Republican Blood Letting

There's some interesting back battles going on in the Republican primary for the NH District 1 congressional seat. Jeb Bradley, who formerly held the seat before getting upset by Carol Shea-Porter in '06, has been running some pretty nasty television ads. His opponent, John Stephens, is crying foul, and several prominent Republicans have spoken out for Stephens, calling on Bradley to remove the ads. Thus far the Bradley campaign has continued the negative campaigning.

I don't know enough about Stephens to have a strong opinion of the truthfullness of the ads. But this story has legs and gives me hope on two levels. First, the proximity of the primary to the general election does not offer much time to heal deep wounds, and from what I can gather, Bradley is hitting hard and low. The Republican laurel may prove to be too thorny a crown for Bradley should he win. On the other hand, Bradley voters may also be disaffected should Stephens win. New Hampshire voters aren't crazy about negative advertising - we want policy details. A good part of the state still uses the town meeting form of government and people are knowledgeable about issues. Bradley, I think, has opened Pandora's box and isn't quite sure how to close it.

On another level, it seems to me that the presidential campaign of John McCain is based primarily on tearing down Obama. Unless I'm totally misreading the situation, I can't see McCain's tactics working in NH. He seems to be hoping for his maverick image to propel him through here.

Kerry won NH in '04 against a sitting war-time president. I simply can't see NH reversing course and rewarding the Republicans with four more years.