New Hampshire Primary Source covers breaking and behind-the-scenes news and analysis on all things political in the Granite State. John DiStaso is the most experienced political writer in New Hampshire and has been writing a weekly column since 1982. The column posts at 5 a.m.
Thursdays, with updates throughout the week.
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(Wednesday, Sept.
21 update)
$2 MILLION BUY BEGINS. The New Hampshire Democratic Party has reserved $2.1 million in television advertising air time for the fall general election campaign, and its first ad is being launched on Wednesday. In the ad, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Colin Van Ostern talks about the value of a college education. A narrator then describes Van Ostern as the son of a single mom who went to college on student loans and became “a business manager at Stonyfield Farms” and a top executive at Southern New Hampshire University s College for America.
Cutting student debt should be our goal for all state colleges, to create good jobs and keep our young families here, Van Ostern says in the ad. The ad will air on New Hampshire broadcast television and on cable.
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The $2.1 million fall reservation by the NHDP is in addition to a separate $2.3 million reservation by the Democratic Governors Association. On the other side, the Republican Governors Association told WMUR.com2 in April that it had reserved $3 million in airtime for the final six weeks of the fall campaign.
(Earlier updates and the original Sept.
15 New Hampshire Primary Source column follow.)
(Tuesday, Sept.
20 update)
A CALL FOR A CALL FOR DISCLOSURE. The Maggie Hassan U.S. Senate campaign s continuing effort to join Sen. Kelly Ayotte to Donald Trump at the proverbial hip focused on Trump s foreign business dealings on Tuesday.
The Hassan campaign said that Ayotte should call on Trump to release information on his organization s dealings with foreign business interests, citing a recent Newsweek report3 that the GOP presidential nominee in the past has had dealings with questionable figures in China, India, and Russia. Ayotte’s campaign called the comments by Hassan an attempt to distract from “her utter lack of knowledge about national security issues.”
The New York Times reported4 that in response to the Newsweek story, 50 former government officials and national security and military figures who support Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton signed an open letter urging Trump to disclose details of his foreign business investments. The letter stated in part: Donald Trump still has not revealed to the American public his international business relationships, even as it becomes increasingly clear that his overseas ties could well constitute significant conflicts of interest when it comes to charting U.S. foreign policy. This is unprecedented for a candidate for the nation’s highest office.
As such, we are calling on Mr.
Trump to disclose, in full, the nature of his business relationships overseas to include specifically who his business partners are and what and where his foreign investments are. We also call on him to pledge that he will divest himself of his overseas business interests should he win the presidency.
Trump’s foreign business dealings represent a clear conflict of interest and a potential national security threat to the United States, Hassan said in a statement provided to New Hampshire Primary Source.
If Kelly Ayotte is serious about protecting American security interests, she should echo the call of over 50 national security and military experts who say it’s critical that Trump disclose his foreign interests and promise to divest of them if elected. Our national security should come first, and that means putting country before political party,” the governor said. Ayotte spokeswoman Liz Johnson responded: “If Gov. Hassan were actually serious about tackling our national security challenges, she would immediately agree to a stand-alone foreign policy debate with Kelly. The reality is that Hassan is desperate to distract from her embarrassing inability to answer basic questions about the terrorist threats we face and her utter lack of knowledge about national security issues.”
The Ayotte campaign also noted that it has twice called on Hassan to urge Clinton to respond to “media reports that Clinton Foundation donors sought special favors from the State Department, and that Clinton failed to disclose nearly 15,000 additional e-mails.”
Gov. Hassan s silence on Hillary s misconduct proves she will put Hillary Clinton and Washington Democrats first, instead of being an independent voice for Granite Staters, Johnson said, noting that Hassan has called Clinton “honest and trustworthy.”
(Earliuer reports and the original Sept.
15 New Hampshire Primary Source colum nfollow.)
(Friday evening, Sept.
16, update)
TIME TO DEFINE. Early in the general election campaign, the Democratic and Republican parties are wasting no time trying to poke and prod at the perceived weaknesses of the opposition s gubernatorial nominee, each trying to define and portray the other s standard-bearer in the weakest possible light.
The New Hampshire Democratic Party is calling Republican Executive Councilor Chris Sununu a complacent and lackluster candidate who barely squeaked by the primary and won only because of his well-known family name. The state Republican Party is labeling Democratic Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern a political opportunist hack who has padded his resume and whose goal is to advance his own political career. It s a familiar playbook — a nugget of accuracy embellished with heavy doses of rhetoric.
In a new memo, the Democratic Party says Sununu has gone into hiding during the first 48 hours since his final competitor in the primary, state Rep. Frank Edelblut, conceded the nomination, while Van Ostern has already shown an aggressive and issue-focused general election campaign. Sununu defeated conservative state Rep. Frank Edelblut described by the NHDP as an extreme Tea Party Republican who barely registered in the primary polls by less than eight-tenths of a percentage point. Van Ostern, on the other hand won his primary, by more than 2-1 margins over both of his major primary opponents with more than 50 percent of the vote, the NHDP notes.
Republicans, meanwhile, say Van Ostern would be the latest in a string of Democratic governors who have implemented big government policies in Concord that have pushed New Hampshire closer to the brink of an income tax. Sununu has the fiscally conservative values needed to reverse this troubling trend and restore independent leadership in the corner office, the party says. The Democrats say Van Ostern has been more active on the campaign trail and more focused on issues than Sununu in the early part of the campaign. They point out that Van Ostern participated in an economic roundtable, in a meeting on the opioid epidemic with law enforcement officials, recovery experts and advocates, was part of a discussion about Planned Parenthood, and attended a rally with vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine. The NHDP says Sununu has done nothing, but the Republican has made public appearances — at the NHGOP s unity breakfast and at the Greek festival Glendi in Manchester.
He has also conducted media interviews, including on WMUR s CloseUP program, to air on Sunday. Van Ostern will also appear on the program separately. A Sununu campaign weekend schedule released Friday afternoon has the candidate attending the Strafford County GOP Barbecue and Beer Bash in Dover on Saturday and the Kearsarge-Sunapee Republican Strawberry Shortcake Social in New London on Sunday. The NHDP also notes that while Van Ostern attended a rally with Kaine on Thursday afternoon, Sununu did not attend GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump s rally in Laconia on Thursday night. At the same time, however, Democrats have criticized Sununu for supporting Trump, who they call a dangerous and divisive candidate.
On Planned Parenthood and women s health issues, Van Ostern s campaign says the Democrat has been leading the fight to restore funding for Planned Parenthood and always protecting a women s right to make her own health care decision, regardless of the politics of the moment. Sununu voted to defund Planned Parenthood in 2015 but then voted to fund the organization in June of this year. Democrats say he s using the issue as a political football.
Overall, Chris Sununu ran a lackluster primary campaign and only got through because of his famous family, NHDP Chairman Raymond Buckley writes in the party memo.
His first few days as the Republican nominee show that as Van Ostern runs an aggressive, issues-focused campaign, Sununu is content to continue his weak and complacent strategy in the general election. Horn of the GOP says, meanwhile, that as a councilor, Colin Van Ostern has been a rubber stamp for the Democrat s tax and spend agenda, and his laughable attempts to inflate his extremely thin resume show voters why he is unqualified to be our next governor.
As a lifelong political operative, Van Ostern has focused on promoting partisan political attacks instead of accumulating real world experience in the private sector. Horn labels Van Ostern a political opportunist hack who is out to pad his resume and advance his own career. Such are the basic themes each side will try to promote and exploit in the seven weeks leading to Nov.
8. They ll do in amid the noise of the races for president and U.S.
Senate, not to mention the contests for two U.S. House seats. It should be interesting.
(The original Sept.
15 New Hampshire Primary Source column follows.)
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER. After a primary night for the ages, the Republican ticket became clear Wednesday as 1st District U.S. House candidate Rich Ashooh conceded the nomination battle to U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta, and as state Rep. Frank Edelblut ended his unexpectedly close gubernatorial primary battle against Chris Sununu and endorsed the executive councilor.
For perhaps the first time ever, Republicans held a post-primary unity event with the nominee of their top office unclear. Ashooh released a concession statement just as the NHGOP Unity Breakfast at the Bedford Village Inn was about to begin. He told reporters he was supporting the ticket, but stopped short of specifically endorsing Guinta, whom Ashooh had accused of being dishonest and having liedabout the source of $355,000 in illegal campaign contributions for his 2010 campaign.
We went to bed with a 100-vote margin (of deficit) last night, and it became a 600-vote margin by the morning, he said. That s still quite close, but we ve got no interest in delaying the party s ability to get in position for victory in November.
Ashooh said that to endorse a candidate, I then put body and soul into their race, and I just came off a very difficult campaign. So, I m not thinking about spending my energies on any other candidate right now. But he said he remains committed to helping the party win. Edelblut held out until Secretary of State Bill Gardner certified the results, showing that Sununu had defeated the Wilton lawmaker by 804 votes out of 105,772 cast (not counting write-in votes). That’s a margin of just more than seven-tenths of a percentage point.
Candidates in primaries are allowed by law to seek recounts if they finish within 1.5 percent of a competitor. But Edelblut chose not to pursue that route, and instead backed Sununu. Sununu, a fiscal conservative but social moderate, will need virtually all of Edelblut s 31,587 voters to shift to him to have a chance at becoming only the second Republican in 20 years to be elected governor. Like the national party, the state GOP has been struggling to unify for several years even before the bitter presidential primary campaign got underway in early 2015.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was tapped to be the voice of unity at the breakfast, making his first return visit to the Granite State since leaving the race in February, shortly after a poor showing in the first-in-the-nation primary. He said it was the first invitation to a political event he accepted since dropping out.
I accepted it because unity is more important in New Hampshire than it is in almost any other state in the country come Nov.
8, Christie said. New Hampshire is truly going to be a swing state in this election The future of our country for the next four years will ride on what happens in New Hampshire. Christie told New Hampshire Primary Source he felt strangely comfortable back in New Hampshire.
Now a top Donald Trump adviser, Christie told us, When we can win states like New Hampshire, it s a harbinger for good things all across the country. And as the first statewide elected official to endorse Trump, Christie said he is currently advising the nominee on preparation for his upcoming debate with Hillary Clinton. Christie told the Republicans that Trump is especially intent on winning the state and defeating the most vicious, despicable political machine this country has seen in the last 25 years, led by Hillary and Bill Clinton.
And take it from me, when Donald Trump is intent on doing something, he will get it done, Christie said.
Trump on Thursday makes his fourth visit to the state since winning the first-in-nation primary on Feb.
9, holding a rally at the Laconia Middle School.
I think tomorrow, everybody in this room should commit to be there for him, Christie said.
It s now a binary choice, everybody, Christie said. On Jan.
20, 2017, it s either going to be President Trump or President Clinton. The question is, as Republicans, and the values that we stand by, the question is whether we are going to stand by and allow the Clintons to re-occupy the White House. He said if GOP officeholders and activists do not work to get Trump elected Sen. Kelly Ayotte and other Republicans on the New Hampshire ticket are likely to lose as well.
BACK IN THE FOLD. It wasn t very long ago that U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta was ostracized by the leadership of his party after he signed a settlement agreement with the Federal Election Commission that stated he had committed campaign finance violations.
Remember when NHGOP Chair Jennifer Horn said Guinta had lied and betrayed the public trust? Remember when Ayotte, Sununu, state Senate President Chuck Morse and House Speaker Shawn Jasper called on Guinta to resign? Well, bygones are apparently bygones, and with Guinta squeezing out a 649-vote, 1 percentage point win in the congressional primary, it was time on Wednesday for the NHGOP to embrace him. Which is exactly what state party Chair Jennifer Horn did after Guinta spoke.
I ve always said the politics will take care of itself, Guinta told us. I was elected to do a job and I ve focused on doing that job.
Guinta told his fellow Republicans, We re a family and families sometimes have disagreements, have discussion, and it s called a primary.
The past is the past, he said.
DEMOCRATS TURN. On Thursday at Executive Councilor Chris Pappas Puritan Backroom restaurant in Manchester, the state Democratic Party will hold its unity breakfast. But party leaders couldn t wait a day to begin firing away at the GOP ticket. State party chair Ray Buckley and Democratic National Committeewoman Kathy Sullivan held a news conference at the party s Manchester headquarters, where they began to try to define GOP gubernatorial nominee Sununu.
He is going to try to pretend he is not the extreme right-wing candidate that he is, Sullivan said. He is going to try to run like he’s Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, but if he is ever elected governor of New Hampshire, he will govern like Paul LePage of Maine.”
A few hours after the Democrats unity breakfast, vice presidential nominee and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine will make his third visit to the state since the Democratic National Convention in July. Kaine will hold events in Portsmouth and Exeter.
SESSIONS TO VISIT STATE. As Trump returns to the state on Thursday night, his local campaign is getting set to bring in U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama on Saturday to attend the Strafford County GOP s Barbecue and Beer Bash at the Dover Elks Picnic Area. Sessions will also visit the Trump Victory Office on Broadway.
The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee plans another canvassing operation on Saturday and Sunday, called a Weekend of Action, launching from 41 locations.
TARGET AYOTTE. With the U.S. Senate race now officially in general election mode (it has been unofficially in general election mode for nearly a year), state Democrats are stepping up their effort to portray Ayotte as beholden to lobbyists and special interests through an attack campaign dubbed K Street Kelly. On Thursday, expect the NHDP to resurrect its attempt to show that Ayotte is tied to a for-profit university with a history of exploiting students, ITT Technical Institute, because she received $2,000 in contributions in 2013 and 2014 from former U.S. Rep. Vin Weber, an ITT Tech director.
The U.S. Department of Education three weeks ago ordered ITT Educational Services to stop enrolling new students who use federal financial aid. The agency also ordered the company to pay it $153 million to be held for refunds to students in the event the school shuts down, according to the New York Times. The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued the company in 2014, accusing it of predatory student lending, according to a bureau press release. We re seeking comment from the Ayotte campaign.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL RESULTS. With Sununu and Van Ostern leaving the Executive Council to run for governor, there will be at least two new councilors in 2017, and the parties nominees for all five seats have now been chosen.
In District 1, Democrat Michael Cryans of Hanover was uncontested in the Tuesday primary and will challenge Republican incumbent Joe Kenney of Wakefield, who easily defeated Paul Carreiro in the GOP primary. For the District 2 seat being vacated by Van Ostern, Democrat Andru Volinsky of Concord won a three-way primary and will face outgoing Republican state Sen. Sam Cataldo of Farmington, who was unopposed in the primary.
For the District 3 seat being vacated by Sununu, another outgoing state senator, Russell Prescott of Kingston, won the primary and will face Democratic primary winner Beth Roth of Salem. In District 4, Manchester Alderman Joseph Kelly Levasseur won the GOP primary and will face Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas, also of Manchester, in the general election. There were no primaries in District 5, where Democrat Dan Weeks of Nashua is challenging Republican incumbent David Wheeler of Milford.
STATE SENATE BATTLES. Earlier this year, eight of the 24 state senators six Republicans and two Democrats — announced they would not seek reelection. Four of the six ran for higher office.
Here s a look at the general election matchups:
District 1: Dolly McPhaul of Sugar Hill won a GOP primary and will face incumbent Jeff Woodburn, the Senate Democratic Leader, in November. District 2: Sen. Jeanie Forrester left the seat to run for governor. Former state Rep. Bob Giuda won a GOP primary and will face Democrat Charlie Chandler, who was unopposed. Both candidates reside in Warren.
District 3: Democrat John White is challenging Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley. Neither had primary opposition and both reside in Wolfeboro. District 4: Incumbent Democrat David Watters of Dover is uncontested in the general election.
District 5: Democrat David Pierce has already resigned from the Senate. Democrat Martha Hennessy of Hanover faces Republican Marie Lozito of Claremont. District 6: With Cataldo leaving the seat to run for the Executive Council, Republican James Gray faces Democrat Joe Casey. Both candidates are Rochester residents and neither had primary opposition. District 7: Democratic incumbent Sen.
Andrew Hosmer of Laconia is being challenged by Harold French of Franklin. Neither were opposed on Tuesday. District 8: Republican Gerry Little has already resigned from the Senate to become the state s Banking Commissioner. Republicans Ruth Ward of Stoddard and Jim Beard of Lempster remain in a virtual dead heat, according to unofficial results. The Secretary of State has not yet certified the results. Democrat John Garvey of New London had no primary opposition.
District 9: Republican incumbent Sen. Andy Sanborn of Bedford will face Democratic primary winner Lee Nyquist of New Boston. District 10: Democratic Sen. Molly Kelly has retired from the Senate. Jay Kahn of Keene won a three-way primary and will take on Republican Chester Lapointe, also of Keene.
District 11: Republican Sen. Gary Daniels is being challenged by Democrat Roger Tilton. Both reside in Milford and neither had primary opposition. District 12: Republican incumbent Sen. Kevin Avard of Nashua faces Democratic former Sen. Peggy Gilmour of Hollis.
Neither had primary opposition. District 13: Incumbent Democratic Sen. Bette Lasky is being challenged by Joan Donohue. Both are Nashua residents. Neither had primary opposition.
District 14: Incumbent Republican Sen. Sharon Carson easily won a primary and is being challenged by a fellow Londonderry resident, Democrat Tammy Siekmann. District 15: Democratic Sen. Dan Feltes of Concord had no primary opposition and faces no GOP opposition in the general election. District 16: Republican Sen.
David Boutin is retiring. Republican Joe Duarte of Candia faces Democratic primary winner Scott McGilvray of Hooksett. District 17: Republican incumbent Sen. John Reagan of Deerfield is being challenged by Nancy Fraher of Chichester. Neither were involved in a primary.
District 18: Democratic Sen. Donna Soucy of Manchester had no primary opposition. Republican Ross Terrio of Manchester defeated George Lambert of Litchfield by six votes (1,248-1,242) in a GOP primary, according to official results. Finishing third was Ralph Boehm of Litchfield. It is unclear if there will be a recount. District 19: Incumbent Republican Sen. Regina Birdsell of Hampstead faces Democratic challenger Kristi St.
Laurent of Windham. Neither had primary opposition. District 20: Incumbent Democratic Sen. Lou D Allesandro is being challenged by Republican Carla Gericke. Neither Manchester resident had primary opposition.
District 21: Incumbent Democratic Sen. Martha Fuller Clark of Portsmouth is being challenged by Republican Peter MacDonald of Lee. Neither had primary opposition. District 22: Republican Senate President Chuck Morse faces Democratic challenger Richard O Shaughnessy. Neither Salem resident was opposed in a primaries.
District 23: Republican Prescott chose to leave the Senate to seek an Executive Council seat. Republican Bill Gannon of Sandown won a four-way primary and will face Democrat Alexis Simpson of Exeter in the general election. District 24: Republican Sen. Nancy Stiles is retiring. Republican Dan Innis of New Castle won a four-way primary and will face Democratic state Rep. Tom Sherman of Rye, who was unopposed in the primary.
CLOSE-UP. This week on CloseUP, WMUR political director Josh McElveen s guests will be the two gubernatorial nominees, Van Ostern and Sununu, as well as the two state party chairs, Horn and Buckley. The program airs on Sunday at 10 a.m.
NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY SOURCE. To view recent New Hampshire Primary Source columns, click here5.
(John DiStaso can be reached at jdistaso@hearst.com or distasoj@gmail.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jdistaso and on Facebook: Facebook.com/JohnDiStasoWMUR.)
References
- ^ here (www.youtube.com)
- ^ told WMUR.com (www.wmur.com)
- ^ Newsweek report (www.newsweek.com)
- ^ reported (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ here (www.wmur.com)