The NH GOP is way, WAY too incestuous. They desperately need new blood. The one big statewide “win” they got lately was with Kelly Ayotte. She was A) NOT the child of some former Governor, and B) NOT some retread who was kicked out of that office before (surprise!). The NH GOP establishment would have people believe that “only” candidates like Charlie Bass and John Sununu are “viable” choices for national office, when the opposite is true. Voters are fed up with the blue bloods who act as if they are entitled to hold major office, which resulted in the big RAT wins of 2006, 2008, and 2012. If it had been up the elder Sununu, Ayotte would have been deemed “unelectable” and passed up in favor of Judd Gregg’s kid, or something along those lines.
Sununu brings baggage as a politician’s kid and also makes it easy for Shaheen to attack the GOP nominee as a failed “rubber stamp for Bush’s policies” blah blah blah…
IMO, they really need to start mining the zillions of state legislators they have for higher office. We’re talking about a state that is quite small both geographic and population wise, it shouldn’t be too hard for one of their long-time state senators to start building up funds for a statewide campaign down the road. They outnumber the RATs 2-to-1 in the lower house (at least, going by 2010, I’m not sure what the new numbers are) If they can find a conservative Republican who is a popular legislator in a traditionally Democrat stronghold, that would give them even more of a leg up. Run the Speaker or the Senate President for national office if they really want someone who has clout. Running state legislators for the U.S. Senate works for the RATs all the time, look where they got Obama from.
Mark my words though, Sununu vs. Shaheen rematch = 6 more years of Shaheen. You heard it here first.
>> Bolling might not be out of the running yet; some articles I’ve read suggests Bolling might run as an independent. One of his advisors hasn’t shut the door on that possibility.
>> If Bolling were to pull a stunt like that, it would truly be the end of his political career. He might as well become a Democrat now. <<
I think there is a valid complaint with the Virginia A.G.’s office being used as a political stepping stone to automatically get the nod for Governor 4 years later (might as well re-title the Office “Governor nominee in waiting”), but Bolling is not the solution. Cuccinelli is a stronger candidate and more popular statewide, which is why Bolling will not win the GOP primary. I can’t imagine him bolting to run as an independent,that would almost certainly result in a RAT win with the GOP vote being split. Agree with Fieldmarshaldj, I don’t think he’s stupid enough to pull a Charlie Crist.
The NH GOP fared poorly downballot. The only thing they managed to keep was a paltry 2-seat majority in the State Senate (and the Dems dropped to just 5 of 24 seats in 2010, and have since gone back up to 11). The GOP lost the Executive Council (going from 5R-Zip to 3D-2R) and they also lost the House, too. I can’t really speak to many of those holding office and their potential. From what I heard of the (outgoing) GOP House Speaker William O’Brien from some other FReeper, he’s not much to write home about.