Ayotte+(R)+v.+Hodes+(D)

The race for the New Hampshire Senate seat abandoned by Senator Judd Gregg is well under way. Endorsed by Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate is Kelly Ayotte, former attorney general of New Hampshire. Her Democratic opponent is former House member Paul Hodes. 

Week 1: October 14-21 This week brought about the beginning of what is sure to be plenty of mudslinging. The first debate at New England College was held on Monday, October 11. Following the debate, Ayotte led the polls 51% to 44%. Ayotte accused Hodes of missing 100 votes during his time as a representative, while Hodes continually referred to A second debate was held on October 18 at Saint Anselm College. This time, Ayotte highlighted Hodes's connection to the Obama administration and the incredible deficit that has accompanied it. Hodes, meanwhile, attacked Ayotte's motives and said she had more political ambition than serious integrity. The major issue were the candidates' positions on tax cuts. Ayotte would like to continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and small business owners, while Hodes supports the current tax cuts for the middle class. In other news, Hodes blogged about his equality values with the LGBTQ community to further his following and Ayotte appealed to small businesses with her continuing rhetoric about the support and tax cuts they deserve and need. Ayotte remains ahead in the polls, and Hodes strategy of focusing on her possible past ulterior politcal motivation does not appear to be working effectively in his campaign.  [] [] [] ﻿[] [] media type="youtube" key="FBAO47CD_tg" width="243" height="193" (My favorite Ayotte ad)

Week 2: October 22-28 This week opened with Hodes making an appearance at Pease International Tradeport for a Portsmouth Rotary luncheon with John Stephen, Republican candidate for the position of governor. Stephen's opponent could not attend the luncheon, so Hodes replaced him and seized the opportunity to portray Ayotte as interest group-driven candidate who uncaringly supports tax cuts to increase the deficit. When it seemed as though Ayotte could not look worse, Hodes mentioned that she is also endorsed by Sarah Palin. Later in the week, on Thursday Oct. 28, the two faced off in another debate. Sticking to their past campaign strategies, both tried to link the other to problems with their respective parties. Hodes connected Ayotte and her support of the Bush administration tax cuts to the current economic slump, and Ayotte identified Hodes with Nancy Pelosi, bad health care reform, and the continuing economic hard times. Again, Hodes proclaimed his support of the middle class and disgust with the Wall Street madness, and Ayotte rebuttled with his sending money to Washington instead of helping out people close to home. Although both candidates are self-proclaimed "fiscal conservatists", recent campaign ads mock the hyprocrisy of Hodes title in comparison with his past votes in congruence with the Obama administration. [] [] [] [] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">media type="youtube" key="C0vl1wTgkYM?version=3" height="213" width="301"media type="youtube" key="05mFG_vWxLg?version=3" height="214" width="294"media type="youtube" key="sEXpcQ38H3A?fs=1" height="217" width="266"

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Week 3: October 29-November 2 <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">To start out the week, Hodes was publicly supported by Liz Hager, a NARAL-Pro Choice America PAC board member who was also previously a Republican legislator. As a last minute effort to draw in candidates, Hodes also held a tele-conference with President Obama, who sang his praises regarding health care reform and Hodes stance as a representative of the people. Ayotte also continued campaigning until the very end, finishing her statewide tour with an appearance at Market's Square on Monday. Both candidates made a tough run, but it appears that Kelly Ayotte will win the election come November 2nd, given her lead in the polls. I believe it was her stance in support of the small businesses in New Hampshire that really secured votes for her. As a state, demographics point more in Ayotte's favor with the nearly-entire caucasian population above middle-class. Ayotte also played up Hodes's not particularly relevant role as a state representative well. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[] media type="youtube" key="CqfnYKkwsTs?version=3" height="215" width="274" Link to hear tele-conference with Pres. Obama: []

Some other fun stuff... Flicker feeds: media type="flickr" key="49098507@N02" ARG0="&lang=en-us&format=rss_200" width="328" height="303"media type="flickr" key="42060443@N08" ARG0="&lang=en-us&format=rss_200" width="321" height="304"

Other Videos/Past Campaign Ads: media type="youtube" key="ALFoGzMTYrA?version=3" height="239" width="244"media type="youtube" key="j5kgmtAavME?version=3" height="244" width="239"<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">media type="youtube" key="1FEowHNkHQE?version=3" height="241" width="243" <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">media type="youtube" key="9REYV8inYbc" width="245" height="250"media type="youtube" key="zp-lFVjvTbs" width="243" height="248"media type="youtube" key="3Zy7AlvSwyw?version=3" height="248" width="239" <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 0px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; overflow: hidden;"> <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; line-height: 0px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; overflow: hidden;">media type="youtube" key="5EdnFJpCq18" width="249" height="248"media type="youtube" key="CL_B6aIfpco?fs=1" height="250" width="242"