Wally Edge's blog

It really doesn’t matter much what John Sununu or Jeanne Shaheen put up for numbers as long as neither is embarrassingly low. Both candidates will have plenty of money to run an effective campaign. As long as Shaheen has been able to turn her momentum into cash, this race won’t be very interesting as far as fundraising goes.

1st Congressional District

Many of you may remember long time Republican operative Rob Varsalone who worked on campaigns for close to a decade in New Hampshire. If you don't remember what he looked like, here he is.

The US House today approved the controversial FISA bill by a vote of 293-129.  New Hampshire’s two congressional members, Paul Hodes (NH-01) and Carol Shea-Porter (NH-02) were both among the 129 to vote against the measure.

Fergus Cullen and the Republican party have been a loser in many recent weeks.  Find out who joins Cullen as a winner in this week’s Winners and Losers.

The latest ARG poll released yesterday shows Republicans John McCain and John Sununu have a long way to go if they hope to carry the state. Barack Obama leads McCain 51%-39% and Sununu trailing Jeanne Shaheen 54%-40%. News is even worse for Joe Kenney who trails Governor John Lynch 65%-21%.

While it is still early, these numbers do not bode well for the Republican ticket in November.

John McCain’s campaign announced this weekend they secured the endorsements of prominent Democrats and Independents.  Among those prominent endorsements was former Concord Mayor Bill Veroneau.  Could Veroneau’s endorsement carry enough weight to sway enough votes to deliver New Hampshire for McCain?  Guess it depends how big his family is.

In this week’s National Journal Political Insiders Poll, experts were asked to speculate what states the presidential candidates have the best chance of picking up.  New Hampshire was selected as the top pickup opportunity for John McCain with 76% saying McCain would win the Granite State.

If you are a leader in the Democratic Party in NH today you could be considered a winner, but for the same reason they are winners primary voters are considered losers this week. Read more in this week’s Winners and Losers.

Jeanne Shaheen has launched a new television ad filmed in front of a gas pump with the $4.09 price prominently displayed behind her. We were unable to confirm if they filmed a version with $4.39 behind Shaheen so they could re-launch and be current in another week.

John McCain will be the first presidential candidate to air television ads on WMUR for the general election. McCain is airing "Safe" on some cable stations and will soon start running the ad on WMUR to.