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Live Free (of Taxes) or Die

Welcome to Live Free (of Taxes) or Die New Hampshire — the sixth oldest state in the nation and the proud protector of the "first in the nation" primary.

Unlike the last presidential primary cycle, when the candidates began making their move hours after the 2004 election ended, it has been relatively quiet in the state.

We are in the early dating phase. The Santorums, Romneys, and Pawlentys may be organizing, but for the most part no one has even reached the hand-holding stage. Yeah, the GOP tried to generate some buzz about the current conga line of candidates out there by imitating Iowa's Straw Poll, but in New Hampshire’s first flirt with a straw poll on January 22, the results were boringly predictable.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney — a native son since he not only owns an 11 acre estate on one of the premier lakes in New Hampshire but is perceived as “our governor” by the masses that schlep to Boston daily for gainful employment (the southern tier of New Hampshire should really be annexed as a suburb of Boston) — walked away with 35 percent of the vote. Thanks to the undying "Apostles of Paul," Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) came in a distant second with a mere 11 percent and the Polenta, as my Italian friends refer to him, came in at 8 percent. Sarah Palin, who can thank FOX for keeping her in front of what exists of New Hampshire's reactionary base, registered seven percent. As of this writing, Sarah has yet to physically connect with the Mama Grizzlies here, but that may or may not improve her numbers, since New Hampshire voters don’t share the profile of the Palin supporter.

If candidates are slouching towards organizing, at least a variety of gay rights, worker rights, environmental concerns, and other interest groups are beginning to send their folks in for the duration. Fear not, despite limited candidate activity (redhampshire.com is directing folks to a CPAC video to see their “favorite conservative candidate speak,”  even if they may appear to be scratching from the bedbugs infestation at the CPAC hotel site), the new and extreme Republican Leadership in Concord has the media and the state mesmerized by their rapid undoing of every piece of public policy passed in the last four years.

Why the last four years? Back then, for the first time in history, the State of New Hampshire was controlled by Democrats. Democrats took control of the House, Senate, governor’s office, Executive Council and even grabbed both Congressional offices. It was a Democratic tsunami even before the election of Barak Obama, and it took the traditionally Republican outpost in the Northeast by surprise. When the shift continued in 2008 with the defeat of Republican Sen. John E. Sununu, we witnessed the return of the pit bull of New Hampshire politics, the former Republican Governor and Bush Sr’s chief of staff, John H. Sununu. Papa Sununu easily took control of the New Hampshire GOP, utilizing revenge and disgust as his drivers. He announced that it was his job "to clean the vermin out" of state government — vermin, of course, being anything with a D after their name.

On one hand Sununu can claim success: the Republicans have veto-proof majorities in both the New Hampshire House and Senate and all five members of the Executive Council are GOP. On the other hand, a good sized group of wild, authority-challenging Tea Party types, along with New Hampshire's Free Stater Libertarians from around the country were swept in as well. This unheard of combination brought in a new state Speaker of the House and a state GOP chairman who are Republicans in name only. These new politicians are not beholden to the party regulars but to a reactionary base that is anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-gun control, anti-public education, anti-environment, anti-regulation, anti-bellum (you catch my drift). Their mantra: power should be wielded like a club, not a gavel. Their machinations might have traction in places like Arizona but New Hampshire's profile is white, wealthy, highly educated, economically sophisticated, with the highest median income in the country and one of the least religiously fundamentalist states in the union. Note: a Gallup poll in 2010 found that Vermont and New Hampshire ranked last and dead last for regular churchgoing.

As I have always said, New Hampshire voters dis Big Government, but they equally reject the idea of Big Church. The libertarian streak is long and wide here. Just this week the University of New Hampshire Survey Center did a poll on same sex marriage. New Hampshire, under Democratic control, was the first and only state to embrace gay marriage legislatively. The newly elected Republicans ran on overturning gay marriage. In touch with the electorate? Check it out:

  • a WMUR Granite State Poll showed 62 percent of survey respondents opposed repeal of the 2009 law that legalized same-sex marriage in New Hampshire; Conservative groups have since vowed to attempt to repeal the same-sex marriage law.
  • In the poll, more than half of the respondents, 51 percent, said they "strongly oppose" repeal, against 24 percent who strongly supported such a move.
  • Some 29 percent said they would be "very upset" if the law were to be repealed, against just five percent who said they would be very upset if the law were to stand.

That's right, only five percent of the New Hampshire population would lose sleep if the state did not repeal the legislatively endorsed gay marriage law. If nothing else that should give you a handle on the make up of the electorate. With our largest voting block being Undeclareds or Independents (as of May 2010 the registration breakdown was as follows: Democrats - 267,725, Republicans - 266,077, Undeclared - 388,220) who can pick up a Republican ballot in the presidential primary if they are so inclined, the courting antics of the Republican candidates for president will be interesting.

Arnie Arnesen lives in Concord NH (she can see the Statehouse dome from her house) and has written for the Boston Globe. In 1992, Arnie was the Democratic nominee for Governor and in 1996 she was their nominee for Congress. Currently she can be heard providing political commentary for Iowa Public Radio, WGBH in Boston  and WKBK in Keene, NH. Arnie's political columns can be found every other week at insideriowa.com where she writes a point-counterpoint with a senior staff person for Newt Gingrich.