Local Politics Update

I haven't weighed in much on NH's races with national impact. I have only a bit to add here.

I saw a link complaining about Charlie Bass, who is running for the House in the district I work in but don't live in. (We only have the two here in NH). I'm not a big Bass fan, but I figured that if his opponent, Anne Kuster, was too far left according to her competition in the Democratic primary, she would likely be too far left for me. From the little I know, Kuster seems a nice lady. More importantly, I get really torqued about people misrepresenting facts, so I was curious what this site thought Bass was misrepresenting.

I expect such fact-check sites to be from one side or the other, and that this one would be liberal. That bothers me only a little. I resent partisan groups claiming they are merely fact-checking, assuming the mantle of objectivity, but I also see both sides doing it, and have come to expect it. Those sites that really do hold both parties' feet to the fire have my admiration.

But NHFactcheck turns out to be an actual campaign site of Kuster's. That's over the top. Don't like it.

In the gubenatorial race, I have not been thrilled with the Republican nominee John Stephens, nor that upset with current governor John Lynch, a Democrat. I have been toying with leaving that blank rather than marking down Stephens. There had been a lot of resentment of Lynch for promising to veto gay marriage, then reneging. Changing one's opinion does not awaken in me the sense of betrayal that others seem to feel. If someone is 40% convinced of a POV, and over time that changes to 60%, that's not unreasonable. As that changes the practical effect 180 degrees, I might still vote against the person, but not necessarily with anger. Promising a veto is of a different order, and I was already getting more negative about Lynch.

The more recent accusations have been that Lynch has received a lot of money - by NH campaign standards - from wealthy gay-marriage advocates out-of-state. He spoke to them at a convention in Chicago and the money flowed. But is this cart, or horse? Changing your mind and attracting new donors strikes me as reasonable - changing your mind for money strikes me as very bad. But it is hard in practice to tell which is which.

I have confirmed that the money received from these sources is over $100,000. I have not been able to find out what is chicken and what is egg, here.

I caught ten minutes of the Ayotte-Hodes debate. Ayotte demolished Hodes, even before a New England College audience largely sympathetic to him.