July 24 | Primarily NH

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primarily nh

The NH Primary season is in full swing and as such, local campaign events are plentiful. Candidates send out lots of news updates including planned appearances, endorsements and fundraising news. In an effort to keep voters up to speed we’ll be generating a weekly round-up of the news that we receive. Look for Primarily NH every Wednesday.

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Candidates on vacation

The state has been crawling with candidates on the campaign trail, to the delight of political tourists. Whether they are all deep in debate prep, or vacationing somewhere, it’s hard to say, but we’ve seen a dip in campaign stops over the last week or so. Only two candidates have announced NH stops over the next few weeks, but they are known to show up on short notice. Here’s a link to our standing feature on where you can find the candidates, updated weekly, or as events are added to the calendar.


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You’ll definitely need a Democrat Donkey hat ($11.99 at Party City).

Ain’t no party like a NH Democratic Convention party

Tickets are on sale for the 2019 NH Democratic Party State Convention to be held at SNHU Arena on Sept. 7. The state party organizers expect all of the Democratic candidates to attend, as well as other national leaders. 

And this year, there will be “zone seating,” which means you can sit near your friends or colleagues. Lower lever ($35) seats are already sold out, but there are still “cheap seats” ($20) available. Click here for more info.


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As of Tuesday night Tulsi Gabbard still needed 25,000 more donors to qualify for the third round of debates. Twitter

It’s Debatable

The next Democratic debates are coming up next week. With 20 candidates on tap, it seems like we should be taking notes from “The Voice,” and be in the “knock-outs” by now. Former Vice President Joe Biden is stacking the deck – he ran a promotion which ended yesterday, awarding a trip for two (all-expenses paid) to the debates in Detroit in exchange for a donation of any amount (winner TBA July 26).

If we were teaming up candidates to go head-to-head to thin the field, we’d say:

Biden vs. Harris: A rematch, after Harris went at Biden during the last debate over his past record on busing.

Harris vs. Gabbard: After Tulsi Gabbard criticized Harris’ leadership readiness on Tuesday, and Harris’ people shot back with some old dirt from 2017, anything could happen. (See item below for more on this one).

Buttigieg vs. Beto: Definitely these two have been the “it” candidates from the beginning, capturing headlines for their early buzz.

Warren vs. Sanders: The most progressive candidates to the left of center, Warren is considered a bit of a Sanders’ disciple, and the two have conducted themselves with decorum thus far when it comes to personal attacks.

So who’s on first, so to speak, in the televised debates? Round 1 – July 30: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Steve Bullock, John Delaney, John Hickenlooper, Tim Ryan and Marianne Williamson.

Round 2 – July 31: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Julian Catro, Andrew Yang, Michael Bennet, Bill de Blasio, Tulsi Gabbard, Kirsten Gillibrand and Jay Inslee. The debates will air on CNN, CNN International and CNN in Español. A third round of double-debates is set for Sept. 12 and 13. Participating candidates will have to at least have 2 percent support in three qualifying polls and provide evidence of a minimum of 130,000 individual donations from 400 donors in at least 20 states. The debate schedule continues monthly through April 2020 as the field narrows.

Women for Trump

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NH Rep. Lynne Blankenbeker

President Trump’s 2020 campaign, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., last announced the launch of “Women for Trump” a coalition to court female voters in supporting the second term reelection of Trump. His daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, launched the initiative at a casino in Pennsylvania, and NH State Rep. Lynne Blankenbeker, of Concord, is one of 36 prominent Republican women on the advisory committee. Blankenbeker is a former congressional candidate, and is a U.S. Airforce veteran, and nurse.


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Cory in the House

Over the weekend Cory Booker made some headlines when he bypassed local hotel options and instead had a sleepover at the home of NH State Sen. Jon Morgan and his family in Brentwood. Thrifty, yes, but also a great way to get up close and personal with potential voters.


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Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld paid a visit to the Manchester Kiwanis Club Monday. Photo/Pat Grossmith

The Lone Contender

GOP candidate Bill Weld made a stop in Manchester this week, addressing a group of Rotarians to talk about why he’s the lone challenger on the GOP ticket. He called President Trump “unhinged,” and said, “My wife says we are two large orange men with nothing in common.” You can read the full story here.


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Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a Democratic Presidential Candidate, spoke at the Currier Museum of Art on April 5. Photo/Allegra Boverman.

Man with a Plan

Pete Buttigieg last week released “The Douglass Plan, A Comprehensive Investment in the Empowerment of Black America.” Named after American hero Frederick Douglass, and comparable in scale to the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II, Buttigieg says The Douglass Plan is “a comprehensive and intentional effort to dismantle racist structures and systems, combined with an investment of unprecedented scale in the freedom and self-determination of Black Americans.”

You can learn more here. 


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Sen. Kamala Harris

Tulsi Gabbard disses Kamala Harris

On July 23 Tulsi Gabbard offered some straight talk on opponent Kamala Harris: “Kamala Harris is not qualified to serve as commander in chief and I can say this from a personal perspective as a soldier. She has no background or experience in foreign policy and she lacks the temperament that is necessary for commander in chief,” Gabbard said during an interview on FOX sports radio. Harris’ campaign had a quick comeback: “Definite hard pass on taking national security advice from Assad’s cheerleader,” said Lily Adams, campaign communications director, referring a 2017 meeting between Gabbard  and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in what she described as an effort to better understand the plight of Syrian refugees.

They went there. We’ll see if this storyline blows up during the debates.


If you are a NH candidate wrangler, send us the scoop, or weekly highlights as they pertain to NH. Email carolrobidoux@manchesterinklink.com, subject line “Primarily NH”

About this Author

Carol Robidoux

PublisherManchester Ink Link

Longtime NH journalist and publisher of ManchesterInkLink.com. Loves R&B, German beer, and the Queen City!