The New Hampshire Republican primary continues to make headlines as former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte and businessman Bill Binnie spar for the nomination.
Ayotte received Sarah Palin’s endorsement last week, and was greeted by even more good news when conservative third-party group Cornerstone Action announced the release of a one-minute radio ad slamming Binnie for being too liberal:
The ad, titled ‘Shockingly Liberal’, takes issue with Binnie’s positions on TARP, gay marriage, the Arizona immigration law and elements of President Obama’s healthcare reform package.
Why would Cornerstone release this ad now? Perhaps to capitalize on the anti-Binnie momentum that has stemmed from Palin’s Ayotte endorsement.
But consider this unconventional view of how things may be playing out in New Hampshire: Palin’s endorsement hasn’t been paying off as well as Ayotte might have hoped, and Cornerstone is hoping to beat back a Binnie campaign which has been steadily rising in the polls since it announced its candidacy.
There is some evidence to support the notion of a stalling Ayotte campaign. Palin’s endorsement wasn’t warmly received by the New Hampshire Union-Leader, for example. A key conservative paper in the state, it ran a front-page editorial slamming Palin:
Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Kelly Ayotte for U.S. Senate should neither surprise nor upset the other campaigns. The race will be won by the candidate who impresses New Hampshire voters, and New Hampshire voters are rarely impressed by what outsiders have to say…
Mrs. Palin isn’t making these endorsements because, as she claims, she has spent time in New Hampshire and thus knows that the people here are a lot like Alaskans. She spent a few hours here on one day during the 2008 Presidential election. That’s still more time than she spent getting to know Ayotte, but it takes quite a bit longer to know New Hampshire.
new hampshire is a strange state,they will vote very liberal on some things and very conservative on others,and you have to take into account the bad influence of overly liberal mass.they will this time vote for the conservative choice,,awww..more back lash from being forced into accepting the gay marriage thing?
Posted by: ken | 07/26/2010 at 12:17 PM
As a BayStater I agree with Ken, New Hampshire "is a strange state." Live Free or Die is its motto. No sales tax, no income tax. However, the schools aren't first class.
And yes, the overly liberal Mass. is getting a little more purple than in the past, particularly with Senator Scott Brown representing us.Â
However, it's a great place to live with RomneyCare for those without insurance. A pretty solid middle class. Some of the best schools in the country. It's not recession proof but because of the high-level of educated residents, it doesn't suffer as much as many parts of the rest of the country with economies in the Educational, Medical, and Financial sectors.
Oh, and as far as the gay marriage issue...people aren't moving away. Actually, gays are good for the economy. They tend to turn dying centers in to artsy, livable communities.
Posted by: CynthiaK | 07/26/2010 at 01:07 PM
Palin didn’t do her homework. If she had, she would have found out
that Ayotte will NOT carry the grassroots vote simply because she has
too much baggage in the ‘failure to prosecute the right people’
department, and the Sotomayor, Castle Doctrine, and Stimulus gaffes.
The Liberty Community is behind Jim Bender and that is who Palin
should have endorsed. Jim is more like Rand Paul whom Palin did endorse.
Posted by: NH | 07/26/2010 at 09:15 PM