[Dan from Michigan]

Too bad there. I'd rather have Smith. Both are better than Shaheen though.

[RCW2001]

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/09/10/politics2249EDT0874.DTL

(09-10) 19:49 PDT (AP) --

Smith loses to Sununu in New Hampshire

Two-term New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith lost the GOP nomination to Rep. John Sununu Tuesday, the first time an elected senator was ousted in a primary in a decade.

Smith, who had briefly quit the party for a failed presidential bid in 1999, found himself the target of a GOP effort to dump him.

©2002 Associated Press  

[Dog Gone]

Excellent. Now he needs to reach out to Smith supporters, which shouldn't be hard.

They can't all feel that ANWR is paradise instead of what it actually is, a frozen wasteland.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Good. Take back the Senate.

[Commander8]

Looks like there will be no more conservatives left in the senate. I hope you pro-Sununu squishes won't mind if he votes to raise your taxes, confirm a pro-abortion judge and support a treaty that will be a detriment to national sovereignty and independence. If I see any of you complaining about that, I'll just say, "Remember Bob Smith? He was the most conservative member of the US Senate. He was the most pro-gun and pro-life. He fought to keep Elian Gonzalez in America, he went to bat for the families of MIA and POWs still in Vietnam. He fought against illegal immigration, high taxes and bad treaties. He was one of the few US Senators who opposed Clinton's illegal and immoral war on the women and children of Yugoslavia. But you had to replace him with that Log Cabin society puppet because you thought Smith was 'too extreme."

[rightwing2]

The defeat of America's greatest conservative champion in the US Senate, Bob Smith when combined with the defeat of America's second greatest conservative champion in the House of Reps, Bob Barr represents the greatest defeat of conservatism that we have seen since Bill Clinton captured the White House in 1992. Both Smith and Barr were the #1 targets for elimination by liberal Democrats seeking to avenge Bill Clinton. Ironically, the liberals were able to persuade mushy moderate Republican challengers like Johnny Sununu to do their dirty work for them wasting millions of dollars on an expensive and bloody primary in New Hampshire without the Democraps having to spend one dime.

Mushy moderate RINO candidates including most notably Johnny Sununu, Elizabeth Dole, Lamar Alexander and others have succeeded in defeating their much more conservative primary opponents and are preceeding to takeover the once conservative Republican Party. I have no doubt, however, that the RINOs will be joining their liberal Democrap comrades-in-arms in partying it up tonight as well they should. The RINO/RAT liberals have won a great victory tonight. One can only hope for America's sake that their victory against conservatism is a fleeting one.

[SirAngus]

Here's my two cents on this whole thing.

Since this is a conservative forum, we should ALL be disappointed that Smith lost. Not happy he lost because "he can't win it". Smith was a great Senator.

But, since that is sadly done, Sununu is better than a Democrap.

[Ligeia]

I like Sen. Smith. I may be one of the few Americans who has a "Smith for President" bumpersticker tucked away. I'll miss him. *sniff* Thank you, Senator.

[PianoMan]

At least we'll beat the dem. Smith looked headed for defeat. Sununu doesn't appear to be a RINO just more moderate than most of us would like. Not the same thing.

[USA21]

no no no

[GOPcapitalist]

It's a shame to see Smith go down and doesn't bode well for outspoken conservatives in the Senate, but Sununu, despite his flaws, is by far the better candidate than Shaheen.

Let's vote down the Hitlery clone once and for all and take back the Senate in '02!

[muleboy]

The folks at AIPAC certainly seem more adept at knocking off southern black democrats like Hilliard and the McKinney twins than they are at defeating white republicans like PJB in '96 and now Sununu.

The Granite State? For AIPAC it's more like Kryptonite.

[Redleg Duke]

Now, the question is, will the Smith backers show the integrity and moral backbone of their man and step up to the plate to support the Republican candidate for the Senate?

If they can channel their enthusiasm and patriotism towards that goal, our "Bill Clinton In Drag", Jean Shaheen, will be regulated to the dustbin of history.

[ladtx]

Good news. Smith always seemed to go with which way the wind was blowing at the time. One more step to taking back the Senate.

[dark_lord]

The primary is where, like a band of brothers, we duke it out amongst our selves. If you have brothers (or sisters) you know how you used to rassle and tussle as kids. During the primaries we put up our competing, inside the family, points of view.

But in the general election, whichever of our brothers or sisters won the primary - it is our duty to support them against the DemocRATs. Doing the "cutting off our nose to spite our face" routine hurts us - not the real enemy.

[lilylangtree]

Good for Sununu! Hope he wins the general election.

[lilylangtree]

Did I miss something? I thought Sununu was a conservative Republican that served under Reagan or elder Bush (?), and that Smith was the liberal Republican, who previously threatened to leave the Republican party like some other traitorous Vermonter who shall remain nameless.

[Saundra Duffy]

I'm gonna miss the big guy. Congratulations to Sununu. For victory & freedom!!!