This week, House Speaker Bill O’Brien endorsed Newt Gingrich for president. Recently, he lost every special election for the House, and he backed Bob Giuda for Congress and Jack Kimball for Governor.
— James Pindell, WMUR.com Political Director
New Hampshire Congressman Charlie Bass has been one of the most successful lawmakers in Congress at leveraging his influence in the presidential race for campaign fundraising.
Prior to his endorsement of Mitt Romney last month, Bass raised $10,000 from Romney and $20,000 from Newt Gingrich. The Center for Responsive Politics reports that of the 223 lawmakers who have received donations from one of the two front-runners, only Missouri Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson raised more.
Making his $10,000 bet with Rick Perry seem small potatoes, Romney has donated a total of $743,263 to 211 current members of Congress. The 51 lawmakers who have endorsed him received $163,620. That’s a better record than Gingrich, who has donated $260,560 to 42 current members of Congress without receiving a single endorsement.
If you’re wondering why Congressman Frank Guinta has yet to endorse a presidential candidate this year, maybe he’s waiting for someone to pony up. Guinta has received just $3,500 from Romney and nary a red cent from Gingrich.
Today, Newt Gingrich’s senior campaign staff resigned. Let’s hope longtime spokesman Rick Tyler lands with a campaign that will appreciate press statements that are themselves jaunty poetry (beautifully immortalized by Jon White).
Newt Gingrich suggests bringing back literacy tests (outlawed by 1965 Voting Rights Act):
“You know, folks often talk about immigration. I always say that to become an American citizen, immigrants ought to have to learn American history. But maybe we should also have a voting standard that says to vote, as a native born American, you should have to learn American history. You realize how many of our high school graduates because of the decay of the educational system, couldn’t pass a citizenship test.”
Ron Paul on why he would not have voted for Civil Rights Act of 1964:
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul told Chris Mathews on MSNBC Friday that he would not have voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, if he were a member of congress at the time. Though Paul said that while he thought Jim Crow laws were illegal, he would have opposed the Civil Rights Act “because of the property rights element, not because they got rid of the Jim Crow laws.”
In last week’s ARG survey of likely GOP voters in the New Hampshire presidential primary, 47% responded that they consider themselves “supporters” of the Tea Party. An earlier Magellan survey found 58% of likely Granite State GOP primary voters supported the goals of the Tea Party “all” or “most of the time.”
Mitt Romney maintained a similar lead among the Tea Party supporters (30%) and those who said they are not supporters or are undecided (33%). Several other potential candidates, however, displayed a significant difference in support between the two groups. Donald Trump (Tea party supporters: 21%, non-supporters: 14%) and Newt Gingrich (11%, 5%) received significantly more support from Tea Party supporters, while Rudy Giuliani (2%, 14%) and Mike Huckabee (4%, 11%) received more support from those who are not Tea Party supporters.
The results were based on telephone interviews of 600 likely Republican primary voters (422 Republicans and 178 undeclared voters). The survey had a margin of error of +/- 4% at the 95% confidence interval. It was conducted on April 16 - 21, 2011.
As GOP presidential wannabes begin to flood the state, Mitt Romney continues to hold a double-digit lead over his nearest competitor in the New Hampshire presidential primary. (Though as I’ve said, it doesn’t matter.)
In a new ARG survey of likely Republican primary voters, Romney leads the field with 32%. Donald Trump is his nearest competitor with 17%. Four others —Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul — trail far behind at 8%.
The rest of the field — Bachmann, Barbour, Cain, Daniels, Huntsman, Johnson, Karger, Palin, Pataki, Rand Paul, Pawlenty, Roemer and Santorum — fails to register more than 1 or 2%.
The results are based on telephone interviews of 600 likely Republican primary voters (422 Republicans and 178 undeclared voters). The survey has a margin of error of +/- 4% at the 95% confidence interval. It was conducted on April 16 - 21, 2011.
Last week, the New Hampshire House passed HCR 19, a Tea Party-backed resolution asserting the state’s authority to nullify federal laws it deems unconstitutional. Yesterday, the bill that 242 New Hampshire state reps supported was disavowed by Newt Gingrich and a Union Leader editorial.
“I think Andrew Jackson dealt with that” during the nullification crisis, he said, adding that Lincoln dealt with it in a more profound way a few decades later.
State politicians who think the federal government is acting unconstitutionally can sue the federal government or direct their delegation in Washington to oppose the unconstitutional actions, he said.
“It would strike me as very implausible that states could actually nullify,” he said.
[T]hey are wrong that the State of New Hampshire can simply declare those actions null and void. If states had that authority, the union would collapse, as every state nullified whatever federal laws it disliked. This question was settled in the 19th century. It should remain there.
“I have two grandchildren — Maggie is 11, Robert is 9,” Gingrich said at Cornerstone Church here. “I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they’re my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American.”
Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu reminds Republican Chair Jack Kimball that he’s still the top dog in the Granite State GOP. In an interview with Erin McPike, he handicaps the Republican presidential primary field, dismissing Gingrich and Huntsman along the way.
On Mitt Romney:
“It is so important to beat Obama in 2012 that the toughest thing any candidate will have to do is convince people they can win the primary and win the general. If Mitt Romney can develop a narrative that makes that clear, he will be the nominee.”
On Mitch Daniels:
“Mitch could be a real player. He’s a good governor. He can talk from a track record. This is a state that understands the difference between real track records and people who just talk. I think Mitch has six weeks to decide, but I don’t think he’s going to run.”
On Haley Barbour:
“Haley’s a great governor, great politician, hardworking candidate who loves to campaign, but I’m not sure he has the burning desire to be president. He comes from an area that is so solidly Republican, that he doesn’t add anything to a Republican candidacy in a general election.”
On Newt Gingrich:
“I think Gingrich forgets the impact of him sitting on the couch with Nancy Pelosi talking about justifying a carbon tax. There’s no way he’s going to win a Republican primary with that hanging around his neck, and he’s going to learn that pretty quickly.”
On John Huntsman:
“Huntsman won’t play well here. Huntsman won’t play well anywhere, because Huntsman’s only barely a Republican. Huntsman’s too liberal, comes with the tarnish of having accepted the appointment from Obama. He’s never said anything really conservative in his life. How’s he going to win in a conservative primary? He can’t. Huntsman is, in my opinion, a non-player.”
A progressive perspective on New Hampshire politics and other oddities.
William Tucker is an architect in Portsmouth.
Projected Democratic seats: 190
