Is New Hampshire Union Leader Publisher's Ripping Comment Indicative of NH Feelings?

[DrFunkenstein]

I was just strolling around the news and came across this link, which I clicked out of mild curiousity about the headline, "It's time, Bill, to set that date."

It's a reference to NH Secretary of State Bill Gardner, who said he would wait for Michigan to set their date before declaring a set date for the New Hampshire primaries in order to preserve the whole "first in the nation" thing.

The Union Leader's publisher argues to just set it without worrying about Michigan, since it will become a "non-event" when none of the major candidates campaign there.

It all seemed pretty mild stuff until I came across this passage "Most Democratic candidates, with the exception of the deceptive and devious Hillary Clinton, have pledged not to campaign there."

He goes on to argue that lots of people need to finalize their holiday plans and should be given a definite date.

But I was really struck by how forceful the phrase "deceptive and devious" came from the newspaper's publisher.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Joseph+W.+McQuaid%3a+It%27s+time%2c+Bill%2c+to+set+that+date&articleId=04fa8679-2ad8-4b50-ab53-500f230778af


I realize that right now nothing is final and polls in New Hampshire may or not reflect any resentment about the decision to campaign in Michigan. But the level of vitriol from the publisher makes me wonder if the story will gain traction as Clinton makes early appearances in the Rust Belt.

Just how important is defending their "first in the nation" status to New Hampshire voters?

[eleny]

1. I heard she was strong in NH

Is that not true?

[itsrobert]

3. Strong, like a house made of cards. n/t

n/t

[eleny]

5. Well, then let me say this....

Whoot!

[ruggerson]

2. The Union Leader

used to be run by William Loeb. I believe it is still arch conservative and Republican. So why would you think that Democrats would pay any attention to what a Republican newspaper says?

[saltpoint]

4. ruggerson has it exactly right. The UNION LEADER is notorious for its

conservative positions. It's a conservative rag from way, way back.

The Boston media are as much paid attention to -- or more -- than the Manchester paper.

Not many Democratics and Independence voting in the New Hampshire primary will pay one whit of attention to anything the UNION LEADER has to say, except to ignore it in favor of their own more progressive instincts.

[stillcool]

6. this might help....

....JOSEPH W. MCQUAID

Democrats out to destroy NH primary

By JOSEPH W. MCQUAID
New Hampshire Union Leader Publisher
Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006

NEW HAMPSHIRE means so little to the Democratic Party that it added crude insult to great injury to the Granite State over the weekend.

It not only confirmed its plan to ignore more than 50 years of tradition and grassroots people politics here. It ordered its 2008 Presidential candidates not to campaign here if we continue to protect our first-in-the-nation primary.

Secretary of State William Gardner had the right response to all this:

"It's insulting and disrespectful to the people of New Hampshire for Chairman Dean to threaten potential Presidential candidates if they dare to set foot on the soil in this state.''
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Democrats+out+to+destroy+NH+primary&articleId=8ba05ce9-cd6c-40a2-8c7b-134693e3e927

By JOSEPH W. MCQUAID
New Hampshire Union Leader Publisher
Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007

Some national politicians and press are in an uproar because New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner refuses to rule out December for our first-in-the-nation Presidential Primary.

A December primary is a lousy idea and Gardner knows it. He will avoid it if at all possible. It is possible, if the Republican presidential contenders join with their Democratic rivals (Hillary Clinton notwithstanding) and refuse to let Michigan or other states destroy our primary process.

With the exception of the double-talking Sen. Clinton, the top Democrats have promised not to participate in Michigan, which is again threatening to move up its date. If it does, the Republicans need to make the same promise. Bill Gardner can then ignore Michigan as a non-event and set our date in January, seven days before the next primary. That gives time for New Hampshire's results to be meaningful elsewhere.

Mitt Romney said yesterday, "The candidates don't have a lot of say about where the calendar settles. We pretty much take what we're given."

Not so. Candidates can influence the calendar, and they should use their clout to help preserve the tradition of retail politics that only New Hampshire's primary provides. Romney has said he wouldn't "walk away from Michigan." But if that primary is earlier than Jan. 15, he needs to reconsider. If not, others can make a good case that they, not Romney, are from the "New Hampshire wing'' of the Republican Party. http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Joseph+W.+McQuaid%3a+Romney%2c+others+need+to+back+NH&articleId=08efc0e1-b8d9-4dec-a750-26f331d44a34

Joseph W. McQuaid

President and Publisher, Union Leader Corp.

Joe McQuaid is a fourth generation newspaper man who climbed the ranks from 15 years old to now publishing a world class newspaper.Joseph W. McQuaid is the third of a four-generation New Hampshire newspapering family. His grandfather worked for the Manchester Union at the beginning of the 20th Century before a career with William Randolph Hearst papers in Boston and New York.

His father was a decorated World War II correspondent for the Chicago Daily News Foreign Service, co-founded the New Hampshire Sunday News after the war, and later became editor-in-chief of The Union Leader.

Joe McQuaid began his career at age 15 as a newsroom office boy. He reported sports during high school and later became a news reporter and photographer. He was named editor of the Sunday News in 1971. He has covered local, state, and national politics and has reported from Europe and the Mideast. He has twice won New England Associated Press writing awards and was honored in October 2002 with the New England Society of Newspaper Editors' "Yankee Quill'' award for significant contribution to the advancement of journalism in New England.

He has served The Union Leader as managing editor, editor-in-chief, and general manager. In June of 1999, he succeeded Nackey S. Loeb as president and publisher of New Hampshire's largest newspaper. In addition to the daily and Sunday statewide papers and their news web site, the corporation owns the NewHampshire.com web site and the weekly Salem Observer.
Mr. McQuaid is president of the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, Inc. and is a trustee of the William Loeb Memorial Fund. He was a founding member of the For Manchester civic group and served two terms as a director of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. He is a director of the Independent Newspaper Group. He attended local schools and the University of New Hampshire, but did not earn a degree. He was awarded an honorary doctor of law degree from Notre Dame College, Manchester, N.H., in 2000