YOUR COMMENTS

I just moved to Londonderry from Mass and this article is right on for me, I came here for the quality of life and to a place where my Republican vote may actualy have a chance of counting. Mass is nuts!!! Small goverment is great.
- David, Londonderry

I can only speak for the ones I know but I disagree with the article that many Mass people here vote Republican. I know a lot of former Mass residents and I would say 90% of them still vote Democrat. My fiance being one of them.
I do agree that students that are here should be able to vote here. I do agree an ID should have to be shown to vote.
What many who have voted here the past few election cycles seem to forget is that in the last 50 years Congress has been controlled by Democrats. So to blame all that is wrong with this country on Republicans is shortsighted. I blame a lot of that on the media and their constant pandering to the left and constant slamming of the right.
I would be willing to bet that over half of the people who just voted have no idea of the policies of the person they voted for. They voted based on TV ads, Internet blogs and rhetoric instead of what actual policies are being advocated. I am thinking once they see the "change" they might ask themselves what they were thinking. On the other hand maybe they want a free ride and the govenment controlling everything. If so then maybe China is a good option.
- Bill B., Pelham

Remember when the Free Staters were going to all move here and make us more concervative? Guess they got out numbered by the moderates!
- Skip Watson, Lancaster, NH

They might not have all come from there- but most of them did and that's who is sending this state right down the tubes. Nice try though.
- Pauline, Franklin

How many hundreds of times have I seen here recommendations that those that don't agree with this right wingnut paper should go to Cuba or Canada or whatever. Does this continued bluing of the state mean that you should pack up and leave? I don't think so though that has been said to me many times. I admire difference as long as it is accompanied by insight and understanding. I can't recommend that you go to either Canada or Cuba because then you would have universal health care. Stay and suffer with the rest of us.
- Robert, Deerfield

As a life long democrat and Manchester native from the start I am pleased with the direction of our state. There are not only democrats voting but independents that are being ignored and they are a growing majority. People who are willing to look at both sides and then decide.
That being said..... People forget that Manchester used to be blue, blue, blue - a city that represented workers from the mills and labor unions and wanted equal status given to North, South, East and West sides of the city.
- corey d., manchester, nh

To paraphrase a comment by Michele Obama. For the first time in my life I am ashamed of my country, and my state.
- Mike, Auburn

Mike, I meant to highlight the break between P.J. O'Rourke Republicans and Sean Hannity Republicans. The Republican party did much better in NH when it emphasized small, less intrusive government - in both economics and social issues. It lost its influence when the party embraced its current neo-conservative "American Exceptionalism" platform.

George I may have been a social conservative but did not make it a major part of his agenda (see Souter, David). His son however made it a central focus of his tenure. John McCain was very popular in this state when he was a secular, independent thinking Republican. It wasn't until he changed to adopt the Southern party line that the love affair ended.

It wasn't NH that abandoned the Republican party. It was the Republican party that abandoned NH. And this is written by someone who used to vote almost exclusively Republican.
- Jason, Londonderry

Finally, someone has explained why Dixville Notch voted blue this time. It's those from other Northeast states that have moved there and taken over.
- jon, hooksett

New Hampshire was a pretty good state to live in until all the yuppies moved here. Our state motto should now be, "Live Free - Let Someone Else Pay For It!"
- Mark Starin, Manchester

The "blue" shift has been accelerated by the weak welfare refome laws in this state vs Massachusetts and more traditionally "liberal" states. We need to reform welfare to require a 2 year limit on benefits. Then, these "dependents" will move back to more liberal states that require back to work in 3 years.

This State was much more closely to the libertarian view of less government, less taxes, less dependence on government, local controls.

Concord, with a Democrat majority, will seize more and more control over everything (see education funding) and it will be too late to fix. Once towns become dependents to the State government (slaves to Concord), it will be extremely difficult to get them off the state aid drug.
- Mary G, Candia

Jason, did you really mean to include George HW Bush on the "attractive" Republican list.
By definition, a one term and done President hardly qualifies as "attractive", does he?
IMO, the Repubs had better cease trying to be all things to all people and get back to the conservatism that has been their strength. And please, the Sherwin Williams company doesn't produce enough product to paint George W. Bush as a conservative. He is not.

Who cares where these mis-guided voters come from? To paraphrase Shakespeare:

A steaming pile by any other name, or from any other location, would still smell as revolting.
- Mike P., Manchester

I was really suprised at the 70% vote in Massachusetts to keep the income tax. The reality was that most people would benefit from no income tax. That would force the state government to be smaller.

Why did they vote that way, and who had the most to lose?

First of all, the media blitz that was pro income tax had even ME believing the world would come to an end in Massachusetts without an income tax. Who paid for this advertisement? Why that would be the unions whose employees are paid via the income tax. Massachusetts state employees are some of the highest, if not the highest paid public employees in the nation. In addition, some of the unions are well known to have the BEST retirement benefits in the nation. For example, one such union guarantees its workers retirement are 23 years with free medical and dental coverage for life. How do I know this? I have several relatives that work for such public unions in Massachusetts. The public employees
had a lot to lose.

It amazes me as to the power of advertising. The sheeple were so convinced that eliminating the income tax was going to harm them, yet for 95% of the people, it would only benefit them in the long run.

So in closing, its not whether your a Democrat or a Republican, know the issues that you are voting for. A wolf can look like a sheep in sheeps clothing.
- Paul, Bedford

Hey, Ed from Weare, since NH is part of the USA, where free passage between the states is guaranteed, the wall idea is very anti-American.

Besides, NH can't afford to build a wall without raising taxes to pay for the billions it would cost, something guys like you would never go for.

But feel free to be like the Browns were up north and build a wall and compound around your property. Sounds like you need it!
- Mike, Bedford

What I find confusing is that someone would move here for change, wanting the NH Advantage, then voting against the very fundamentals that made this state what it is (or soon to be was)...
- JSF, Manch

As a conservative/libertarian who moved to NH 3 months ago, I can tell you for a fact that MA refugees are not to blame for NH becoming a Democratic State. Some of the most staunchly Republican people I've met in NH are people who left MA because of it's extreme liberalism.

Some of these conservative/libertarian former MA residents and others have even started a new GOP volunteer group to help elect articulate and principled Reagan style Republicans. It's website is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhrvc/
- Maura, Windham

Although transplants are a large part of the trend in voting Democratic, I think it is too simplistic to think it totally explains the shift. Voting Democratic is a trend that is prevalent throughout the nation.

This really isn't news and although the voters who turned 18 after 2000 may be a factor now, New Hampshire voted for Clinton in 1992 and Jeanne Shaheen in 1996. If 1992 was your first presidential election that would make you nearly 40 years old now. Not exactly "young" voters. It really has taken the New Hampshire pundits, like those at the Union Leader this long to recognize that it is a shift nearly 20 years old and not an aberration.
- Glenn, Center Conway

Classic UL. Blame the people moving into the state instead of the cause of the shift. I'm a NH native who went to public schools and college in NH and I voted blue this election.

I honestly believe that it is not the state that has shifted, it is the Republican party. We have always been more Libertarian than Republican and that was reflected in our politicians who were always more fiscally conservative than socially conservative. The Republican party has moved hard to the right socially and that has made them less attractive. If you want NH to vote more Republican, give us more Republicans like Warren Rudman or George HW Bush and less like Sarah Palin or George W Bush. Otherwise, expect these results to continue.
- Jason, Londonderry

I've talked to several Mass to N.H. transplants who were dissatisfied with the mandatory health insurance that Massachusetts forces its residents to pay. I'm sure that and other taxes make New Hampshire more appealing to people who wish to escape the commonwealth of Massachusetts.
- JOSEPH, Mishawaka, Indiana

I for one am in favor of building a wall just south of Manchester, ceding everything south of that to Mass, and issuing weekend passes to tourists from out of state. Moving to NH should require passing a written test so we can send the commies, pinkos, and socialists back to Teddy; we certainly don't need them here.

Live free or die.
- Ed, Weare

I dont think it has much to do with parties, more to do with voters being fed up with the leadership and direction of the country. Also more young voters are learning that they will be inheriting the past mistakes.
- John, Raymond

You didn't mention all the liberal college students voting Democratic in NH and probably also voting absentee back in their home states. We need a change in NH State Law to require out of state students to vote absentee ballot in their home states. They don't represent NH and shouldn't be voting here.
- Calvin Perkins, Rumney

I agree most Massachusetts transplants are "political refugees". I see a correlation of red to blue and "same day" voter registration being implemented. How easy is it to be a student in New Hampshire and claim a residency that doesn't reflect your tuition status?
You have to show a photo ID at a doctor's vist, yet anything goes for voting.
- Rachel, Nottingham

Left out here is the analysis that even with (or because of) this migration the state continues to lose its young people and the average age increases. Fewer young workers. Fewer spry fire fighters and policemen. So it is not only the case that only Republicans are dying off, everybody is dying off and rich Dems are moving here as well. In most cities and towns there are meetings about workforce housing and support systems for young families to stop this trend toward older of any political persuasion.
- Robert, Deerfield

I agree with much of what you say Robert, My concern however is that with the tide shifting to the Democratic party how long will it be before we have a sales or income tax or maybe both?
As a life long resident I have seen a lot of change and some of it not good for this state. All you have to do is try to go to any of our lakes or other tourist 'attractions" and see how crowded they have become and how many are rude and think they have ownership or control of our resources.
As a boater I see it all the time on our lakes as rude people cut you off or litter our lakes and forests.
I will not go near Hampton beach during the summer.
I love this state and think it is the best in the nation but I have to say I am alarmed at the shift our politics is going in, the rising crime rates and the high cost of property taxes caused by those who have moved here and think they are entitled to services which we did without for many years.
- Bill B., Pelham

I moved here from MA 16 years ago to get away from the extreme liberal politics of Massachusetts. This article is dead on, I am glad it was written.
I am glad President Bush is on his way out, young voters will not look at the political world through a Bush lens. Some of these young voters who voted Democrat will become disenchanted with the "Nanny State" as they progress through life. Those who voted for "change" will find having is not as exiting as wanting.
- Chris, Merrimack

New Hampshire is holding it's breath, thats why it's blue, the majority of Democrats over Republicans maybe a factor yet we must look at how our state is favored over others. We have more 'family' attractions than other states, we have a large area for recreational activities including the seacoast area and we have year round tourism that helps our state economy. Other New England states don't even compare, then you add in that we have no sales or income tax to it and it becomes a very attractive place to work, raise a family and retire to. Even in times of a down turned economy, people migrate here because of the many things available to them. As long as we keep to our traditions and the advantage over other states, we will favor better than most when times are bad. Shame really the people of Massachusettes turned down the idea of doing away with tax issue. They could have been more attractive to businesses and others looking for places like Boston to move to. So be glad that we (for now) have that advantage over other states and hope it stays that way for the next generation to enjoy.
- Robert M Tarr, Manchester