Tag Archives: New Hampshire

Empty Barn Jacket Is Running

Former GOP Massachusetts Senator and former Cosmopolitan center fold Scott Brown (lost to Elizabeth Warren) is hiring staff for a 2014 run for the same office, but a different state.  He’ll be running in New Hampshire this time, against incumbent Dem Jeanne Shaheen.

Brown has until June 13 to declare formally, but I think you can assume he’s in.  I was so happy to see this dumb bunny lose, and I hate to think he’s going back to DC.

New Hampshire to Expand Medicaid

New Hampshire will become the 27th state (plus the District of Columbia) to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.  About 50,000 people will gain coverage.

New Hampshire refused to expand traditional Medicaid, but now will use an HHS waiver to let people buy private insurance using federal Medicaid funds.

Note to Republicans in non-expansion states — if you want to do the right thing and help your people, HHS will figure out a way for you to save face, you big babies.

Third Time’s the Charm?

A new Purple Strategies poll in New Hampshire shows Mitt leading for the 2016 GOP nomination, with 25%.  He’s followed by Rand Paul at 18%, Chris Christie at 17% (that won’t last), and Jeb Bush at 13%.

I really can’t imagine that Mittens would try again.  He didn’t even want to run again in 2012.  But those results show how weak and uninspiring the Republican field is right now.

The Empty Barn Jacket Is Back

Former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who briefly replaced Teddy Kennedy (because it was too damn cold for Martha Coakley to shake hands outside Fenway Park or something) and then lost his bid for a full term to Elizabeth Warren in 2012, has set up a political action committee in New Hampshire, The People’s Seat PAC.

It looks as if Brown is preparing to run against Dem NH Senator Jean Shaheen in 2014.  Brown has long owned a vacation house in Rye, NH.

A Sane Republican

If you’ve been wandering around with a lantern searching for a sane Republican, former NH Sen. Judd Gregg has an op-ed giving his party hell over at The Hill:

“Most Americans these days are simply ignoring Republicans. And they should.

“The self-promotional babble of a few has become the mainstream of Republican political thought. It has marginalized the influence of the party to an appalling degree.

“An approach to the debt ceiling that says one will not vote for its extension unless ObamaCare is defunded is the political equivalent of playing Russian roulette with all the chambers of the gun loaded. It is the ultimate no-win strategy.

“You cannot in politics take a hostage you cannot shoot. That is what the debt ceiling is. At some point, the debt ceiling will have to be increased not because it is a good idea but because it is the only idea.

“Defaulting on the nation’s obligations, which is the alternative to not increasing the debt ceiling, is not an option either substantively or politically.

“A default would lead to some level of chaos in the debt markets, which would lead to a significant contraction in economic activity, which would lead to job losses, which would lead to higher spending by the federal government and lower tax revenues, which would lead to more debt.”

In other words, Ted Cruz is a flaming asshole.

The Times, They Are A-Changin’

I own a house in New Hampshire (near Scott Brown, unfortunately) and will move there in the next year or so, so I think of Republican Kelly Ayotte as one of my senators.

I am thrilled to see that her favorables have plunged 15 points since she voted against the Manchin-Toomey background check bill.  She’s to the right of Pat Toomey on guns?  Really?

I saw this as a very calculated, unprincipled vote, and I hope it comes back to bite her in the tush.

Ayotte feared a primary from her right, feared NRA 30-second ads.   Maybe she’ll be done in by a primary  from her left instead or just a plain old loss in the general.

 

Rove Should Know Better

Karl Rove today called people from New Hampshire “New Hampshirians.”

You’d think he’d know that the people who hold the first presidential primary are New Hampsherites.

This came up in a discussion about Scott (“Empty Barn Jacket”) Brown’s possible run for Senate from there in 2014.  Brown lost his Massachusetts seat to Elizabeth Warren in 2012.

Brown “summers” in New Hampshire.