post primary blues

[maxanne]

I'm really sorry that Paul McEachern and Bob Bruce did so poorly. I was surprised by how well Peter Duffy did - since all he seemed to talk about was his support of the military.

Good news!
In Carroll County at least 3 dozen Republicans jumped ship to vote for Democrats.

Bob Bruce is thinking about running for state office in 2006. I'll be running again, then, too.

Is anyone else disheartened with the state Democratic Party and the leadership thereof? Anyone else want to make Kathy Sullivan go away?

[FightinNewDem]

1. Read you Lima Charlie!

(that's "loud and clear" in Army slang)

Kathy is about four years past her sell-by date and needs to go. The party hierarchy is about as stale and stagnant a bunch as is humanly possible. I am fed up with their asinine attempts to rig every race ahead of time by funnelling money and resources to whatever character Bill Shaheen and co. annoint, even a hapless joker like Nadeau.

Right now, the party is a mess. The only ones with any say are the Shaheen palace guard and the Manchester Palookas (Lou D'Allesandro, Ray Buckley, Donna Soucy, Jim Craig, et al). The Mark Fernald/Arnie Arnesen progressives feel alienated, as do many genuine New Democrats.

There is a real difference between the genuine New Dems and the "moderates" that the party trots out. The party props up path-of-least-resistance weenies like D'Allesandro and Baines and passes them off as the voice of the moderate wing of the party. To the party, the sole criteria for "moderation" is a willingness to tow the Union Leader line on taxes. Meanwhile, Dems with unconventional ideologies are left in the cold because they don't meet the hacks easy criteria. This shows just how intellectually bankrupt the old guard has become.

[maxanne]

2. thanks, FND

Sometimes I feel so alone....

Kathy, and the rest of the shortsighted party hierarchy are the reason we keep losing elections, and the reason there weren't any candidates (save for Granny D the lionhearted) to pick up where Burt Cohen was leaving off against Gregg. Burt was a good state senator, but he wasn't ready for the big leagues. The party doesn't have a long view at all - they don't nurture the folks in podunk, who might someday be candidates for big races.

There's a guy running for state rep in Stark, who is someone to watch, and they will completely ignore him, because he's so far north, and the north country gets nada from the state party.

Remember the name Willie Cowie. :)

[FightinNewDem]

3. A shallow bench

You hit on a very important point: the lack of a solid farm team.

Look at who the NHDP trots out for every Kerry/Edwards press event. Inevitably, the primary spokesperson is a shopworn insider, someone like Lou D'Allesandro, Bob Baines, Kathy Sullivan or some third-tier Shaheen administration official. Just how this is supposed to hel I am not sure.

I have butted heads with the Manchester party old guard over this repeatedly. The city is changing. Not everyone is a shoe worker whose parents moved here from Sherbrooke. The city has become diverse, ethnically (French, Irish and Greek are now joined by Sudanese, Dominican, Bosnian), economically (witness the quiet rise of the tech sector in the Millyard) and culturally (an increasing number of residents have their roots in Mass, NY or CT). Yet the Dem establishment still fixates on whether you played football for Central or Memorial as the big cultural divide. We will never attract younger voters and new arrivals if we keep pushing the same tired old nonsense. Heck, in my ward, Bill Clayton (a terrific guy) is the quintessential Manchester good old boy; firefighter, big family, went to West H.S., brother is on WMUR's "Chronicle, etc. Yet in the state rep race, he trailed well behind both Fran Egbers (a transplant from NY, Dean volunteer, goo-goo type) and Peter Sullivan (DLC type, lawyer, not originally from Manchester, either). The party is changing.

Strangely, the GOP grasped the change to an extent the Dems have not. Sure, Carlos Gonzalez is a hapless goof, but his presence as a high-profile GOP official has kept many hispanics from becoming involved in the Democratic Party. it doesn't help when the party marginalizes a guy like Hector Velez for insufficient loyalty to the machine.

Maybe those of us in the cheap seats should lay down a challenge to the prospective House Democratic leaders, Terrie Norelli, Jim Craig and Dan Eaton. See if they "get it", if they know that it's a big party with a ton of potential. See if they are willing to look beyond the uberliberals of Portsmouth and the palookas of Manchester, and reach out to voters in the rural north and the suburban southern tier.

[maxanne]

4. someone suggested to me

that the party could be taken over by electing progressive town chairs in every single town, and going from there.

I'm not terribly familiar with all the subtlties of Manchester and it's wards. The organization I work for spent about 4 days there before the primary, blanketing 3, 4, and 5 with literature and sample ballots. I met Hector Velez while I was down there. I take it the party isn't supporting him. Drives me nuts - they'll support a slick trout like Justin Nadeau - and ignore other folks in important races. We got a write in candidate on the ballot in senate district 3 - and they should be helping this guy beat Joe Kenney, who is not only a disaster for the north country, but has national aspirations. We should be smiting him down now, before he gets any further!

I've mixed it up with Kathy more than once - she really doesn't like me. I've had words with Ray and Mike about the way delegates are chosen to send to the national convention. It's almost a guarantee that no one from the north will get a shot at it - and the system seems to be designed to intimidate some from ever even trying, thereby ensuring the party hacks their own attendance.

I ran for the NH House in 2002. Peter Burling came up and persuaded me to run (in the spring), and offered me all kinds of help and support. I heard from him again about 2 weeks before the election.

I'm hoping the winds of change are beginning to pick up in NH. I'm planning to be as obnoxious as possible in demanding some change.