Running commentary

One of the things about NH is that — if you choose to pay attention — campaigning just seems to never end.

And we’re not talking prez politics here. With two-year terms for all state and most local offices, the hinting, positioning, image-making and behind-the-scenes fundraising just doesn’t end.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that the volume button has already been turned up on who’s running for guv — if, of course, Guv Chris ever deigns to relinquish the seat.

On the GOP side, there’s one all-but-announced candidate — the man who’s been running for the job since 2016, ever since he was narrowly beaten by Guv Chris in a contentious NHGOP primary. That would be, of course, Ed Commish Frank Edelblut, the man with the action-packed Education Freedom Account.

Warmington: Guv candidate?

Sure, there are other names popping up on the NHGOP side, although at this point a lot of it is wishful thinking by folks who keep their fingers crossed that someone like ex-Sen. Kelly Ayotte returns to the fray. But at this point, it is wishful thinking.

As for the Dems, there’s a lot of wishful thinking too, mostly in the guise of Chris Pappas, the 1st Dist. congressman who won pretty impressively in Nov. over the mini-Trumpist Karoline Leavitt. Maybe he’ll go for it … ya never know. But it’s likely he’d like a clear, or a clear-as-possible, primary field if he were to jump in.

And then there are the names in the ether right now — names like newly crowned House minority leader Matt Wilhelm of Manch., state Sen. Becky Whitely of Hopkinton and Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern.

But the one who really does seem to be already in the race — not literally, certainly, but figuratively — is Exec Councilor Cinde Warmington of Concord, whose “Team Warmington” campaign apparatus apparently remains working on a few cylinders. At least enough of them to send out regular press releases making sure that very same press that gets them remembers not only how to spell her name but that she’s, well, the highest-ranking elected state Dem (despite the efforts of Ray Buckley, et al.) and hard at work voting on state contracts and appointments. And sending out regular press releases about, well, things like reminding folks she was there on Org. Day of the Legislature and that she was all set to vote for Lori Weaver to be the next acting (yes, acting) commish of HHS.

Suffice to say, this ain’t SOP for an exec councilor. But it is SOP for someone positioning herself for higher office.

The first degree

Sure, the political class has been going through all sorts of hand-wringing and doing all kinds of finger-pointing in the wake of the DNC’s all-butdecided move to demote NH’s “first in the nation” prez primary. Judging by the reaction, you’d think the Old Man of the Mountain had fallen again.

But the reality is that for most everyone in NH — even the voters who dutifully take part every four years — the prez primary is strictly a sideshow, an amuse bouche on the menu of things that are far more important. Like finding a decent place to live or keeping up with energy prices that seem to be on a Space X flight that won’t return to Earth.

The unfortunate thing is that so many of the hand-wringing politicos could do something about these concerns. Sure, they’ve tried lo these many years. But then, for a good three out of the four years between primaries, they’re fixated by the shiny objects called prez candidates. And they don’t put the same focus on the things that the voters really and truly care about. Like taxes, schools and roads that haven’t been paved in a decade.

The Old Man: Will the primary return to Earth?

But it’s not just the politicos. Just as handwringy and just as fixated by the bright shiny prez candidates is the NH media, which even with shrinking resources (read staffs) insists on paying more attention to the never-ending prez campaign than what’s going on at the city council or school board meeting.

Which is why we hear every detail of how the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee operates and not so much about what state and local officials are doing in the jobs they’re elected to do.

A problematic pol?

We’ve been here before:

The NHDems quickly pounced on the idea that Stacie Laughton — the Dem state rep from Nashua who wasn’t around for the swearing-in on 12/7 because she was otherwise detained (in jail on a stalking charge) — doesn’t belong in the NH House and called for her to resign. Kind of like what happened in 2012, after she was elected to the House from Nashua. That was when a brouhaha erupted over her previous conviction, and prison-sentence-reduced-to-jail on felony charges of conspiracy to commit credit card fraud and falsifying evidence. The NHDems urged her to resign then, which she did.

Laughton: Deja vu

So, considering SL’s problematic past, it might be easy to blame the NHDems for not keeping track of who’s running for office on their ticket. But what the heck is going on with the voters in that district?

MAKING THE ROUNDS

On yet another trip to NH — this time to peddle his book — ex-veep Mike Pence insisted to WMUR that he hasn’t made his mind up whether to run for prez. Which is an interesting statement from a man whose tome is titled “So Help Me God.” He’s been in the state at least four times since 12/21.

If you needed any further proof that the guv is the mainstream media’s favorite GOP son, look no further than Dana Bash’s fawning interview with him on CNN.

Just in case you weren’t paying attention: With Steve Stepanek, a diehard Trumpist, choosing not to have another go as NHGOP chair, the front-runner is now Chris Ager, another diehard Trumpist — the one who torpedoed Steve Duprey’s bid for another term on the Republican National Committee. So it looks like the more things change, the more they stay the same.

It’s probably likely that the guv and Admin. Services Commish Charlie Arlinghaus didn’t foresee the kerfuffle that arose over the Laconia State School property redevelopment process. But they should have.