YOUR COMMENTS

The central point is this...Billary was at the front of the line in publicly endorsing the DNC's promise to 'disenfranchise' MI & FL if & when they held early primaries. Further, (s)he fully supported NH's 1st primary position.

WHY? Because back then, they had everything wired for an early Clinton coronation. Now that Obama's ruined her Plan A, her Plan B is to scream unfairness and disenfranchisement for the very set of rules that (s)he endorsed.

BTW, for you Obama supporters, take some time out to stop leading with your emotions and do some objective due diligence thinking. His record is not that of a uniter and he has too many unanswered questions in his background for the role of POTUS.
- Bill, Bedford

I am floored everytime I read someone touting how great and how this country NEEDS Hillary. For you Hillary/Clinton supporters; Are you people kidding me! Why would we want someone in the oval office that is the least trustworthy out of the three we have to choose from? "Ducking sniper fire" is just another proven fact that this woman will do/say anything to get this job. I am surprised a little tear didn't break from her eye at that exact moment she described the dreaded tarmac run. Do you all forget Whitewater? These people are just wrong as humans and you want another one of them to run the country?

Lets face it, there really isn't one great canidate this time around. I will vote for Mcain becasue I think the most important issue we have is to keep our military strong and to keep our country safe. Put another Clinton in the whitehouse and yea we will probably see an eventual decline of the deficit but, at what cost. I'll tell you, the cost of our military, our intelligence which is directly related to keeping this country safe... You choose... Would you rather a bigger more wasteful spending government controlling\mandating more from you or having a safe place for your kids to live.... I'll take MCain over these two everytime....N
- Nick, Londonderry

To Tom (Candia): While McCain would not be my top choice, he's far better than Hillary and Obama. McCain would be more likely to nominate moderate-to-conservative judges to the SC, I trust McCain more to national security though I did not favor his amnesty plan (Lord knows what the two Dems would do in this situation - notice how they're not saying?). The thing is McCain is likely to make me happy 60% of the time. The other two are on the other end of the spectrum when it comes to my political philosophies. As for Obama's race speech, it was showmanship. Nothing more. It's becoming more known that Wright's unpopular sermon that's been played nationally ad nauseum was usual rhetoric at Trinity United Church of Christ. If I heard that kind of fertilizer coming out of the mouth of a pastor, I would have left that church and never returned. Yet Obama did. Time and time again. So Obama 'eloquently' talking about race was just pure showmanship. Obama's not part of the solution, he's part of the problem. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
- Gary, Lincoln

As a Democrat, I am ashamed of the behavior by both the former President and the Senator.
The sense of entitlement that these two and their campaign staff exude is deplorable. Hillary Clinton is not entitled to the Presidency. I hope that she understands that but her behavior suggests otherwise. She's behaving like a shrew. I'm actually quite horrified by her actions.

I had not been paying too much attention to Senator Obama, but I am now. I don't care who his pastor is. I'm intelligent enough to know that he doesn't follow chapter and verse the rantings of his pastor.
- Deborah, Goffstown

I nearly forgot the reason for this article. After 8 years of a government ignoring the rule of law at every turn, do we really want to put another person (Hillary Clinton), into the presidency that can't even follow her own party's election rules? I'm so sick of her win at any and all cost attitude. Kathy Sullivan, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for supporting this cynical woman just because of her gender. There is a candidate that offers the best hope for your party and you are ignoring him. Look in the mirror Kathy. Is Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama more in line with the ideal candidate that you imagined when you started in politics--before you became entrenched in the inner workings of the party? Forget power and think about hope. This country needs hope, not a cynical person that truly thinks no one else can do the job. What a monumental ego Hillary Clinton has. Hopefully her ego won't lead to 4 or 8 or more years of a Republican presidency, like Ralph Nader's ego did.
- Bob, Bedford

Hello Bill, NH invented the whole concept of presidental primaries.

Bill has really turned me off supporting his wife. I don't like the bush>clinton>bush cycle we are currently in and don't need it continued with yet another Clinton.
- John, Greenland

Jacob from Pennsylvania, you articulate an interesting point about Senator Obama. But is there any candidate that has not had equal or worse judgement issues that Obama? Senator McCain actively sought the endorsements of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Both of them gaves speeches within a week of 9/11/01 saying that the crumbling morals of America-specifically tolerance of gays- was directly responsible for the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. McCain actively sought these men's support! Obama sat in a church and listened as a local preacher gave sermons that said less hurtful things. Senator Clinton decided to stand by her man time after time as he cheated on her. She did it solely to reap the political rewards that Bill Clinton could provide to her. She is supported by feminists throughout the country even though she has let this man humiliate her for years, ironic isn't it? The self-proclaimed strong woman needs her man to win. My point is, given all three's lapses of judgement, who's is the most benign? I would say that Obama's is. But let's say that they are all fairly equal lapses. Then we are left to judge these candidates based on their beliefs and stated positions. I think I'll vote for the guy that hasn't been in DC long enough to get coated in slime. I think I'll vote for the guy who has consistently opposed the war. I think I'll support the guy that has consistently taken the high road. I think I'll support the guy that offers hope to America and her allies. I think I'll vote for the ONLY candidate to dare to suggest a raise in the FICA cap to solve the Social Security crisis. I think I'll support the only candidate that will unite this country again. I'll vote for the candidate that makes me proud to be an American-regardless of how his preacher feels. I'll vote for Obama. I hope you will too.
- Bob, Bedford

I will first say I am not surprised by Bill's comments and it once again shows the kind of person he is and more important his wife.
Bottom line is the DNC did what tney did and now it is NH's fault because our Secretary of State kept our primary first.
What a bunch of crap and as for the voters in Florida and Michigan they should go after their own state democratic party for breaking the rules.
It is too bad they got screwed but why no outcry about it? If this was a republican issue it would be a travesty of justice and rights and whatever else they could come up with.
Her "experience" is being shown for what it really is and I am gald.
As for senate experience they are both about equal in what they have done. 2 bills of any substance has been put through by both of them.
Both candidates are questionable in their ethics, questionable about decisons in their lives that do make a difference on thier electability.
Clinton is probably done but her replacement is no better policy wise.
- Bill B., Pelham

Grace & Will have it right. Poor pathetic Kathy Sullivan. Blinded by the light of the Clintons.
- Andrew, Concord

I hate the Clintons. I have had it with their arrogance, nastiness and lying. Earth to Bill: the presidency is not a monarchy owned by you and your miserable wife. Just go away and crawl back under your NY rock.
- Ann, Dover

Gary/Lincoln, I guess 'eloquent' is in the ear of the beholder; Obama is one of the best orators I've ever seen...as for his being a 'charlatan' ... he's clearly an improvement over Bush, or 'Bush-lite' Sen McCain. Do you really want someone like McCain - who thinks a joke about killing innocent men, women and children is funny - for President? Or would you rather have Hillary? Or Obama?

But anyway - regarding the "disfranchisement" of Fl & Mi - an ugly situation for the Democratic party. But the rules were set, the candidates agreed, and Hillary, FL & Mi ignored the rules. Holding them to the consequences of ignoring those rules is a far cry from the voter fraud of 2000 or 2004.
- Tom, Candia

Hillary's [and Bill’s] holier-than-thou position on do-over voting in Michigan and Florida is a sleazy and slimy attempt to hijack the nomination from Obama. Anyone with an IQ of more than 1.0 knows that they would be vigorously protesting or stonewalling against ANY kind of new voting initiative if Obama had "won" those two states. It is this type of duplicitous behavior by the Clintons that people, like me, find obnoxious and contemptuous.
- william, reading,ma

Didn't both Clinton campaigns engineer political comebacks in New Hampshire? I agree with Grace. Kathy: stop being so myopic about this and walk away from the Clinton gravy train. Talk about biting the hand that feed you!
- Will, Merrimack

Gary, I have to differ. Obama's speech was hardly the "same tired old rhetoric." When was the last time you heard anyone with black skin talk about the racial issues that exist on both sides of the fence? Obama’s equating “Rev.” Wright with his white grandmother doesn’t pass muster, and I agree that Obama’s judgment can rightly be called into question, but he raised an important point about race relations in this country: If we just keep spewing venom—as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton do—and don’t acknowledge each other’s perspectives and try to address the problem, we’ll get nowhere. Obama is not my candidate but it was a good speech.

As for the Clintons, this IS the "same ol', same ol'." Their word means absolutely nothing.

Jim L., Bedford
- James Lombardi, Bedford

The big problem for the democratic party with a reelection in michigan and florida would not be the participation of the pledged delegates of those states at the convention. It would be the participation of the 50 superdelegates of those states, which are at the moment shut out from the convention. With that there are now "only" a little less then 290 superdelegates left, to chose a candidate and to mess the whole convention up. First that seems pretty enough and second if Hillary doesn't reach the number of 1750 delegates in June it would bring finaly an end to the ugly fight.
- maz hess, biel switzerland

Gotta love how the Democrats were so concerned with disenfranchised voters in 2000 and 2004 when they lost. Suddenly in 2006, when they won, no word of voter intimidation or other voting atrocities. Now, in 2008, because of the timing of primaries, it's the Dems who are disenfranchising voters in FL and MI. Why does anyone feel this party offers answers for our future? They don't. Jacob --- don't make me laugh. Obama is a hack, an invention. He talks with those inflections that make people think he's eloquent. He isn't. And I found his speech on race to be filled with the same tired old rhetoric that I've been hearing for years. Enough already. And his indirect excuse-making for Wright showed him for the charlatan he really is.
- Gary, Lincoln

Of course President Clinton was criticizing New Hampshire. They will stoop to anything to win this nomination The Clintons are truly pathetic - they are now turning on their friends in New Hampshire. Kathy Sullivan remove your blinders!
- Grace from Goffstown, Goffstown

Sen. Barack Obama is a gifted and eloquent speaker. His Tuesday speech on race relations was a beautiful example of his style. It was not a "speech for the ages." Rather, it was a politically expedient attempt to divert attention from the real issue, which is not race relations at all, but rather Sen. Obama's judgment, or the lack thereof, with respect to the inflammatory and polemical views expressed by his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Sen. Obama has made a touchstone of his campaign for the presidency that it is not so much experience that counts, but rather judgment. While experience is much more important than he would have the electorate believe, he is right to focus on judgment as a critical factor in the determination as to whom should be our next president.

If Sen. Obama is the Democratic nominee, as he very well may be, then voters in November should ask themselves not how good his speech was, but rather what kind of judgment has he actually exhibited with respect to the deeply divisive views of the Rev. Wright.
- jacob williams, pittsburght pa