YOUR COMMENTS

This "Politician for life" attitude of so many commentators bothers me. He ran. He lost. Move on, get a job and contribute to society. Sununu is owed nothing.
- Craig, Manchester, NH

Sununu was Ok for awhile. I think it is time to step aside and get a real Republican to vote for.
- Mike, Auburn

Give it up Union Leader. He is a has been since he has ignored veterans for years. All he cares about is his political future and the PARTY. We don't need his kind in the Senate.
- Bill, Tuftonboro

Cullen isn't fooling anyone. He is weak whne it comes to toughness and making tough decisions. Very Weak! Cullen called me personally and asked me to run against Lou D'allesandro. Who I ran against before and garnered 47% of the vote, twice, without any help from the State GOP. Last time around Bob Wheeler ran, he got 36% and spent 50,000.00 at least, with help from the GOP. This time around Lou won 70-30. I asked Fergus, will you help me this time? He said he couldn't. I asked him if he would get me some money, he said he did not have any and he could not get me money or give me help. Same ole story from the state party, put YOUR name on the line, take five hours a day out of your life for five months, spend your own money and a little bit from people who you hope are not lobbyists or will want favors and good luck. And they wonder why they don't win? Fergus needs to go. It is an absolute insult for him to even consider running again. I personally like the guy, he is nice. But I'm sick of nice. I want victories, wins, and republicans putting this state and country back in the right order. I want the free market to run the way its supposed to, and I don't want people at the state or local level who are not willing to be tough, or are too afraid of Buckley, in key positions any longer.
- joekelly, manchester

Rowland from Fremont, you are onto something. That a guy is from the wrong camp is the reason; that he snubbed me on one occasion is just an excuse.

Kevin from Salem never phoned me and heard that Republicans have become no different than Democrats. But if he had, he would have. For example, McCain on the foreign invasion, the First Amendment, and the unwisdom of Congressionally-mandated settlements. Sununu on entitlements, free health services for the children of foreign invaders, and a higher minimum wage.

And, Kevin, when a caller answered you in this way, I'm sure you had a winning rebuttal, now; what was it?!
- Spike, Brentwood NH

Bragdon has a C+ rating from the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance for his voting record. Gatsas has an A+.

The Republican party establishment is destroying the party. It began by alienating the base.
- Rowland, Fremont

There are obvious issues with the lack of communication and articulation of a clear and cohesive message from the Republican Party (both local and national). This is a fact, and it is the main job of the CEO (Party Chair) to get the message out and organize the party. The task has not been accomplished, time to remove the CEO...Enough said. I for one will also be looking outside of the establishment to offer to volunteer and find good candidates, work the issues...etc. The state party seems to be insulated to outsiders which is absurd and demonstrates the lack of results.
- Mike, Raymond

First, congratulations to Peter Bragdon for being elected Senate Republican Leader. As this is the year of "change" a change in leadership is definitely needed in the GOP and this is one good step in that direction.

Second, regarding the NH Victory organization... speaking as someone who made a lot of those calls I can tell you that the lists we were given were of extremely poor quality and the percentage of actual call completions was pathetically low. It's a shame since we had so many dedicated volunteers donating countless hours of their time. We also assumed that the results of the calls were being used effectively and evidently they were not. Then to top it all off we were flat out lied to as far as the results of the calling campaign. We were told we had identified all the voters we needed. That was completely bogus. Imagine our surprise when at the end of election day we saw that we DID get our list of voters to the polls but it was not nearly enough. We have the people here to do the leg work for the campaigns but this organization was disorganized and ineffective. Never again would I support handing over responsibility for a campaign to the RNC. Speaking of which - some BIG change is needed there. Meanwhile, NH Republicans need to handle things the NH way. We are all about letting states make their own decisions and manage their own affairs yet when it came to this critical campaign we left it in the hands of outsiders. It was a fatal mistake.
- Mark, Amherst

I agree with most of the points made here by D.J. Bettencourt, who also happens to be my State Representative.

As a GOP volunteer in Salem, who knocked on doors and held a McCain/Sununu totem at the polls on election day, I saw firsthand just how frustrated many GOP voters are with our Party's failed leadership. Whenever I'd ask Republicans to volunteer or remind them to vote, many would just respond by saying something like, "why bother because the GOP has become no different than the Democrats".

Many NH GOP volunteers and others who are losing patience with their Party's leadership have even formed a new group whose goal is to to help elect articulate and principled Reagan style Republicans. The name of this new group is the NH Republican Volunteer Coalition at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhrvc/
- Kevin, Salem, NH

Last week I attempted to give an honest assessment of what I observed during this election cycle and where I felt the Republican Party should go in the aftermath of the rough outcome. John felt my response was “blunt.” I saw it as candid. Regardless, I still believe this is a time to step back and assess what went right and what went wrong. Nothing is gained by wasting time attempting to target blame. I made clear in the article that I didn’t blame Fergus or anyone else for the results (I still do not); I did disagree with him on one point that the Democratic sweep was “beyond our control.” He may disagree with me on that point but it’s just my opinion. With regard to the topic of cooperation, I spoke specifically of the county and town GOP operations. Fergus may have done a great job of working with House Republican leadership and it’s PAC but did that strong relationship exist with the county chairs and town chairs? Perhaps it did and I just missed it. But we lost several important county races and valuable House members across the state which led me to believe that was an area where improvement may be needed. Those results speak for themselves. Maybe I said more than I should have last week or maybe I could have sugarcoated things better. But I believe the Republican Party will not pull itself out of this current rut until we can be honest about where we are and where we need to go with regard to how we approach elections. I don’t have all the answers (who does?) but its time we stop whistling past the graveyard and address our need to return to our roots while still adapting to the changing face of New Hampshire.
- D.J. Bettencourt, Salem