Tagged: Elections 2012

Politics have divided our country to the extent that the two sides not only disagree on the solutions to the country’s problems, they represent two different realities. This week we hear from people who are intimately familiar with this rift. They’ve lost friends. They’ve become estranged from family. They've watched civility cede to skirmishes. Our political civil war and its consequences: a special pre-election episode.

Prologue

Friday night, St. Anselm College hosted the final debate between the candidates for the 2nd District congressional seat.  While abortion has been a signature social issue of the race, this time around, the candidates sparred on gay marriage.

This week we’ve been talking about jobs and the economy with candidates in New Hampshire’s 2nd  Congressional District. We wrap up the series with the Republican nominee, incumbent congressman Charlie Bass. He talks with All Things Considered host Brady Carlson.

A joke about being New Hampshire Speaker of the House is that you get a parking spot, $125 annual salary, and the chance to bang a gavel.

But when Bill O’Brien took the position in 2010, he took an important but largely under the radar position into the spotlight.

"It’s been all about O’Brien," says Dante Scala, a political scientist at UNH. "For better or worse, O’Brien became the center of gravity in the New Hampshire legislature, and the face of the New Hampshire legislature, in a way that past Speakers rarely are."

The US Attorney and state Attorney General will run special election complaint hotlines on Tuesday.  Assistant AG Richard Head says 30 lawyers and investigators will also be stationed at polling places across the state.  Typically, he says, the office fields around a hundred complaints on Election Day.

“There is no typical voter complaint," Head says with a chuckle.  "They can range anywhere from machines not working properly to signs--a wide range of issues.”

Five days before the Nov. 6 election, Republican nominee Mitt Romney and independent groups that support the presidential candidate are poised to outspend President Barack Obama on television ads targeting New Hampshire voters.

A review of television contracts filed this week with Federal Communications Commission show that the pro-Romney team reserved about $947,000 in air time from Oct. 29 through Election Day on WMUR, WBZ and WHDH.

Meanwhile, the Obama for America campaign reserved about $653,000 in air time on the three stations during the final week of the campaign.

While voters say economic issues are their top concern, abortion is also a high priority this year.  In a recent Gallup Poll, nearly two-thirds of voters said it’s an important factor in their decision. 

But when you have a pro-choice Republican running against a pro-choice Democrat, abortion doesn’t seem like an obvious lightning-rod issue. 

Protecting New Hampshire from a broad-based sales or income tax has been a major issue in New Hampshire elections for decades – at least according to political scientist Dean Spiliotes.

"It goes back to the 1970s when Governor Meldrim Thomson pledged to veto any sales or income tax."

And this year’s races for Governor, and even Congress have been no different. 

But for all the talk around the income tax this season, the proposed constitutional amendment banning a personal income tax hasn’t gotten much attention.

Why?

We’re talking this week with candidates in New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district about their ideas on jobs and the economy. Today we hear from the Democratic candidate, Annie Kuster. She talks with All Things Considered host Brady Carlson.