Mon, January 07, 2008 - 8:02 AM

John McCain is poised to repeat his 2000 victory in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. Today's polls show him keeping a lead over Mitt Romney.

McCain is at 34 percent to Romney's 30 percent in today's USA Today-Gallup Poll.. Mike Huckabee is at 13 percent, followed in the single digits by Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson.

Photo courtesy Bruce Bennett

USA Today reports that Romney leads among Republicans, but independents support McCain by a 2 to 1 margin. Independents can vote in either primary.

Today's CNN-WMUR tracking poll also shows McCain keeping ahead of Romney, 32 percent to 26 percent.

Romney has been running negative ads about McCain in which voters say McCain supports amnesty for illegal immigrants, a charge McCain vigorously denied in Saturday's candidates debate.

-- Marsha Mercer

Like a kite caught by an updraft, Sen. Barack Obama has taken flight, soaring to double-digit lead in New Hampshire. Hillary Clinton just appeared on the “Today” show, trying to pull him back to earth.

Calling Obama “a truly inspirational speaker” and “an incredibly gifted politician” -- thinly veiled knocks -- Sen. Clinton urged voters to look beyond the speeches and see what happens “when the cameras are off.”

She said a lot of people voted for George W. Bush because he pledged to be a uniter, not a divider and said voters need to assess Obama’s “talk versus action and rhetoric versus reality.”

Although NBC described her campaign as panicked, Clinton insisted “I feel great, actually.”

She always knew the nomination would be a long process, she said. She said she’s drawing huge crowds as she answers questions from undecided and independent voters, and “I think we’re going to be a very effective presence” when people realize how high the stakes are in the election.

“I feel ready to be president,” she said.

Today’s USA Today-Gallup poll has Obama at 41 percent, Clinton at 28 percent and former Sen. John Edwards at 19 percent. Bill Richardson and Dennis Kucinich are in single digits.

A CNN-WMUR poll also showed Obama at 39 percent and Clinton at 29 percent on Sunday. A day earlier, they were tied at 33 percent. Edwards dropped from 20 percent to 16 percent.

The “Today” show report showed a snippet of Bill Clinton on the campaign trail saying, “We can’t be a new story. I’m sorry. I can’t make her younger, taller, male…” But he said if voters want the best president, she’s the one.

-- Marsha Mercer

Sun, January 06, 2008 - 11:36 PM

Like every presidential candidate in New Hampshire, Barack Obama had a series of campaign events today (Sun.) When he scheduled a campaign rally at Salem High School at 3:45 p.m., police directed traffic, cars soon jammed parking lots at the school and nearby municipal offices, and people lined up around the high school just to get in. Every seat in the school auditorium was quickly taken, and an overflow crowd was seated in the school cafeteria so they would watch the rally on TV. And so they sat and sat and sat.

Obama arrived nearly two hours late. He apologized but gave no clue what detained him.

His tardiness didn't seem to faze the warm and appreciative crowd. They listened attentively to his stump speech and cheered him. Obama shook a few hands after the speech and left without taking any questions.

-- Marsha Mercer

Unscripted moments abound in town hall meetings held by presidential candidates in New Hampshire. A town hall meeting with McCain today at Woodbury Middle School in Salem started with two.

Protesters at campaign events are fairly rare, but vocal activists from NH Against AIDS hijacked McCain's meeting for a few long minutes near the start. He was magnanimous at first, saying how wonderful it was that citizens could exress themselves and that the purpose of town halls is to hear questions. But when the protesters continued to disrupt, he said, "You must not be from New Hampshire," and warned jokingly that "I got some old veterans here," who presumably were willing and able to restore quiet. The audience booed and the protesters were escorted out, chanting, "You're not even trying."

Then, McCain gave his stump speech. The first questioner was a man who said, 'I'm an independent who was with you last summer when you were at 3 percent." When McCain started to thank him, the man cut him off, saying this is New Hampshire and he had an issue to discuss. In fiscally conservative New Hampshire, the man was upset that McCain voted for tax rate cuts that have worsened the federal deficit and led to higher interest rates.

He is trying to decide for whom to vote among the candidates. That led to the comment "You're in purgatory right now." and McCain's reply, "Thank you very much. It's a step up."

-- Marsha Mercer

Sat, January 05, 2008 - 9:53 PM

Experience is having a moment at the Manchester debate.

Obama states the obvious: The American people are hungry for a different kind of politics. They want to reduce the power of lobbyists. And, that's "something I have done..."

Speaking of experience, Richardson summarizes his resume. "I'm the only person here who has actually balanced budgets..." He has lowered taxes, insured kids under 12, improved education. "The next president is going to have to have foreign policy experience," he says. "I'm the only one who has had...the higherst national security clearance." He's on a roll. He says he's had experience, been tested. Everybody else looks mildly annoyed.

Edwards says he has been fighting special interests all is life. Charles Gibson of ABC asks Edwards for something significant he acomplished in 6 years in the Senate. Edwards says he worked with Senators McCain and Kennedy on a Patients Bill of Rights. "This battle is personal to me," he says. When he sees lawmakers and lobbyists at cocktail parties, "the picture I get in my head" is of his father and grandmother going into the mill to work every day.

Obama's got his own personal tale. When his mother dying of cancer, she was in her hospital bed reading insurance forms to keep the insurance company from withholding coverage as a pre-existing condition .

Clinton brings the reveries to a close. Asking for "a reality break for a minute," she notes that the Patients Bill of Rights Edwards cited as his big accomplishment isn't law. It never passed the House. And, when it comes to lobbyists, she said, the chairman of Obama's campaign in New Hampshire is a lobbyist for the drug companies.

"What we've got to do is translate talk into action and feeling into reality," she said. "I have a long history of doing that....I'm an agent of change."

-- Marsha Mercer

Social Security is the first domestic policy issue for Democrats -- but the real topic is change.

First Hillary Clinton hits Barack Obama. She's obviously prepared for this, quoting an Associated Press story that said Obama could have a debate with himself. He was for single payer health care then proposed a health care plan that doesn't cover everybody... She says "We need to know where president is yesterday, today and tomorrow."

Obama responds that on health care, "I have been entirely consistent in my position."

Edwards allies himself with Obama and hits Clinton. "That's not the discussion we should be having." Anytime someone advocates change, "the forces of the status quo are going to attack." And, Edwards adds archly, "I didn't hear these kinds of attacks" from Clinton when she was ahead.

Hillary responds: "Making change is not about a speech you make; it's about working hard."

More Hillary, with fervor: "I want to make change...I'm not running on the promise of change -- I'm running on 35 years of change ... What we need is somebody who can deliver change."

Bill Richardson, ever the ambassador: "I've been in hostage negotiations...Let's stay positive."

"I love change," Richardson declares.

Big truth of the Democrats' evening so far comes from Edwards: "Nobody cares about hearing a bunch of politicians fight."

-- Marsha Mercer

In Manchester, N.H., 800 journalists are gathered in a press filing center -- aka a gym -- at Saint Anselm's College tonight for the back-to-back presidential debates. That of course meant the WIFI failed. Not totally, of course, but in certain spots, such as where I'm sitting. I finally got online as the Democrats' debate started. Hurray! Thank you, Matt of Soapbox. Now back to work.
-- Marsha Mercer

Fri, January 04, 2008 - 5:22 PM

The Republican senator from Arizona is headed to South Carolina!
No, not that senator.
The other one, Sen. Jon Kyl.
That’s right, South Carolinians have a chance to watch Tuesday’s New Hampshire Primary results at a cafe in Columbia with Arizona's junior senator himself – appearing as a "special guest" of McCain’s presidential campaign.
Of course, McCain will be in New Hampshire.
But McCain's campaign -- in anticipation of the clamor over Kyl’s scheduled surrogate visit -- today sent out important details, such as when the press can start setting up at the café to cover Arizona’s other senator.
Maybe there's some excitement among Gamecocks over Kyl being elected the new Senate Minority Whip.

-- Billy House

The Iowa caucuses attracted a lot of out of town politicos on Thursday to make last minute pitches for presidential candidates in both parties.

One Southerner almost didn’t make it to the first big political show of 2008. Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, had to spend the night at a hotel near the Detroit airport Wednesday night after his flight to Des Moines was cancelled.

But he made it Iowa in time on Thursday to make a case for the Republican candidate he is backing – Sen. John McCain – at a caucus site in Altoona, Iowa.

McCain finished in fourth place in Iowa, behind Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. The McCain camp is hoping for a better showing in New Hampshire, and Burr is planning to travel to that northeastern state to stump for McCain as well.

“The challenge now is to parlay this into a win in New Hampshire,” Burr said in a phone interview this morning from the Des Moines airport.

--By Sean Mussenden

In New Hampshire, the stunning results in Iowa -- a record turnout for the caucuses and decisive, come-from-behind victories for Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama -- set the scene for a whirlwind four days before Tuesday's primary. Here are a few morning notes from the energized Granite State.
***
Overnight, the presidential field narrowed, as Iowa pulled the plug on Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, but that didn't mean the campaign ads died. An ad for Biden was running on Manchester's WMUR this morning.
***
The survivors, operating on little sleep, arrived in New Hampshire declaring a brand new day. Before dawn, John McCain, tied with Mitt Romney in New Hampshire polls for the lead, told WMUR-TV in Manchester he was "really happy" with his 13 percent in Iowa -- he hadn't campaigned much there -- and was looking forward to a positive campaign in the Granite State.
***
Only 18 percent of voters here consider themselves born-again Christian, which is bad news for Huckabee. In Manchester, Huckabee, who didn't sleep overnight, told ABC's "Good Morning America," "It might be a little much in five days" to catch up with the GOP frontrunners in New Hampshire. But, "When we go to South Carolina, we're in a good shape."
***
Bill Richardson, who got all of 2 percent in Iowa, is pinning his hopes on New Hampshire, where he has been campaigning for over a year. "I'm in the Final Four and anything can happen. New Hampshire voters like to send a message. Honing his, Richardson told WMUR, "I am making ending the war in Iraq the No. 1 issue." Richardson said he would visit eight cities in New Hampshire today.
***
Good news about the weather. While it was at zero or below across the state this morning, a warming trend is predicted. Temperatures by Tuesday are expected to be in the balmy high-40s.

-- Marsha Mercer

Thu, January 03, 2008 - 6:36 PM

CONCORD, N.H. -- While all eyes -- of the country, world and universe as we know it -- on Iowa, I flew to Boston this morning, rented a car and drove north.

On Boston radio, the talkers dismissed as “Bible thumpers and bull breeders” the heartlanders who soon would be the first Americans to vote for president in their peculiar “meetings” Iowa calls caucuses. How, the New Englanders groused, could anyone care how Iowa votes?

As I headed into the lull before New Hampshire's storm, Concord was bathed in clear, frigid sunlight. Light glinted off the gold dome of the state capitol and off piles of snow lining the streets. And yet, even with most presidential candidates a time zone away, Concord hummed. The campaign volunteers who make the calls, canvass door to door and pass out fliers never left -- and they are counting the minutes until their turn.

And so, with the temperature still in single digits in the afternoon, a hardy -- but polite -- band of supporters of Republican hopeful Ron Paul, paraded down Main Street, waving signs and chanting. They were so well mannered they kept to the sidewalk and stopped for traffic lights.

A couple of blocks away, fans of Bill Richardson stood on the corner waving signs at cars within sight of a couple of workers for John McCain planting campaign signs in the “snow mountains” on what must have been a median strip. A snow mountain is the huge pile of snow left when snowplows do the best they can to clean up after Mother Nature. December brought record snows of 44 ½ inches to Concord, and city streets are lined with snow mountains, some sedan high. Walking is crunchy and slick, and signs on buildings warn of falling snow and ice.

I stopped in the cozy campaign office of John Edwards, where they were giving away hand warmers. A roomful of people, heads bent industriously, talked on phones. Five days to change America. When I asked if anyone from North Carolina was working there, a staffer said, “Yes, but he can’t talk to the media.” She mentioned an event with Edwards at 6:15 tomorrow morning. I picked up some campaign literature and trudged into the bitter wind.

Near my car, I saw something flutter under my windshield wiper. What -- a ticket already? Nope, it was a small piece of paper inviting people to a restaurant in Manchester Sunday to meet Joe Biden and join his supporters for appetizers.

In a few hours, the lull will end, New Hampshire will become the center of the political universe and people down the road in South Carolina or Florida or California will wonder why anyone cares what New Hampshire thinks.

-- Marsha Mercer

Of all the oddities layered into the 2008 presidential campaign, the amount of attention two Republican candidates have paid to Chuck Norris surely ranks as one of the weirdest.

If someone told you a year ago that Mike Huckabee would begin to surge in the fall just about the time he appeared in a viral Web ad with the aging kung fu star, what would you have done?

If you were a fan of Chuck Norris, you probably would have roundhouse kicked that person in his face. But I digress. In the ad (YouTube player below), Huckabee accepted Norris’ support saying, “Chuck Norris doesn’t endorse. He tells America how it’s gonna be.”

(If you have no idea why this is funny, check out this Web site of 100 percent, um, true facts about Chuck Norris, including these gems: “Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his right and left legs,” and “Chuck Norris counted to infinity – twice.”)



Anyway, late Wednesday, a day before the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney released a Chuck Norris Web ad of his own, a rebuttal of sorts to the Huckabee spot.

It uses Chuck Norris as a weapon against Mike Huckabee, which I’m guessing will not make Chuck Norris happy. And no one likes an angry Chuck Norris.

The new ad is worth a look, though it lacks the homespun charm and odd humor that made the Huckabee/Norris spot an Internet sensation. It’s called “Roundhouse Kick” and it contrasts Chuck Norris' take-no-prisoners approach to criminals with Huckabee’s pardons as governor of Arkansas.

Here’s a link to the ad. For those of you who cannot watch the video at work, the script is below.

Script For "Roundhouse Kick"

ANNOUNCER: "Two good men, both into fitness. Both love Chuck Norris.

"But where do they stand on crime?

"Chuck Norris: 'give a presidential pardon to no one, ever.'

"Norris subdues criminals with just an icy stare.

"And Mike Huckabee? He granted 1,033 pardons and commutations, including 12 convicted murderers.

"Huckabee granted more clemencies than the previous three governors combined.

"Chuck Norris, Mike Huckabee. Now who deserves the roundhouse kick?"

--By Sean Mussenden

What are Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida and other early backers of Fred Thompson for president to do?
Politico, the Washington-based political newspaper, is reporting that if former Tennessee senator and actor Thompson finishes poorly in tonight’s Iowa GOP presidential caucuses he will drop out of the race and endorse Arizona Sen. John McCain.
Among Thompson’s earliest and most enthusiastic supporters for president was Putnam, chairman of the U.S. House Republican Conference, third in line in the House GOP leadership.
Putnam’s endorsement dates from early June, but Putnam was already talking glowingly about Thompson weeks before his formal commitment.
“We just saw that speculation,” responded Putnam’s spokesman Keith Rupp this morning, of the word that Thompson may drop out.
But Rupp said he also saw Thompson on TV this morning denying the report, which Politico said was based on several GOP sources close to Thompson's campaign.
Top Thompson campaign team officials this morning are also strongly denying the report.
Byron York at National Review, reports that he spoke with Rich Galen, a top adviser to Fred Thompson, and that it would be an understatement to say that Galen is strongly denying the Politico story."
"I'm a Republican official in the Thompson campaign, and I'm denying it," he is quoted as saying.
Galen also insisted that no one inside the campaign was a source for the story. "I can't put enough adjectives in front of the 'deny' to accurately describe how vehemently I'm denying the story," he said.
Galen said that "just to make sure," he checked with Thompson himself, who told him the story was not true. "We have the schedule for Saturday and Sunday in New Hampshire, and then we're going down to South Carolina," Galen told me.
Rupp said he had no idea who or if his boss would consider endorsing anyone else if Thompson does drop out.
If that does happen, he said Putnam might just “keep his powder dry” and prepare to work enthusiastically for the eventual Republican nominee.

-- Billy House

Wed, January 02, 2008 - 2:03 PM

Act now for a chance to traipse through New Hampshire snow with Sen. John McCain on the day the Granite State holds its presidential primary!
To be eligbile to win this prize, just forward a $50 donation between today and Friday to his campaign, says the Arizona Republican's campaign manager, Rick Davis.
"Be the lucky person who gets to spend Jan. 8 in New Hampshire with Senator McCain and the campaign staff as we push on to victory!” urges Davis, in an e-mail this week to supporters.
“Spend the final 24 hours with us working to turn out voters and celebrating a great win in the Granite State,” Davis also writes.
The odds of winning this contest are long, however. Others eligible to be selected for "this opportunity to be a part of McCain history" include every maxed-out donor to McCain’s campaign.
But the winner will stay at one of the official McCain headquarters' hotels on January 7 and January 8, attend the final New Hampshire town hall and rally and work with the campaign volunteers on McCain's "Election Day Get Out the Vote" activities.
Davis adds: “The winner also will attend the election night hospitality suite and election night 'victory party' and be there to cheer on Senator McCain as he wins the New Hampshire Primary."
Of course, McCain's victory is not quite set in stone and things may not turn out so celebratory for him that night.
Still, McCain has regained some momentum after his early lead in New Hampshire evaporated, and recent statewide polls show him closing the gap with longtime front-runner Mitt Romney.
Davis' e-mail says the McCain campaign will contact the winner by phone by this Saturday – so they will have time to make their own travel arrangements to New Hampshire.
No details on how, exactly, the winner will be selected was offered by Davis.

-- Billy House

Once Iowa’s hotly contested caucuses wrap up on Thursday night, the rest of the country can go back to ignoring the state until sometime in 2011. Until then, Iowa remains the white-hot center of the political universe, drawing out-of-state politicians to make last-minute pitches for the packed field of presidential hopefuls.

We just got word from Mitt Romney’s campaign that Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., will be in Iowa on Thursday to campaign for the former Massachusetts governor. DeMint, South Carolina’s junior senator, came out months ago for Romney. South Carolina’s senior senator, Republican Lindsey Graham, is backing Sen. John McCain.

To the extent that endorsements like these matter in presidential races, it’s likely that a positive word from DeMint means a lot more in Myrtle Beach or Columbia than in Des Moines, where DeMint is a relative unknown.

Still, in an unpredictable race like this, every little bit helps. Here’s a quick video message DeMint released about Romney after the Republican YouTube debate in November:



--Sean Mussenden