Granite Gal?
Sarah Palin will visit NH this week for the first time since she was chosen to round out the GOP ticket. She is expected to stump in Laconia tomorrow, while husband Todd Palin will appear in Berlin, a struggling one-time mill town, and Littleton.
Barack Obama and John McCain are in a tight contest in the battleground, which was the only state to flip for Democrat John Kerry in 2004. Though state polls are close, McCain perhaps has a sentimental advantage; he won the Granite State's first-in-the-nation primary in 2000 and 2008 -- the only non incumbent to triumph in two contests. But Obama has political trend on his side; only 27% of NH voters approve of the job President Bush has done, according to a University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll released earlier this month.
Still, after a stunning victory in the Iowa caucuses, Obama lost the NH primary to Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic nominee hasn't been working the state intensely. He has visited once since locking arms with Hillary Clinton in Unity, NH, in June; he stopped in Dover, Concord and Manchester, 9/12-13. Obama has sent surrogates, however, including Joe Biden, who has visited twice since joining the Democratic ticket, and Michelle Obama.
McCain has stumped in the state four times since becoming his party's nominee, appearing in Exeter in March, Nashua in June, Rochester in July and Loudon last month.
NH offers four electoral votes, a modest kitty that might provide less urgent appeal to a Democratic candidate who is looking to turn blue bigger states: VA, CO, NC, IN and IA, among them. An Obama spokesman told On Call that Obama has courted NH intensely over the 20-month campaign and that his prior frequent visits there have allowed him to campaign extensively in traditionally 'red' states.
Palin and her husband will stump tomorrow in working class pockets of the state, where voters can expect to hear her talk about taxes (a favorite foe in this income tax haven, like Alaska) and guns. As a social conservative, however, she's hardly a perfect match for swing voters in the "Live Free or Die" state, where residents take pride in its Libertarian bent.
Obama is, of course, surging in national and battleground polls, but should the race tighten again over the next three weeks, he might be wise to turn his attention to the Granite State. Ask Al Gore.
(JENNIFER SKALKA)
The ultimate key to this election, provided they drug McCain so he doesn't show his true colors and temperment -- or nod off during the debate -- will be black voters. If they don't show up at the polls it will be a much tighter race, likely down to the last few electoral votes though I'm still confident Obama will win. If the citizens of this country actually vote McCain & the empty-headed moose hunter into office, they have no one to blame byt themselves when the old man keels over and she takes over.
Some one must make absolute assurity that McCain and Stupidbicth DO NOT GET ELECTED. How deep does racism go that they'd rather see azzholes like Palin and both McCains in the white house than a well educated black man. I am and will be outraged if those Racist RedNecks succeed.
I really hope that people will look past race and mud-slinging to vote for the best candidate. Personally, I believe that person to be Obama. I think it's time we put race aside and worked towards bettering our country. I believe Obama is the person to do that. McCain can't sympathize with everyday people, because he's never walked in sour shoes. Just think, when they announced that he had seven or more home, now he's selling one of them. A Mansion, no less..11 bedrooms, 6-car garage, a playhouse for their children the size of an apartment. We need someone in the white house who knows the trials and tribulations of struggle, of being poor, of not knowing where your next meal is coming from let alone where you're going to sleep. Please Americans, wake up! this is not about race because every race can feel the same pain.
I really hope that people will look past race and mud-slinging to vote for the best candidate. Personally, I believe that person to be Obama. I think it's time we put race aside and worked towards bettering our country. I believe Obama is the person to do that. McCain can't sympathize with everyday people, because he's never walked in sour shoes. Just think, when they announced that he had seven or more home, now he's selling one of them. A Mansion, no less..11 bedrooms, 6-car garage, a playhouse for their children the size of an apartment. We need someone in the white house who knows the trials and tribulations of struggle, of being poor, of not knowing where your next meal is coming from let alone where you're going to sleep. Please Americans, wake up! this is not about race because every race can feel the same pain.
It is so important to educate yourselves and vote for the best man and this election is critical. We are at a true tipping point in America and could very easily slip into oblivion if the wrong person is chosen. It is clear to me that Barrack Obama is by far the right person. He has the judgment, the intelligence, the temperament and the political savvy to bring this country out of the abyss the republican neocons have put us. They have been lying to you for many years now and running away with your money and leaving all of us in a disparate situation, now no jobs, losing homes, inflation with prices of everything going up. We can have it better in this country if we get the right leadership and it sure isn't republicans.
Sorry, but after eight years of Rove's dirty tricks, I cannot help but feel that this ACORN nonsense is a set up by the right.
West Virginia, Where it's all relative, is going to vote in a black man for President, that tells us all how TOXIC the word Republican is. Outside of Ron Paul I think the Republicans will be a forgotten party that has lost all of it's steam, like the Communist party & the KKK. It will be a miracle if the U.S. and the rest of the world recovers from the corruption & lies of G.W. Bush and the Republican party that has just about collapsed our economy.
I agree with you Sailing. The Republican Party needs to hitch their wagons to men like Ron Paul and Nader in order to swing both moderates and liberals. Nominating someone who endorses Bush policies or someone like Palin serves to push liberals and moderates towards the polls, but against their candidate. If everyone goes to vote, the Republicans simply cannot win on those type tickets.