More Of The Same

Republicans continue make impressive showings in special elections taking both Sullivan district 2 and Rockingham 8  House races by significant margins.

Wyler takes Rockingham 8  with 85% of the vote: 633 to 106

Cunningham wins Sullivan 2 with 66%: 617 to 314

And over in the district 16 republican Senate Primary Boutin beats Pfaff with 67% of the vote, 1690 to 848.

I believe these are the final tallies.

Democrats will act indifferent, but they have to.  Rockingham  8 and Sullivan 2 are both primarily Republican districts.  But Republicans have consistently beat democrats in special House and Senate elections for the better part of a year now, including a close race in Concord.  And the right is consistently showing an ability to mobilize and motivate voters, and being rewarded for that effort.  So while it may not necessarily be indicative of a statewide shift, it is evidence that nothing will come easy as local democrats look for reasons to stay interested.

Dispatched

Ken Wyler dispatched a disinterested opponent in the GOP Rockingham 8 primary winning 91% of the vote.  Rumor has it that George Melvin, the supposed GOP challenger, didn't even bother to go out and vote for himself.

That's kind of sad.

So this is the second consecutive special House election primary where a "republican" forced a primary but demonstrated little or no interest in the process of their own campaign.  Now some on the left will be rubbing their hands together thinking about all the money wasted in primary battles but we'd like to thank them.   While the party of choice was anointing one hand picked candidate for every special election to the New Hampshire House--leaving their party with no choice but the NHDP choice--we've been using the primaries to train campaigners, phone bankers, and recruiting and seasoning new activists in real elections.  You know, actual volunteers.  The kind you don't have to pay.

And they get more excited with every win, and there have been plenty of them.

We've developed some solid ground work, a growing network, and information sharing that keeps everyone up to speed.  We've kept some pseudo-republican candidates off the ticket, and won a string of special elections. 

So while the democrat candidate can enjoy their 80 symbolic primary votes, sip wine and be fed grapes by whomever in the party apparatus chose them, Ken Wyler can ride his massive primary win momentum well into January and the special election.

That's worth more than the cost of the primary because its simply an advance on another democrat defeat.  And that, my friends, is priceless.