Columbia University Democrats

Greetings bread-starved Dems,

For those gentiles who did not understand that introductory remark, this past week was Passover, the holiday when Jews cannot eat any bread products, in remembrance of the exodus from Egypt. In honor of this holiday, your delightful board members, Bridgit and Matt, did not post on New Hampshire last week. But today is your lucky day, because here it is!

New Hampshire, once the bastion of New England conservatism, has been trending Democrat over the last couple elections, going for John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008. The seat up for grabs currently belongs to Judd Gregg, a retiring third-term incumbent. Gregg turned down a chance to be part of President Obama’s administration and now seems to be moving out of politics for good. Due to the recent nature of New Hampshire’s politics, it seems that this could be a possible pick-up for Democrats in 2010.

The Democratic primary, which occurs on September 14th, is not a very exciting race. Two candidates have declared, U.S. Representative Paul Hodes and Joseph Nadeau, a former state Supreme Court justice, but Hodes is the clear favorite to win the nomination. Hodes currently serves as the Representative from New Hampshire’s 2nd District. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1972 and Boston College Law School in 1978, after which he worked under then-New Hampshire Attorney General David Souter. Hodes first ran for political office in 2004, challenging incumbent Republican Charlie Bass in the 2nd District. He garnered only 38% of the vote, losing handily. However, he won the rematch in 2006, defeating Bass with 53% of the vote. Hodes has had some controversial moments in the House, most notably being the first to demand that Rep. Charlie Rangel surrender his gavel as Ways and Means Chairman. He did however, vote for the recent health-care bill.

The Republican field is quite crowded, as it seems to have been in every state we have covered thus far. However, Republicans seem to uniting behind former New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte. Ayotte is a Penn State graduate and a Villanova Law alum and is nationally known for her victory in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood, where the Court said unanimously that a minor’s parents must be notified prior to an abortion taking place. Ayotte has had some big names appear at her fundraisers, most notably NRSC Chairman John Cornyn and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Ayotte is pro-life, against government bailouts, and is against the just-passed health-care bill.

Currently, according to the RealClearPolitics average, Hodes is down by about 8 points. Ayotte has led from the get-go, and recent political feeling has increased her support. However, Hodes is quite popular in his district, which makes up half of New Hampshire, and currently, he has a substantial lead over Ayotte in fund-raising numbers. In any case, this is going to be a difficult fight for Democrats, but is one which can be one if Hodes runs a well-thought-out race. Hopefully he can pull it off!

Next Week: California! (Matt’s home state and home of Barbara Boxer, a woman who could never lose… or could she?)

By the way, today’s post featured help from the wonderful Lead Activist Helen Kilian. If anyone else would like to aid Bridgit and Matt in writing these posts, come to the Diana Center on Thursdays at 1! We’d love to see you.

I don’t always get political, but when I do, I prefer the Democrats. Stay liberal my friends.