presidential nominee or does he want to be president?...
 

 
  Other Presidential Candidates  
 
Nader collecting signatures to gain ballot access

By Brian Lawson
Politicker NH
July 14, 2008

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader is in the process of collecting enough signatures so his name can appear on the November ballot in New Hampshire...
 
 
  First Primary  
 

 

 
 
  General National Campaign  
 


 

Obama and McCain Duel Over Foreign Policy

By John M. Broder and Larry Rohter
New York Times
July 16, 2008

WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama said on Tuesday that the addition of tens of thousands of combat troops to Iraq last year had significantly reduced violence in the country. But he said that positive developments there had not changed his mind about the need to pull troops from Iraq so America could focus more on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan...
 

Candidates Find Some Accord on Afghanistan

By Jonathan Weisman and Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post
Wednesday, July 16, 2008; A01

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain shifted their foreign policy focus yesterday from the future of U.S. military involvement in Iraq to the deteriorating war in Afghanistan, with both White House hopefuls pledging thousands of additional troops and a large-scale infusion of aid for the Afghan conflict. In doing so, the two men offered sharply different assessments of the Iraq war and its impact on Afghanistan, with Obama saying Iraq is a distraction from the fight against terrorism and McCain calling it a proving ground for tactics needed to beat back a resurgent Taliban...
 

Candidates want Afghan buildup
Obama, McCain remain at odds on Iraq front


By Michael Kranish
Boston Globe
July 16, 2008

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama and John McCain both called yesterday for significant surges in US troop levels in Afghanistan as the two presumptive presidential nominees competed for voters concerned about national security. But they remained diametrically opposed on when to withdraw troops from Iraq. Obama wants to draw down most of the 140,000 US troops from Iraq and shift at least 10,000 soldiers to Afghanistan, which he said is the key battleground in the war on terror. McCain, who earlier in the campaign suggested using more NATO and Afghan forces to fight the resurgent Taliban, said for the first time that he would support sending about 15,000 more troops to Afghanistan, while not specifying how many would come from the United States...
 

Terms of (Dis)Engagement
Obama and McCain Need to Debate the Postwar U.S. Role Debate on Iraq Should Focus on What Happens After U.S. Troops Withdraw


By Jackson Diehl
Washington Post
Monday, July 14, 2008; A13

Barack Obama has been teetering between two imperatives on Iraq. He needs to adjust his withdrawal plan, drawn up more than 18 months ago, to the dramatic changes on the ground during the past year -- so that he will have the political mandate to pursue a sensible policy if he becomes commander in chief. But he also needs to keep his antiwar base happy and not blur what looks like a big contrast between his strategy and that of John McCain...

 

 
 

National News

 
     
  National Polls  
 
  Obama Leads by 8 Points In Poll
Economy Remains The Top Concern


By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post
Wednesday, July 16, 2008; A01

Sen. Barack Obama holds his biggest advantage of the presidential campaign as the candidate best prepared to fix the nation's ailing economy, but lingering concerns about his readiness to handle international crises are keeping the race competitive, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Overall, the Democrat has a lead of 50 percent to 42 percent over Republican Sen. John McCain among registered voters nationwide, lifted by a big edge among women, and he has also regained an edge among political independents. But it is Obama's 19-point lead on the economy that has become a particularly steep challenge for McCain...
 

Poll Finds Obama’s Run Isn’t Closing Divide on Race

By Adam Nagourney and Megan Thee
New York Times
July 16, 2008

Americans are sharply divided by race heading into the first election in which an African-American will be a major-party presidential nominee, with blacks and whites holding vastly different views of Senator Barack Obama, the state of race relations and how black Americans are treated by society, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. The results of the poll, conducted against the backdrop of a campaign in which race has been a constant if not always overt issue, suggested that Mr. Obama’s candidacy, while generating high levels of enthusiasm among black voters, is not seen by them as evidence of significant improvement in race relations...
 

Women, Blacks Give Obama 9 - Point Lead Over McCain, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Men Are Split And Whites Tip To Republican

Quinnipiac University Polling Institute
July 15, 2008 -

With commanding leads among women and young voters and near unanimous support from black voters, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has a 50 - 41 percent lead over Arizona Sen. John McCain, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll of likely voters released today. Independent voters split 44 - 44 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Sen. McCain has a slight 47 - 44 percent edge among men voters and a larger 49 - 42 percent lead among white voters...
 

New Poll Highlights: The War on the War

By Jennifer Agiesta
Washington Post Behind the Numbers
July 14, 2008

The new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests that even with broad public doubts about the nation's success so far in Iraq and Afghanistan, managing the nation's military could be one of Barack Obama's main hurdles in the race for the White House. Two groups stand out in the crosstabs from the new poll: independents and veterans. Independents are one of the main groups needed to win the White House, while the views of veterans reflect a group uniquely suited to assess the candidates on military affairs...
 

Q-PAC Poll: Obama + 9

By Marc Ambinder
The Atlantic Blog
July 15, 2008

Again -- don't obsess about each individual poll; Newsweek had Obama up four in the mid-forties. Quinnipiac's latest national survey, out this morning, has Obama hitting 50% of a likely voter sample, up nine, against McCain...
 

The Surprising Closeness of the Contest

By Chris Cillizza
Washington Post The Fix
July 14, 2008

Despite a general sentiment that John McCain's campaign has gone through an extremely difficult -- and disorganized -- past month, a series of recent polls suggest that the Arizona senator remains within striking distance of Barack Obama with less than four months remaining until the November election. The relative closeness of the race between the two men has emboldened some Republicans who believe that as long as McCain can stay a few points back heading into the fall campaign -- when casual voters begin paying serious attention to the race -- he has a chance to pull off a major upset...
 

Interpreting The National Polls

By Marc Ambinder
The Atlantic Blog
July 14, 2008

Chris Cillizza writes that the "surprising closeness" between Barack Obama and John McCain in recent poll has "emboldened" some Republicans who believe that John McCain ought to be trailing by double-digits. Should Republicans be so emboldened?...
 

Real Clear Politics Poll Summary: General Election: McCain vs. Obama

Includes links to individual state polls
 

 
 
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