Big Progressive Victory In New Hampshire Tuesday-- Guest Post By Rep. Carol Shea Porter

Bob Perry is a well informed activist who always attends political events, respectfully asks politicians tough and honest questions, and volunteers on campaigns. In 2006, he decided to run for New Hampshire state Rep because he was so concerned about what was happening to the middle class. He served for four years, and was absolutely devoted to campaign finance reform, clean elections, and to supporting legislation that held corporations accountable and helped the middle class.



Bob lost in the 2010 anti-Democrats wave. He knew though that the right wing Republicans would try to push legislation that hurt regular citizens, so he did something extraordinary. He kept going to hearings at the State House, so he could be a witness and then educate others about the plans. Bob never faltered or gave up. When one of the new state reps resigned, Bob answered the call to public service again. He first had to win a primary, and then he took on a free stater who had support from many right wing groups. He just did his job, going door to door in the hot summer sun, talking to people about his plans to help the middle class "rise again," as he puts it. He's a true public servant who never gave up on politics. He often uses this quote at the end of his email: "People often say with pride 'I'm not interested in politics.' They might as well say 'I'm not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future or any future ...'

If we mean to keep control over our world and lives, we must be interested in politics." Sometimes the good guys do win!

(Martha Gellhorn (1909-1998), American travel writer, novelist, and journalist.)





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Bob Perry won the Republican seat Tuesday with 58% of the votes. He won 5 of the 6 towns in the district and only lost the 6th one, the smallest, by 9 votes. Carol attended the victory party and heard him say that "I will advocate on behalf of working men and women. I look forward to sustaining the governor's veto on the Photo I.D. bill, which is contrary to New Hampshire's tradition of trusting voters." New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley:

"In a historically Republican district, New Hampshire voters turned out in the middle of summer to send a loud and clear message to the out of control Republican majority. Its relentless attempts to make cigarettes cheaper but college more expensive, slash women's health care, and kill jobs by taxing hospitals must stop immediately. Tonight's special election is a clear rejection of the out of touch GOP agenda that puts corporations first and Granite Staters last."

Wisconsin Dems Need 3 Seats To Take Back State Senate. They Have 2... But Vote Thief Kathy Nickolaus Is Holding Back 10 Precincts In Waukesha Co.

Today was supposed to be an accountability day for native fascists who have infiltrated and taken over the Wisconsin Republican Party-- as well as Republican Parties all over the country. Scott Walker's unrelenting class warfare against working families and against democracy itself was responded to by massive grassroots organizing and an unprecedented get out the vote effort. Before the polls closed in Wisconsin, another special election in New Hampshire was won by a Democrat:

"Bob Perry's victory tonight is a complete and total rejection of Republican House Speaker Bill O'Brien's reckless job killing agenda. In a historically Republican district, New Hampshire voters turned out in the middle of summer to send a loud and clear message to the out of control Republican majority. Its relentless attempts to make cigarettes cheaper but college more expensive, slash women's health care, and kill jobs by taxing hospitals must stop immediately.



"New Hampshire voters have seen enough of the radical Free State agenda this year with bills that would allow guns in schools and courts, would remove support for our United States' Constitution out of the oath of office, and would eliminate public kindergarten."

At 8pm local time the polls closed in the 6 Republican Wisconsin senate district seats. AP called it for Republican incumbents in the 2 reddest districts right off the bat: Cowles and Harsdorf, and Fred Clark ran strong against Luther Olsen but missed out. So to win back the state Senate Democrats Sandy Pasch, Jennifer Shilling and Jessica King all needed victories. Shilling was the first Democrat to win, with a 55-45% victory, with big wins in La Crosse and Richland. Soon after, Jessica King beat Randy Hopper thanks to voters in Winnebago who gave victories to Ron Johnson and Scott Walker last year coming to their senses this year. Early on I saw that the uber-corrupt Republican machine in Waukesha-- where stealing elections is what they do as a matter of course-- was holding back 10 precincts there in case Alberta Darling needed them in her close race with Sandy Pasch. Pasch is way ahead and I'll update that race as soon as the results are in. Why Kathy Nickolaus isn't in prison is an affront to democracy.



This morning Greg Sargent started the day by telling Wisconsin activists what they had already achieved. "Dems and labor," he wrote "have already succeeded in one sense: They reminded us that it’s possible to build a grass roots movement by effectively utilizing the sort of unabashed and bare-knuckled class-based populism that makes many of today’s national Dems queasy."



As Chris Bowers pointed out yesterday at Kos, the path the pushback against fascism took in Wisconsin was an especially steep one. These 6 districts are not exactly Democratic-friendly territory.

1. Despite narrowly winning Wisconsin in 2004, John Kerry lost five of these districts. In our top two target districts, currently held by Luther Olsen and Randy Hopper, Kerry lost by 13 percent and 15 percent, respectively.



2. Obama won Wisconsin by 14 percent, but only won one of these six districts by more than 4 percent. Outside of Kapanke's district, even during a landslide, the best Obama could do was 50-52 percent.



3. In addition to these being difficult districts, recalls themselves are extremely difficult. In the entire history of the United States, only 13 state legislators have been ever recalled. Nationwide. Ever. We are trying to pull off three or more in a few months.



4. Finally, while Democrats had a monetary advantage when Obama edged McCain in these districts three years ago, thanks to Citizens United now we are getting outspent. Daily Kos commenter Korkenzieher, who lives in one of the recall districts, explains what the monetary advantage buys for the other side:

Anyway, you wouldn't believe the shitstorm of blatant lies they're hurling at Pasch. She hates veterans. She hates children. She hates the whole community, except, of course, for illegal aliens. These are ads being run on every media outlet in Milwaukee, and this is just for one race in the Milwaukee suburbs. Now consider how much cheaper it'd be to run those same ads in small-town, northwoods or dairy farm Wisconsin. Honestly, Wisconsin is always a battleground state in presidential elections, and the stuff being thrown at Pasch alone exceeds anything the wingnuts threw at Clinton, Gore, Kerry or Obama in the last few presidential elections. It has an effect. It confuses people.

UPDATE: Vote Tampering In Waukesha... Again



Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Mike Tate following evidence of election tampering in the 8th State Senate District race: "The race to determine control of the Wisconsin Senate has fallen in the hands of the Waukesha County clerk, who has already distinguished herself as incompetent, if not worse. She is once more tampering with the results of a consequential election and in the next hours we will determine our next course of action. For now, Wisconsin should know that a dark cloud hangs over these important results."



UPDATE TO THE UPDATE



Tate's changed his mind about taking vote thief Kathy Nickolaus to court! He issued this disappointing statement:

"Though we believe that Sandy Pasch was able to battle Alberta Darling to a virtual tie, on her turf, we will not pursue questions of irregularities. Those heat-of-the-moment statements came in light of the uncertainties that arose from a recent election, known too well.



The fact of the matter remains, that, fighting on Republican turf, we have begun the work of stopping the Scott Walker agenda."

AFTER TONIGHT'S SPECIAL REPORT, "WOODY ALLEN TONIGHT"

RETURNS TOMORROW WITH PART 1 OF "DEATH KNOCKS"

(Barring unforeseen circumstances, of course!)

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There Is A Solution-- And Austerity Isn't It

Frank Guinta is a dangerous kook; the other guy is dressed up as a Revolutionary War general

If you've been following Bernie Sanders' heroic efforts to refocus Congress on what the American people are actually interested in their representatives in Washington getting accomplished-- as opposed to the Austerity Torture that has taken over both parties-- it will have come as no surprise to you that the Alliance for American Manufacturing released a non-partisan poll this week that shows, conclusively (and once again), that by an overwhelming 67% to 29% margin voters prefer that Washington focus on job creation rather than deficit reduction. Confirming what Sanders has been telling everyone who will listen,

• Voters want Washington to act on jobs, especially in manufacturing.

• At the same time, voters give the President and Congress even worse marks than last year for taking any action at all on jobs and manufacturing.

• Voters across the spectrum see manufacturing as central to the nation’s economic success.

• Less than a third of Americans see the U.S. as the strongest economy in the world, but overwhelming majorities feel it is possible and important for the nation to regain that position.

• Though it may surprise pundits and media talking heads, Republican voters favor pro-manufacturing job solutions just as much as Democratic voters.

• When given an “either/or” choice, just 29% want Washington to focus on deficit reduction while 67% favor job creation.

I like the way independent-minded Democrat Nick Ruiz looked at the problem yesterday. (There's a reason he was the first candidate for Congress Blue America endorsed this cycle)

The mediastream is awash in debt talk. Such is the pop currency in circulation. It's not a train that is bound for glory, saddled as it is with the misinformation of the corporate coup d’état. The conductor in chief could easily change tracks, but he has not.

The trick of the ideological center people are talking about today, the "centrist cop-out" as it is being called -- is that there is no center. That is the trick of the tale. People once believed the Earth was at the center of the universe. I'm sure some of the radicalized Right still do. But as for the political axis, we should recognize that there are only interests, factions, alliances, allegiances and competition -- but no center. The center is what they call it when someone has won. New centers are created every political cycle.

That is why there is always talk of the pendulum swinging this way and that, each election cycle, with winners and losers. And we all know who has been winning lately. The center is the myth that the media sphere sells on CCTV, where everything is solicitation. But you don’t have to buy it.

Debt is in circulation, tradable, like any other instrument of financial imagination.

Will someone throw the people a line? Save them from being cut adrift, as Wall Street pouts and sulks; about as convincing to us as a teen-aged tantrum? Not this time.

Merck will cut 13,000 more jobs, hording cash. BHO says again today, he is willing to sever the New Deal legacy. McDonald’s continues to open a restaurant every other day, soon to be every day -- in China. All while the U.S. economy grinds essentially to a halt.

I'm sure Republican Sandy Adams (FL-24) would love to take your call, fax or email on all of this, and seriously consider your concerns about the Wall Street debt crisis, the destruction of the New Deal, the corporate miseducation of our children and the wholesale destruction of our natural environment; and candidly admit how wrong she is to follow the fake Republican simulation of prosperity. Perhaps you'd rather not waste your time.

But there is something you can do about all of this for the next phase of austerity that is sure to come -- help me to replace these kinds of Republicans with progressive Democrats, and give yourself the voice you deserve on Capitol Hill.

Carol Shea-Porter was one of the few progressives who got caught up in the big Tea Party mess last year. By a 121,655- 95,503 vote she lost her New Hampshire congressional seat to hackish on-again, off-again teabagger Frank Guinta. He got to Congress and promptly started voting to end Medicare and attacking Social Security. Carol has decided to seek a rematch now that New Hampshire voters are having a serious case of buyers' remorse all across the board. This week she approached this whole Beltway mess from another perspective in a guest column she did for New Hampshire media.

Social Security had its 75th Birthday last year. While Americans celebrated this vital program that has provided economic support and dignity to seniors, disabled people, and children of deceased workers, there were members of Congress and a political party who were laying plans to change and jeopardize the program. The Republican Party leaders, who previously tried to privatize Social Security in 2005, decided to "save" Social Security from the very people who have spent a lifetime paying into the program. Their Chairman of the Budget Committee introduced "The Path to Prosperity," which included raising the qualifying age and, yes, privatizing it. It is particularly grating to read the language from Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's plan-- "Further, even if the current system could be sustained, it is no longer a good deal for American workers"-- because he, more than most, knows better. His father died young, and Paul Ryan rightfully became eligible for help from the federal government. He collected Social Security benefits as a minor. He saved those federal government checks to pay for college. This shows why we need to protect Social Security from the now educated and financially secure Paul Ryan and his party-- because Social Security provides economic support and, for the young, economic and educational opportunity.

Here are some facts about Social Security. First, more than 90% of Americans 65 and over receive Social Security. More than 6 million children receive benefits due to a parent's death or disability, and a deceased worker's spouse collects if there are children under the age of 18. Millions rely on it to survive. While almost half of all seniors would be poor without it, women would be hurt even more than men, because women earn lower wages and generally live longer than men. More than half of all elderly women would live in poverty.

This would have an enormous economic impact on middle class families with aging parents. Already struggling adult children would have to care for themselves, their kids, and their parents. Without Social Security, families would have to make devastating decisions about living arrangements, health care, education, transportation, etc, as they tried to divide resources between the young and the old. Also, reducing future benefits or privatizing Social Security would not be a "shared sacrifice.” As former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers recently wrote in Vanity Fair, "The top 1% of Americans now take home nearly a quarter of all income and control more than 40% of the country's wealth-- roughly the same as the bottom 90%." Not exactly shared sacrifice. Therefore, we must stop Paul Ryan and New Hampshire's Republican Representatives from dismantling this program.

Both of our Republican Representatives have attacked Social Security. One supported the Bush plan. The other said, at a May 2009 rally with Glen Beck's 9/12 group, "…future generations should seek different private sector solutions and have personal responsibility start to lead the way."

Why are Republicans doing this? Is there really a problem with Social Security? Right now, there is actually a surplus. As Jacob Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in USA Today on 22/21/11, "...the problem is not with Social Security, but with the rest of the budget. In 2001 and 2003, Washington cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and later expanded Medicare without paying for it. Blaming Social Security for our fiscal woes is like blaming you for not saving enough in your checking account because the bank lost all depositors' money."

Social Security will have problems paying at today's rate in 26 years, but it can be fixed if the Congress would do what Reagan did in 1983-- fix it. First, raise the cap. Right now, people who earn under $106,800 pay tax on every single dollar they earn. People who earn over that do not pay on every dollar, just the first $106,800. This amounts to a hidden tax cut as their income rises. This is not fair. We also need to stop the Social Security tax “holiday” that was enacted last year, which reduced workers' payments 2%. This denies the fund essential resources.

As President Roosevelt said about Social Security in 1941, “We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and their unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program.” We need to tell our leaders again-- don't scrap our social security program!

Stimulating the economy to put American victims of the Bush/Wall Street/GOP Recession back to work, while protecting the lives and well-being of our most vulnerable citizens, is clearly what Americans expect from our government. Someday we may figure out what President Obama is thinking. It's not difficult to know just how progressives like Bernie Sanders, Alan Grayson, Raúl Grijalva and Carol Shea-Porter feel about it-- and how strongly they'll stand up against the right-wing onslaught. In the end, of course, it's up to the voters to chose. And in New Hampshire, voters are more than a little shocked to see how the Republicans they have empowered have chosen to proceed, after being-- excuse the phrase-- given the keys to the car.


Yesterday Robert Reich warned his readers to not fall for the Republican lies that have totally infused the corporate media. His point: there's a job crisis and a growth crisis, not a budget crisis.

[T]he best way to get jobs and growth back is for the federal government to spend more right now, not less-- for example, by exempting the first $20,000 of income from payroll taxes this year and next, recreating a WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps, creating an infrastructure bank, providing tax incentives for small businesses to hire, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, and so on.

...Repeat after me: The federal deficit is not the nation’s biggest problem. The anemic recovery, huge unemployment, falling wages, and declining home prices are bigger problems. We don’t have a budget crisis. We have a jobs and growth crisis.

The GOP has manufactured a budget crisis out of the Republicans’ extortionate demands over raising the debt limit. They have succeeded in hoodwinking the public...

I like the ad below that's running in Iowa this weekend. It could have just as easily run in either of New Hampshire's congressional districts-- or against Sandy Adams in central Florida.

Charlie Bass (R-NH) Job Approval-- 29%... And Falling

No clown make-up needed for Charlie Bass

I hope you enjoyed the New Hampshire ad we ran yesterday about Charlie Bass voting with Paul Ryan to kill Medicare. Bass freaked out completely-- and demanded WMUR, the New Hampshire TV station DFA and the PCCC are running it on, stop broadcasting it-- just like they healthcare hypocrite Leonard Lance did when Blue America started running radio ads about him a few months ago. Bass and the GOP claim the ad is false and that Ryan's bill doesn't end Medicare-- since they still call the inadequate voucher program they're replacing Medicare with "Medicare."

WMUR's parent company is Comcast and they usually agree to whatever Republicans demand. As Greg Sargent pointed out at the Washington Post, "The GOP demand that Comcast Boston yank may give progressives a chance to draw that line-- but if the ad does get pulled it could become tougher for Dems to amplify the claim going forward. This is an important test case, and it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out."

Adam Green, co-founder of the PCCC, which made and ran the ad, told us "It's awesome that Republicans freak out when held accountable for their vote to end Medicare. As Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman said, 'that's just what it is. If you replace a system that actually pays seniors’ medical bills with an entirely different system, one that gives seniors vouchers that won’t be enough to buy adequate insurance, you’ve ended Medicare. Calling the new program "Medicare" doesn’t change that fact.' Hear hear. No carping, complaining, or whining from national Republicans will change the fact that they voted to end Medicare -- and New Hampshire TV stations agree." So far no one has pulled the ad off the air and Comcast's attorneys have rejected Bass' and the NRCC's assertions that the ad is false. I suspect that by making a big stink, all Bass did was draw more attention to the ad, which is now a legitimate news story for other stations.

This is all very dangerous territory for Bass, since voters in New Hampshire are already turning sour on the GOP and his polling numbers look very bad for what appears to be a likely second rejection shaping up by his constituents.

Just 29 percent of likely voters in New Hampshire’s 2nd district approve of Bass’ job performance, according to a survey conducted May 31 and June 1 by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling on behalf of Democracy for America and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. The margin of error for the poll, obtained by Roll Call for an early look, was 4.2 points.

When asked about Medicare, 2nd district voters offered a similar sentiment as those of New York’s 26th district, who gave now-Rep. Kathy Hochul (D) an upset victory in last month’s special election. She won at least in part because her Republican opponent supported Medicare cuts in the House Republican budget plan written by Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (Wis.).

Sixty percent of New Hampshire respondents said they oppose cutting Medicare. And 69 percent said they support raising federal taxes on those with incomes over $250,000 a year “to save programs like Social Security and Medicare from cuts."

Even before the new polling was released, it was clear Bass’ re-election effort would be no cakewalk.

Anyone think Bass will invite Paul Ryan into New Hampshire to campaign for him? No? In honor of Bass' whining, here's the ad again:

How Will New Hampshire React To Charlie Bass' Vote To Gut Medicare?

DWT readers are not unacquainted with slippery New Hampshire congresscritter Charlie Bass. We first started covering his slimy roll in politics back in 2006, 7 months before the voters decided to retire him. That November, the people of New Hampshire's 2nd CD gave the incumbent rubber stamp Republican 93,905 votes, 45%. Last year, in the Republican wave election, Bass was back as the GOP tidal wave engulfed New Hampshire. He got 48% of the votes, beating grassroots progressive Annie Kuster by around 3,000 votes in one of the closest elections in the country. Today New Hampshire seems to regret what happened, not just in the 2nd CD, but everywhere across the state. We saw a few weeks ago how a once-safe GOP legislative seat was swamped by a Democrat in a special election. Yesterday two top GOP state legislators resigned from the party leadership in protest against the Republicans' war against working families. "It is evident now that pro-worker Republican views like mine are not respected under this leadership team,” said House Deputy Majority Leader Matt Quandt (R-Exeter), one of the two who resigned. House Whip Tim Copeland (R-Stratham), a freshman legislator and retired state worker, gave his resignation this week and said he has become frustrated with the attacks against public employees. "I just couldn't do it anymore. Delivering their message goes against my grain, so I did the right thing and resigned," he said. "What they're doing, going after the public employees and pensions just isn't right."

Paul Ryan hasn't been campaigning in New Hampshire, but his budget-- or, as he terms it his "cause"-- is very much in the minds of voters there. The new ad (above), plus Annie Kuster's decision to seek a rematch, will keep voters thinking about whether or not they want to wreck the social compact and follow Ryan and Bass down the rabbit hole of right-wing social nihilism, gutting Medicare, abolishing Medicaid, privatizing Social Security, enshrining the anti-Christian Law of the Jungle mentality that thrilled Ryan in Ayn Rand's adolescent novels.

Special interest money will once again act as a bulwark to shore up Charlie Bass' pro-Big Business, anti-family career. The main thing on voters' minds is probably Bass' vote against Medicare-- twice. His tendency to be a shameless rubberstamp for his party-- and a lackey for Wall Street-- got him in trouble with the voters before and is likely to do so again next year. Last year the Kuster campaign pointed out that "Bass supported subsidies for oil companies and bailouts for big Wall Street executives-- now those same interests are subsidizing his campaign and bailing-out" his campaign. The Koch Brothers, in appreciation of Bass' support for their efforts to ship American jobs to China, bought him another shot in Congress. Bass' "support for tax breaks for big oil and tax loopholes for companies that outsource jobs matches the agenda of these shady, outside groups," pointed out the Kuster campaign at the time. "Charlie's outsourcing friends are understandably concerned about Annie Kuster's plan to close the tax loopholes he supported during his twelve years in Washington."

Blue Hampshire thoroughly laid out all the facts on Bass' disgraceful relationship with Big Oil which has given him, over the course of his disgraceful career, more thinly veiled bribes from the oil & gas industry than all of the other 22 members of U.S. House of Representatives from New England combined. In return, Bass has consistently voted against cracking down on price gouging by Big Oil and against removing billions in tax breaks to Big Oil from legislation. In fact when he was in Congress the first time, and part of the reason New Hampshire voters tossed him, he voted for Cheney's 2005 Energy Bill which featured a $1.6 billion tax breaks for Big Oil and Gas. This year he once again voted for tax breaks for Big Oil and against closing the loopholes the GOP thinks they deserve.

That, his vote to turn Medicare into an inadequate voucher program and an assertive, progressive Kuster campaign, should stop Bass once and for all. If you'd like to help, you can do it at our Act Blue page.

Will Paul Ryan's Toxicity Poison New Hampshire Politics Too?

Which one is Charlie Bass?

One of Blue America's top contenders last year was Annie Kuster in New Hampshire. And she came tantalizingly close to winning against prohibitive Republican headwinds. While the state did a disastrous about-face and Republicans swept the Senate race, both House seats and both houses of the state legislature, often by overwhelming margins, Ann fought Republican rubber stamp Charlie Bass to a 48-47% near-draw.

As we saw in last week's special election, few voters are experiencing buyers' remorse as severely as Granite Staters.

When New Hampshire's lunatic fringe Speaker, Bill O’Brien, persuaded Rep. Robert Mead to resign and become his chief of staff, no one worried about the GOP's ability to retain the seat. After all, House District 4 is one of the reddest in the state-- the 14th most Republican seat in the legislature. But they did lose-- and they lost big, Daler sweeping all 5 towns in the district (Mont Vernon, New Boston, Lyndeborough, Temple and Wilton) against O'Brien's handpicked candidate Peter Kucmas, who struggled to stay above 40%.

Delusional and refusing to see the writing on the wall, the state Republican Chairman, Jack Kimball, who many think lost his mind long ago, said "Unfortunately special elections have a lower voter turnout and I am disappointed with the outcome. Jennifer Daler is a tax-and-spend liberal... Republicans hold super-majorities in the House and Senate and will continue their outstanding work, promoting economic growth and job creation while continuing the fight against irresponsible spending in Concord." Republicans are unwilling to see the results as a verdict from voters on their destructive and reckless extremism even though the turnout Tuesday was the highest for any special election in New Hampshire's history. Voters don't want to see New Hampshire's public education system dismantled and they won't stand for the Republican's power grab. The vote Tuesday augers well for a swing back towards the center next year in the legislature and it augers well for victories for Carol Shea-Porter and Annie Kuster in the two House races.

Annie is already getting down to business and last week penned editorials for several of the biggest newspapers in the state. She isn't allowing Bass to creep away from his vote for Paul Ryan's disastrous budget that features a plan to turn Medicare into an inadequate voucher system that would be catastrophic for seniors from coast to coast and hits New Hampshire seniors extremely hard. The out-of-pocket costs for a New Hampshire senior on Medicare will more than double if the Ryan-Bass budget, as I like to refer to it when writing about New Hampshire, is ever signed into law. By 2022 a typical New Hampshire Medicare enroll would have to pay $5,716.96 as the system now operates. According to the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, under the Ryan-Bass plan, the out-of-pocket expenses go up to $11,624.36 by 2022. That's an increase of $5,907.40 every year. There are an awful lot of seniors who just cannot afford that. In 20 years-- 20 years of retirement-- that increase would amount to $118,140 for granny and $118,140 for gramps. Can they afford that? Can New Hampshire voters afford Charlie Bass and the Republican Party. Is Senator Ayotte going to bring that budget one step closer to reality by voting for it this week? The other New England Republicans aren't going to.

Annie's message is clear and in sync with New Hampshire voters. Bass’s “private mandate and voucher system sets up an unstable, hurtful, and discriminatory system for seniors. In essence, the only element it keeps from our current, successful program is the name 'Medicare'." Bass is desperate and is lying to his constituents insisting that he didn't vote for a voucher system even though he did. The Nashua Telegraph called him on it:

"Neither 'sweeping overhaul' nor 'change' comes anywhere close to the unvarnished truth: the Ryan budget would abolish Medicare."

So did the editors of the Concord Monitor:

"Please, Charlie, you’re insulting people. Call it what it is: a voucher whose value increases more slowly than the cost of health care."

Harsh! But the editors of the Keene Sentinel were not less brutal: "This plan would in fact end what we know as Medicare.” And AARP skewers their "cause" as well:

Tomorrow’s seniors “would not get traditional pay-as-you-go Medicare benefits once they become eligible. They would receive federal vouchers to buy coverage from the private sector."

But Bass is running from his vote as fast as he can. Anyone think he'll invite Paul Ryan to visit New Hampshire's second district to explain his "cause"-- their cause-- to the citizens of Concord, Keene, Berlin, Lebanon, and Nashua? After all, Ryan, probably the most toxic politician in the country, announced on Meet The Press yesterday that he's available for someone's vice presidential ticket. Herman Cain... here's your chance. 'Cause a Newt/Ryan ticket isn't all that likely. Ryan blasted Gingrich’s assessment of his Medicare plan as “deeply inaccurate” and a “gross mischaracterization.” No doubt Charlie Bass was sitting at home wishing he had never heard the name "Paul Ryan."

New Hampshire Points To A Clear Trend But Rightists Have Their Heads Buried In The Sand

New Hampshire is different from Ohio, Wisconsin, Maine, Indiana, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, and Texas. Like them, New Hampshire suddenly finds itself in the grasp of an ideologically extremist-- and determined-- group of right-wing fanatics. Unlike those states, New Hampshire doesn't have a governor of the same ilk. John Lynch is a one-man lesson in checks and balance.

With a runaway state legislature attempting to do everything to harm the interests if working families-- and democracy-- being done in the other states, Lynch has had his hands full. Just last week he vetoed an anti-union "right to work" law that would take away workers' basic rights to collective bargaining-- an action that is a fundamental first step towards the rise of fascism in any society. Now radical Republicans are trying to override the veto. Tuesday evening got a very, very clear message from voters, they don't want that and they don't want the crackpot GOP agenda being enacted.

If you live in New Hampshire, you know who Democrat Jennifer Daler is now. When New Hampshire's lunatic fringe Speaker, Bill O’Brien, persuaded Rep. Robert Mead to resign and become his chief of staff, no one worried about the GOP's ability to retain the seat. After all, House District 4 is one of the reddest in the state-- the 14th most Republican seat in the legislature. But they did lose-- and they lost big, Daler sweeping all 5 towns in the district (Mont Vernon, New Boston, Lyndeborough, Temple and Wilton) against O'Brien's handpicked candidate Peter Kucmas, who struggled to stay above 40%.

Delusional and refusing to see the writing on the wall, the state Republican Chairman, Jack Kimball, who many think lost his mind long ago, said "Unfortunately special elections have a lower voter turnout and I am disappointed with the outcome. Jennifer Daler is a tax-and-spend liberal ... Republicans hold super-majorities in the House and Senate and will continue their outstanding work, promoting economic growth and job creation while continuing the fight against irresponsible spending in Concord." Republicans are unwilling to see the results as a verdict from voters on their destructive and reckless extremism even though the turnout Tuesday was the highest for any special election in New Hampshire's history. Voters don't want to see New Hampshire's public education system dismantled and they won't stand for the Republican's power grab. The vote Tuesday augers well for a swing back towards the center next year in the legislature and it augers well for victories for Carol Shea-Porter and Annie Kuster in the two House races.

Last night’s win was the third Democratic special election victory in as many weeks. Margins of victory ranged from a solid 54 percent in the Democratic pickup of Wisconsin’s 94th Assembly District on May 3 to the crushing 2-to-1 win on May 10 in a Maine seat last won by a 75-vote margin.

Two victories in two weeks may have been a coincidence, but three special election wins in states with GOP-controlled statehouses clearly demonstrates a trend of voters rebuking the extreme right-wing agendas pushed by Republicans.

One of these right-wing agenda items is the assault on voting rights, which came into play as the GOP attempted to sway yesterday’s election by very un-democratic means.

The New Hampshire House is currently considering legislation that would require voters to show a photo ID before casting a ballot. Although no law in the Granite State currently requires voters to produce such documentation, voters in yesterday’s election found themselves confronted by these signs at polling places: 

Per pending legislation you will be required to produce a photo ID in order to receive a ballot.

...O’Brien was defending the very legislation at issue as voters were attempting to cast ballots.

But the ramifications of this attempt to diminish voters’ access to the democratic process extend beyond yesterday’s events in New Hampshire.

The use of a restriction that had not even been passed-- much less signed into law-- to attempt to prevent Granite Staters from voting in yesterday’s special election raises even more concerns about the impact Wisconsin’s voter suppression legislation will have on this summer’s recall elections.