Flotsam & Jetsam
The doctor is in
Some of you may remember Lanny Davis, Spin Doctor No. 1 for the Clinton administration during the time of the Lewinsky troubles. During those heady years, the good doctor’s talking head could be seen just about anywhere, from C-SPAN to tabloid TV shows defending Bill Clinton from the rising hordes calling for his impeachment, or worse.
Well, Dr. Davis – actually, he’s an attorney – hasn’t been seen on your TV screen much lately, most likely because he’s had better-paying work, including acting as a lobbyist for the government of Pakistan. (Not that his volunteer work didn’t continue – he was one of the more notable non-stop cheerleaders for Sen. Joe Lieberman’s “independent” re-election campaign in Connecticut last year.)
But, ever the dutiful supporter, Davis was spotted a week or so back in New Hampshire, making an inroads for Team Clinton and its latest reincarnation, Hillary’s presidential campaign. The talking points, we assume, are quite different this time around.
Just asking – Part 1
Bruce Keough is no dummy, so it means something when he sends up a trial balloon, as he did earlier this month in John DiStaso’s “Granite Status” column, for a potential run for governor in ’08.
“I’m getting a lot of encouragement to run for governor,” quoth the former state senator, adding: “And I’m going to take a serious look at it.”
Will wonders never cease?
The sound of campaign music
One simple fact will tell you where a third Clinton administration would be headed when, and if, Mrs. C. wins the presidency.
In 1992, husband Bill’s campaign theme song was Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow).”
In 2007, Hillary’s is Celine Dion’s “You and I.”
Just asking – Part II
What are the odds that Governor Lynch didn’t REALLY have to have that sit-down with backers and opponents of the lawsuit liability bill before deciding to veto it?
Civil defense
Governor Lynch took pen to paper (figuratively, if not literally) earlier this month to crow on some of newspapers’ op-ed pages about the “real progress and real results” of the just-concluded legislative session.
The column reads like a laundry list of measures passed in what he called “one of the most positive and productive” legislative sessions “in New Hampshire history.” (Remember, it’s all relative.)
Included in his assessment of bills that “laid the foundation for a better New Hampshire” are the usual suspects: raising the dropout age; the minimum wage hike; an R&D tax credit; the renewable energy bill; reinstatement of the job training fund; expansion of the children’s health insurance program; and even, in the category of making lemons out of lemonade, passage of a definition of an adequate education.
But in this catalogue of building blocks in New Hampshire’s better foundation there was one particularly high-profile piece of legislation that was particularly conspicuous by its absence: the civil unions bill.
It must have been an oversight. Only a cynic would think otherwise.
F&J TOTEBOARD
| The Clintons: | In their first joint appearances in New Hampshire, the question remains: Did the crowds come to listen to Hillary or just see Bill? |
| Jim Gilmore: |
The former Virginia governor exits the GOP presidential race as quietly as he entered it. |
| Ron Paul: |
The GOP/libertarian presidential hopeful has a pretty sizable wad of cash and an almost-as-sizable store of good feelings in New Hampshire. |
| D.J. Bettencourt: | The state rep who pulled the presidential endorsement switcheroo in going from John McCain to Mitt Romney insists he wasn’t looking for a job with Romney and that it really, truly was because of differences over McCain’s immigration stance. |
| James Bianco: |
The Concord lobbyist whose firm earned $123,740 from clients in the first quarter of the year, sums up the lobbyist’s recipe for success: “We like chaos, and there was plenty of it to go around.” |
It’s been making the rounds…
• In all the Fred Thompson hoo-ha, whatever happened to Newt Gingrich’s candidacy?
• Every presidential campaign season allows bystanders to witness a neuroscientific marvel: the gravitational repulsion of unlimited ego.
• Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Sam Brownback, Tommy Thompson and the rest could all give Norman Vincent Peale a run for his money.
• Add another belief that changed after 9/11: “Fiscal conservative” now means that you can spend more money than you have, at least when it comes to running for president.
• Early results from meeting Fred Thompson: The closer you get, the less there is.
• The late Nackey Loeb was prescient all those years ago when she called for election ballots to feature the choice, “None of the Above.”
• The masochist’s idea of a dream ’08 presidential race: Gingrich vs. Biden.
