Mr. McCain, the Arizona senator, has made New Hampshire his make-or-break comeback state after his front-running campaign all but collapsed last summer. Yesterday he continued to gain in state polls and endorsements on Mr. Romney. But with no money and little organization elsewhere, even supporters concede tomorrow’s vote is do or die.

“We gotta win in New Hampshire, we need to win in New Hampshire, I think we’re gonna win in New Hampshire,” said South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, campaigning up north for his Senate friend.

For Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, to lose the state next door would be humiliating—all the more so after last week’s upset loss to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Iowa’s kickoff caucuses.

Mr. Romney had based his strategy on winning the first two states. Even before the Iowa defeat, he had lost his New Hampshire polling lead to a revived Mr. McCain. Now, with little time to brake Mr. McCain’s momentum, he has been thrown on the defensive by all of his rivals, who sense blood.

Whatever happens in New Hampshire, the final McCain-Romney showdown could come next week in Michigan—the state where Mr. Romney’s father was governor, and which Mr. McCain won in his 2000 nomination fight against George W. Bush.

“Whoever loses” in New Hampshire “is mortally wounded and will probably be finished off in Michigan,” predicts John Weaver, the chief strategist to Mr. McCain until the campaign ran aground last summer.

The Democrats’ primary tomorrow also will be critical. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is trying to recover from her Iowa loss and winner Barack Obama, the Illinois senator, has erased her longtime polling lead here.

Yet uncommitted Democrats insist that Mrs. Clinton, with a machine co-piloted by former President Clinton and deep support nationally, could lose here on top of Iowa, lose the Democrats’ Jan. 26 primary in South Carolina, and still win the nomination. She would do so on the strength of victories Feb. 5, “Super Tuesday,” when more than 20 states hold contests. Mr. Clinton is reminding one and all that he lost five states in 1992 before winning one, yet went on to be president.

Complicating calculations, Democrat Obama and Republican McCain are competing across party lines for independents, who comprise the biggest voting bloc and can cast ballots in either primary. But unlike 2000, when Mr. McCain’s maverick candidacy won their votes to pad his 19-point win over Mr. Bush, this year many independents are antiwar. Mr. McCain is perhaps the highest-profile supporter of the effort in Iraq. Polls show many leaning to Mr. Obama.

Romney backers hope Mr. Obama takes those votes. “Then the Republican primary will be very Republican, and that’s good” for Mr. Romney, says Tom Rath, a prominent New Hampshire Republican who is a senior strategist for the campaign.

A second defeat for Mr. Romney “would be tough, but a strong second would mean that he could go on,” adviser Ben Ginsberg said. He predicted a Romney win in Michigan and then “surprises” in South Carolina’s Jan. 19 Republican primary, the first where he’ll benefit from low expectations. Mr. Romney has struggled for support in South Carolina because he is suspect among many of the Christian conservatives so influential there, because of his support in Massachusetts for abortion rights, gay rights and gun control—positions he has reversed—and because of his Mormon faith.

Unlike Mr. McCain, whose campaign operates on credit and volunteer strategists, the wealthy Mr. Romney can continue to supplement his well-greased organization from his bankroll as contributions slack off. But without victories, he will find it hard to justify going on.

Also, the Republican establishment, long favorably inclined to Mr. Romney, now frets that the candidates’ battle to date—by highlighting his many policy flip-flops—has damaged him as a potential nominee against the Democrats. If Mr. McCain were to make a comeback, Republicans say, he would regain his standing as the Republican most likely to beat a Democrat. That “electability” argument would power his candidacy in a field that many Republican voters view as flawed.

Mark McKinnon, Mr. McCain’s media adviser, acknowledged the stakes are high for both men tomorrow. But, he argued, “If Romney doesn’t win I think he’s out. If McCain doesn’t win and it’s close, I think he’s still in.”

In Michigan, the state where Mr. Romney announced his candidacy last winter as a sign of its importance in the nominating sweepstakes, he has the best organization. Yet polls show him scrambling against Mr. Huckabee, who routed him last week in Iowa.

The New Hampshire results could go a long way toward influencing Michigan Republican voters, with just a week separating their primaries.

Tomorrow’s results will help determine if Rudy Giuliani miscalculated in campaigning little in the early-voting states. In effectively ceding New Hampshire to Mr. Romney, he left a void that Mr. McCain has now filled. A McCain victory, in particular, could threaten Mr. Giuliani’s bid to be seen as the moderate choice in the race, and thus the most electable.

HOOKSETT, NH — Would a Rudy Giuliani administration be populated with a cabinet of Republican rivals and a powerful, all-knowing vice president like Dick Cheney?

more stories like thisPossibly, according to musings Giuliani shared in answers to questions from New Hampshire voters Wednesday evening in Hooksett.

Asked to differentiate himself from Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war and veteran of the U.S. senate, and ahead of him in the polls, Giuliani won chuckles from the audience with his quip: "Primarily, we're two different people."

Giuliani then praised McCain as "a hero and a very good man" before going on to tout his own executive experience as the former mayor of New York. "More often than not the American people seem to prefer people with executive experience for the presidency," he said.

Later, Giuliani pivoted from a question about potential picks for secretary of state to this: "Let me answer with the question of what you would look for in a vice president first -- again without any presumption that I'm going to be the nominee."

In an answer that mentioned Cheney more than once, Giuliani said, "A vice president has to be a partner in the administration. The vice president has to know everything that's going on, just in case the vice president has to step in at a moment's notice," he said. He added that during a conversation with Cheney on Sept. 11, 2001, he felt the vice president "had a sense that he knew what he was doing."

Following his train of thought to cabinet picks, Giuliani left the door open in his administration for rivals like McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and others currently battling him for the Republican nomination.

"You could do what Abe Lincoln did," Giulani said as he referred to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's book on Lincoln, "Team of Rivals."

"Abraham Lincoln basically selected all of his opponents to be in his cabinet -- all his Republican opponents," Giuliani said. "Each one of them began with the idea that they were better qualified to be president than he was, and they all left realizing that they weren't, and that gives you a sense of a man of great confidence."

MANCHESTER, NH — So long, ethanol. Hello, taxes.

More than geography changes when the 2008 presidential campaign leaves the land of flat -- aka Iowa -- for New Hampshire, the Granite State.

The electorate is different, and the blend of issues.

Which may be why former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's made-for-Iowa television ad tagline, "Christian leader," has yet to make the trip east across the Mississippi River. In New England, he's a conservative leader.

And why Ron Paul, as close to a libertarian as there is in the Republican race, may yet prove a spoiler in a state whose motto is "Live Free or Die."

Or why Sen. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat, could yet have cause to wonder why he told Iowans that they could decide who wins the party's nomination and the White House in 2008.

"The people of New Hampshire pay attention to Iowa, but it's not the determining factor," Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona observed recently.

That's a diplomatic way of saying New Hampshire primary voters see little merit in rubber-stamping decisions made in Iowa.

Truth be told, they specialize in humbling the mighty.

Think 2000, when George W. Bush roared out of Iowa, only to lose New Hampshire by a whopping 19 percentage points to McCain.

Only twice since 1976 has the same Democrat won both Iowa and New Hampshire in a contested nominating campaign. And for all the boasting that Granite-Staters do about picking presidents, both Al Gore and John Kerry went on to lose the general election.

This year will test whether Massachusetts Republicans fare as well as Massachusetts Democrats in the primary in the state next door. If so, Mitt Romney will be very pleased, as were Kerry (2004), Paul Tsongas (1992) and Michael Dukakis (1988) before him.

As a group, voters in Iowa and New Hampshire are overwhelmingly white and better educated than the national average.

Still, the differences between them are significant enough to dictate adjustments by the campaigns, even if this year's compressed timetable provides only a five-day interval for changes.

In a recent poll by The Associated Press and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Democrats in both states picked the Iraq war as the top issue in the race.

But in New Hampshire, they care somewhat less about health care as an issue than Iowans, and more about the economy. Not surprisingly, they were also less apt to say that jobs are plentiful locally.

New Hampshire Democrats are more likely to be in union households and far less likely to attend church regularly than their brethren half a continent away.

"Iowa Democrats are more liberal," says Stephanie Cutter, who worked for Kerry in both states in 2004. "In New Hampshire, they're not more moderate, they're more libertarian, it seems."

Overall, New Hampshire is more independent-heavy than Iowa. At about 40 percent of the electorate or so, they outnumber registered Republicans and Democrats. They are free to vote in either party's race, a fact that complicates any pre-primary predictions.

New Hampshire Republicans are more moderate politically than those in Iowa, likelier to support gay marriage, abortion rights and stricter environmental laws.

Among Iowa Republicans, white evangelical Protestants account for an estimated 38 percent of the population of caucus-goers. In New Hampshire, it drops to about 18 percent, according to the Pew survey. In theory, that will make it more difficult for Huckabee to match the strong showing that pre-caucus polls suggest he will have in Iowa.

Then, too, expect less praise for President Bush from Republicans vying to succeed him. Thirty-five percent of New Hampshire GOP voters disapprove of the job he is doing, nearly double the dissatisfaction rate among Iowa Republicans.

For all of New Hampshire's charms, a corn crop is not one of them. In fact, 84 percent of the state is forested, while 88 percent of Iowa is farmland.

That makes federal support for ethanol a nonentity as a political issue in New Hampshire. It's unlikely anyone is happier about that than McCain, who opposes federal subsidies.

Instead, if there is a single issue that has traditionally dominated the state's politics, it is taxes. New Hampshire is one of only two states (Alaska is the other) with neither an income nor a sales tax, and even Democrats running for statewide office suggest one at their peril.

"There's certainly a different focus, more so on fiscal issues, and a libertarian streak in New Hampshire. But I don't see a huge difference between New Hampshire and Iowa voters," Huckabee said recently.

Even the method for sorting out the candidates is different.

New Hampshire has a straight-forward, daylong secret ballot election on Jan. 8 in which voters go to the polls at a time of their choosing.

Iowa's caucuses on Jan. 3 are essentially neighborhood political meetings, all starting at 8 p.m. EST and each requiring voters to publicly declare their presidential preference.

Which New Hampshire is free to ignore.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Mitt Romney takes GOP presidential rival John McCain to task on taxes and immigration in a new advertising push in New Hampshire as he seeks to fend off the Arizona senator’s challenge. Countering, McCain claimed the criticism proves Romney’s bid is in trouble.
“John McCain, an honorable man. But is he the right Republican for the future?” an announcer asks in the ad airing Friday in New Hampshire, which holds the nation’s first presidential primary Jan. 8. “McCain opposes repeal of the death tax. And voted against the Bush tax cuts — twice. McCain pushed to let every illegal immigrant stay here permanently. Even voted to allow illegals to collect Social Security.”
For his part, McCain has a fresh commercial in New Hampshire that takes the high road. It doesn’t mention Romney. Rather, it highlights the 20 newspapers in the state that have endorsed McCain and quotes their words of praise, including “McCain campaigns with decency.”
Romney’s ad assailing McCain — aides call it a “contrast” ad — comes as the race between the two men tightens in New Hampshire. The ad is in the same vein as spots Romney has been airing in Iowa against Mike Huckabee, casting him as soft on immigration and crime in an effort to retake the lead for the state’s Jan. 3 caucuses.
“I’m familiar with tailspins and I think he’s in one,” McCain responded Friday on Fox News Channel. He also took a swipe at Romney’s equivocations on various issues, saying: “I don’t know how to respond to a lot of his charges because tomorrow he may have a different position.”
The former Massachusetts governor’s willingness to go after his opponents — and risk the ire of voters who could punish him for negative campaigning — underscores the high stakes of the contests in both states as well as the tenuous state of his own bid.
Romney’s strategy hinges on using momentum from back-to-back wins in those states to make him unstoppable in battlegrounds beyond. He once led by large margins in the first two states but now finds himself threatened on both fronts.
Polls show Huckabee’s advantage in Iowa narrowing in the past few weeks as Romney has gone on the attack and as Huckabee has made a few unforced errors. Romney’s aides suspect Huckabee’s support in Iowa may have peaked, and they argue that their campaign’s superior get-out-the-vote operation might be able to close the gap and help Romney prevail next week.
In Pella, Iowa, Huckabee said he doesn’t plan to go negative against Romney but acknowledged the unanswered critical ads may be hurting him. “I’m always concerned, sure,” he told reporters. “I’ll find out next Thursday just how much impact it’s had.”
While Romney has battled Huckabee in Iowa, McCain has gained ground in New Hampshire and benefited from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s slippage in polls here. McCain won the Northeastern state in 2000, and still is beloved by a large contingent of die-hard backers. He is putting almost all of his resources into the state and essentially camping out there as he seeks a repeat win — and a comeback after a near campaign implosion during the summer.
It’s little surprise Romney is taking his criticism of McCain to the airwaves; he used the same approach against Huckabee in Iowa.
As McCain has moved up in polls, Romney has sharpened his rhetoric against him. In recent days, Romney has accused McCain of “failing Reagan 101” by twice voting against major Bush administration tax cuts. He also has suggested the Arizona senator supported amnesty for illegal immigrants, although McCain has said he wants them to register with the government.
After laying the groundwork through the “earned media” of news coverage, Romney now is trying to spread that message through paid media in hopes of undercutting McCain.
The ad shows pictures of McCain and Romney and says: “There is a difference.” It eviscerates McCain on taxes and immigration only to praise Romney’s record on taxes and spending as Massachusetts governor and argue that he “opposes amnesty for illegals.”
Taxes and immigration are trouble spots for McCain.
Some Republicans view him skeptically for breaking with Bush on taxes; he now says he supports extending the tax cuts because doing otherwise would amount to a tax increase. McCain also has been dogged by his support for comprehensive immigration reform that includes an eventual path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants; he now tells voters that he got the message earlier this year when one such bill failed in Congress and that the borders must be secured first.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Joe Biden's aides call it "Mo-Joe" — a last-minute surge of momentum and good luck they hope could power the Delaware senator into a better-than-expected showing in Iowa's leadoff caucuses.

"There's a fingertip instinct that tells me something is going on. I feel like I'm still in the game," Biden said in a telephone interview as he traveled to a campaign event in Cedar Rapids.

Aides acknowledge it remains an uphill trudge for Biden, a Democrat whose distinguished 35-year Senate career has been eclipsed by the star power of rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

But with all eyes on those two candidates and former Sen. John Edwards as they compete for the lead in Iowa, Biden is on a high-energy sprint across the state hoping to catch on with enough voters to make a difference.

He draws enthusiastic crowds to his events and last week began his first sustained TV ad campaign. He was approved for $857,000 in matching funds this week by the Federal Election Commission, helping to ease the financial pressure on his cash-strapped campaign.

Operatives for rival candidates say privately they've detected substantial pockets of support for Biden in some rural areas and in the ethnic, heavily Catholic industrial towns along the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa. Complicated caucus rules mean those pockets could produce enough delegates for Biden to have an impact.

With polls showing Bill Richardson's support appearing to fade and Chris Dodd still struggling to catch on, Biden's advisers are hoping for a strong fourth-place finish and say they can even envision coming in third. Their outside hope is for Biden somehow to overtake Edwards, who draws much of his support from the same blue-collar and rural voters Biden is trying to woo.

While it sounds like a long-shot scenario — Edwards has a strong organization in Iowa that he began building in his 2004 presidential effort — the Biden team suggests Edwards could stall before caucus night as voters consider which candidate is best prepared to deal with national security issues such as Iran and Iraq.

"Authenticity and electability matter," Biden Communications Director Larry Rasky said.

However, Edwards' spokeswoman, Colleen Murray, said the former North Carolina senator has strong momentum in the state and is the most electable Democrat in the general election.

"As Iowans are making up their minds, they know that John Edwards can beat the Republicans," she said.

Should Biden get any sort of bounce out of Iowa, his team believes he would fare well in other early voting states such as Nevada, where he would benefit from long ties to organized labor, and South Carolina, where he has the support of several black legislators and community leaders.

It's been a bumpy road for Biden, who spent much of the early part of his campaign explaining why he had called Obama "clean" and "articulate" in a newspaper interview and has often had to fight for air time in nationally televised debates. Still, the debates have generally served him well, allowing him to show off his sense of humor and expertise on national security issues.

He's also thrown a few memorable zingers, like saying the only words Republican Rudy Giuliani uses in a sentence are "A noun, and a verb and 9/11."

Biden said that no matter what happens Jan. 3, he's glad he undertook the adventure.

"I feel more passionately about issues now than when I entered politics," he said. "I'm going out, saying what I believe, laying out what I think should be done, and the response is good. There are an awful lot of people coming to take a look

'Long shot' Kucinich buries Democratic rivals in nationwide poll among independent voters

For Immediate Release - Friday, December 21, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC - Democratic Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich, who has been the runaway winner in polls of the Party's progressive, grassroots base in recent weeks, scored another huge win yesterday by capturing almost 77% of the vote in a nationwide poll sponsored by a coalition of Independent voting groups across the country.

Of the more than 80,000 votes cast for Democratic candidates at
http://www.independentprimary.com by self-described independent voters, the Ohio Congressman received 61,477, burying second place finisher, former Senator John Edwards, who received only 7,614 votes, or 9.5 percent.

Nationally, more than 40 percent of voters are not aligned with any political party, and, in 29 states, including New Hampshire, "Independents" have the option to select either the Republican or the Democratic ballot in a Presidential primary. In Iowa, only Democrats can vote in the Jan. 3 Democratic caucuses, and the total turnout there is expected to be less than 10% of the eligible voters statewide (Washington Post).

This is the latest in a string of exceptionally strong finishes by Kucinich in national on-line polls. Last month, he topped all other candidates in 47 of 50 states in a poll sponsored by Democracy for America (DFA), in which he received almost 32% of the 150,000-plus votes cast -- more than Edwards and Senator Barack Obama combined. In that poll, Kucinich won both Iowa and New Hampshire. In a survey by the 90,000-member Progressive Democrats of America, Kucinich took 41% of the vote nationwide. And, in a poll conducted by the progressive The Nation magazine, he won with 35% of the vote. Obama came in second with 24%, and Edwards was third with 13%.

The creators of IndependentPrimary.com said their poll was designed to measure the impact of independent-minded voters on the Presidential election and was "part of a movement bringing together ordinary Americans who think that the good of the country is more important than the good of the political parties."

In many national polls, Kucinich is running ahead of senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, and is in a statistical tie with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. And, his poll numbers in New Hampshire are strong and growing.

In Iowa, however, Kucinich has been purposefully excluded from several Presidential debates and Party-sponsored events, leading political observers to wonder whether the "game" in Iowa is rigged against him.

“In The 21st Century, Education Has Become A Critical National Security Issue”

Fort Dodge, IA (December 19, 2007): Today at the Fort Dodge Public Library in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Sen. Joe Biden responded to new international test results showing that U.S. students lag behind their peers in other countries.

America's 15 year-olds recently ranked 25th in mathematics and 21st in science among the 30 member countries that make up the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Just 70 percent of American high school students reach graduation day. The United States now ranks 17th in the world in high-school graduation rates and 14th in college graduation rates.

"I want to make something very clear," said Sen. Biden. "It is not our students who failed these tests - it is our policies that are failing our students."

Sen. Biden called for an overhaul of No Child Left Behind and comprehensive education reform including: universal preschool, more time spent on learning, putting a well-paid effective teacher in every classroom, expanding service opportunities for middle and high school students and providing a minimum of two years of higher education for every student.

"Education is more than just math, science, and reading. Our focus on multiple choice tests has narrowed the curriculum and the ability of teachers to innovate," said Sen. Biden. "And that shows - not just in the math and science test scores - but in the basic education our students are missing: American history and training in how our government works."

Sen. Biden noted that in the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress test on civics education, only half of 8th graders were able to link religious freedom to the Bill of Rights and only half of 12th graders were able to identify the President's role in foreign policy. Only 47 percent of high school seniors have mastered a minimum level of U.S. history. Only half of U.S. high school students knew that the sentence "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" is in the Declaration of Independence.

"Too many students are simply not getting a basic education in how democracy works," said Sen. Biden. "That's a crisis at a time when our civil liberties are under assault by an administration that has ignored basic protections such as habeas corpus, disregarded the balance of power and secretly authorized torture."

Sen. Biden announced that he would invest in grants to develop civics curriculums for use in schools. He called for providing service opportunities through programs such as Americorps for middle and high school students and rewarding national service with help for college.

"My mother has an expression: 'children tend to become that which you expect of them. I want a country where we expect much from America's children," said Sen. Biden. "As President, I assure you: education will always be my top domestic priority because I believe in the next generation. I believe that they will solve climate change, make us energy independent, and bring peace to the Middle East. But we need to give them the foundation to do it."

Several members of the Delaware State Educators Association, which recently endorsed Sen. Biden for president, were in attendance at today’s event.

Mike Hoffman, DSEA Treasurer said, “I support Sen. Biden because he’s always come to the teachers to get their input. I appreciate that he recognizes that No Child Left Behind needs to be scrapped and that unfunded mandates are wrong. Teachers want to be held accountable but we need to have a fair measure of our students. When Joe Biden talks about making real education reform, I know he means what he says.”

Mary Jo Faust, NEA Director for the Delaware State Education Association and a 2nd grade teacher in the Capital School District, added, “I support Joe Biden because he understands my needs as a teacher. He knows that No Child Left Behind is too prescriptive, that kids need to be in school earlier and longer, and that I teach best when I have small class sizes. And he also understands that we need a professional level starting salary to retain and attract teachers in the classroom.”

By DAVID ESPO
AP Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) — For at least a year, Mitt Romney worked to keep his Mormon faith away from the center of his campaign for the White House. And for months, Hillary Rodham Clinton largely steered clear of criticizing her Democratic rivals.
No longer.
Now, locked in unpredictable, tight races in the leadoff Iowa caucuses, both the Democratic senator from New York and the Republican former governor of Massachusetts are shifting course. Clinton’s decision to assail Sen. Barack Obama and Romney’s speech Thursday on religious faith are seen by pros in both parties as signs that the status quo carried potential dangers.
“It was Napoleon who said, ’No plan has ever survived contact with the enemy,’” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster who is not affiliated with any candidate in the 2008 race. “The truth is these campaigns are really for the first time coming into contact with the enemy. And so they’ve got to change plans.”
“Clearly Romney changed his position in terms of delivering a major speech,” said David Winston, a Republican pollster not aligned with any of the candidates. “I think part of what’s going on is there must be an internal assessment that the campaign is having some difficulty and they’ve decided that this is the explanation that’s required to get him back on track.”
Winston and Mellman said that while the decisions carry risks, they are outweighed by the potential danger of doing nothing for Clinton, the national front-runner for months, as well as Romney, who until recently appeared to hold comfortable leads in Iowa.
Speaking of the Democratic race, Mellman added: “When you go on the attack you don’t know who you’re going to help.” It’s possible a third or fourth candidate could benefit, he added, meaning that Obama and Clinton could both suffer, and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards gain.
Romney, in his speech Thursday, sought to ease skeptics’ concerns about electing a Mormon president.
“I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it,” Romney said at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas. However, he said, “I do not define my candidacy by my religion.” He added: “If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause and no one interest. A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States.”
In purely political terms, Romney’s Mormon faith has been an impediment from the start. A Pew Research Center poll in September found a quarter of all Republicans — including 36 percent of white evangelical Protestants — said they would be less likely to vote for a Mormon.
Even though the topic was discussed at several points, Romney did not decide until recently to give a speech on religious faith, according to several individuals familiar with his campaign.
“Times have changed and particularly in a state like Iowa, there’s been interest in religion generally, and I think religion does have a very important role in our society and therefore it’s important to talk about our religious heritage,” Romney said recently.
At the same time, his once solid lead in the Iowa polls has vanished as evangelical voters have coalesced behind former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister. Huckabee’s ascent began last summer when he eclipsed Sen. Sam Brownback for second place in a straw poll at the Iowa State Fair. Former Sen. Fred Thompson’s entrance into the race was another obstacle to be overcome. But Brownback departed the race in October and Thompson’s support has gradually slipped. Huckabee has pulled even or slightly ahead despite a low-budget campaign in a state where Romney has spent millions.
Then, there are the scurrilous attacks.
One e-mail making the rounds purports to be from Romney himself, and consists of an invitation to Iowa voters to “join me, a born-Mormon, and a growing number of disenchanted Christians in believing the following tenets of the Mormon religion.” It lists several, each one likely more objectionable to Christian conservative caucus-goers than the last.
“Mormon men can have multiple wives in heaven — eternal polygamy,” says one tenet, while another claims that “God the father had sex with Mary to conceive Jesus, who is the half brother of Lucifer.”
As nationwide front-runner, Clinton had largely shrugged off attacks from Obama, Edwards and others. As recently as Nov. 10, at a high-profile dinner attended by all the Democratic contenders, she told an Iowa audience, “I’m not interested in attacking my opponents. I’m interested in attacking the problems of America.”
But she had turned in an admittedly sub-par debate performance 10 days earlier, and now it was Obama who came away from the Jefferson-Jackson dinner with glowing reviews.
By the night of a Nov. 15 debate, Clinton shelved whatever reluctance she had about responding to her attackers. She accused Edwards of slinging mud “right out of the Republican playbook” and said Obama supported a health care plan that left out 15 million Americans.
“When your opponents attack, you need to respond and Senator Clinton is doing just that,” spokesman Phil Singer said on Wednesday.
In the days since, she and her campaign have refined their strategy — leaving Edwards largely alone while hitting Obama incessantly on health care, accusing him of failing to be sufficiently supportive of abortion rights while in the Illinois Legislature and more.
Last week, en route from South Carolina to Texas, her plane put down in Iowa, where she suggested the health care issue stood for something more fundamental. “If anything, Democrats should stand for universal health care,” she said last week. “That distinguishes us from the Republicans. The Republicans don’t believe in it. Democrats do and we should fight for it.”
Over the weekend, her aides depicted Obama as a lifelong politician. As evidence, they cited an essay he wrote in kindergarten titled, “I want to become president.”
At the same time, Clinton’s television commercials take a different approach.
Her latest Iowa ad shows retired Gen. Wesley Clark saying, “I see that Hillary’s opponents have started attacking her. That’s politics.”
———

EDITOR’S NOTE — David Espo has covered politics for the Associated Press since 1980.

By GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer

WINDHAM (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney sought to deflect Rudy Giuliani’s criticism of his economic record Tuesday with a two-fer — a former Massachusetts governor now living in New York.
William F. Weld, who started a 16-year run of GOP rule in liberal Massachusetts that ended in January when Romney’s term finished, said his running mate and successor, former Gov. Paul Cellucci, was mistaken last week when he assailed Romney over tax cuts and spending during a rally in front of the Massachusetts Statehouse.
“He’s a true-blue fiscal conservative and he’s spelled out exactly how he’s going to hold down spending in Washington,” Weld said as he accompanied Romney on the first of his four public stops, a visit to the Windham Junction country store.
“I believe there were 19 tax cuts when Governor Romney was in office. That’s just a fact. And what he’s proposed for Washington is the most developed of any of the candidates.”
Weld singled out Romney’s pledge to veto any spending spending in excess of inflation, minus 1 percent.
As for Cellucci’s increasingly public criticism of Romney, the Harvard-educated Weld broke into French to say, “Each to his own.”
Romney’s decision to have Weld campaign with him reflected his interest in rebutting the criticism of Giuliani surrogates from Massachusetts, including Cellucci and former Treasurer Joe Malone.
Joined by several Republican state legislators, they announced last week they would travel the country, questioning why Romney was unable to lower the state’s income tax rate to 5 percent — as pledged — while Giuliani presided over 23 tax cuts as mayor of New York.
Weld’s blend of liberal social views and conservative fiscal positions, as well as a plunge into Boston’s Charles River to celebrate an environmental compact, endeared him to Massachusetts voters during the six years he was in office.
Many New Hampshire residents, especially those in the vote-rich southern tier of the state, are relocated from Massachusetts. The crowd inside the country store reminisced with Weld about his tenure as governor from 1991 to 1997. Romney relished the help, calling the red-headed Weld “Big Red.”
Weld moved to New York after resigning as governor amid a failed bid to become U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Cellucci, at the time lieutenant governor, served as acting governor before being elected in his own right in 1998. Last year, Weld mounted a campaign for New York governor, but retreated amid criticism from conservatives.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Despite reservations, Republican presidential candidates will answer questions tonight from the public submitted via YouTube in a two-hour debate to air on CNN.

The candidates are preparing for questions like those asked in the Democratic CNN/YouTube debate in July, when they fielded a query from an animated snowman on global warming and a gay couple’s question on same-sex marriage.

With six weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses, the stakes in this debate are higher. The eight men haven’t debated in a month. Polls suggest former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney leads in Iowa and New Hampshire, while former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani holds a commanding lead here in Florida; Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) is chipping away at Romney’s lead in New Hampshire, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is surging in Iowa.

Polls also suggest many Republican voters are open to switching allegiances, particularly to someone deemed better suited to challenge Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton next November.

Some of the campaigns expressed concern about the debate format, worried that Democratic activists would stack the deck with questions. CNN producers say they have no intention of choosing “gotcha” questions and plan to put forward questions on issues important to Republican voters, such as national security and health care.

YouTube, a unit of Google Inc., says almost 5,000 video questions have been submitted, more than twice the number for the Democratic debate. CNN is likely to choose about 40.

As of last weekend, education and health care drew the most interest, accounting for 15% of the questions, according to an analysis of the first 3,000 submissions by YouTube.

In the first CNN/YouTube debate, questions by people describing personal experiences were often chosen. Steve Grove, who oversees YouTube’s news and politics section, says this time, even more people “seem to have a better idea of how to ask a good question; there are a lot more personal stories.”

Questions are limited to 30 seconds. Many questioners simply talk straight at the camera, while others use animated aliens or a bobble-head doll to make pointed queries. One of the questions is from a Democratic presidential candidate, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, who asked the Republican hopefuls about constitutional protections.

The debate was delayed for several months after Messrs. Giuliani and Romney expressed concern about taking questions from snowmen and their ilk. Both said they had scheduling problems. Republican bloggers criticized the candidates, who then agreed to join the debate, which will start at 8 p.m. EST.

More than 1000 New Hampshire Independents Endorse Obama As Obama hosts roundtable with independents in Littleton, undeclared Granite Staters praise his principled leadership, history of bipartisan results

MANCHESTER — More than 1000 undeclared New Hampshire voters announced their intention to vote for Senator Barack Obama in the Democratic primary today. Citing his straightforward, principled approach and track record of putting results ahead of partisan political maneuvering, the Granite State independents endorsed Obama as the candidate they believe in to bring real change to Washington.

“I’m tired of watching the Democrats and Republicans in Washington play political games while millions of Americans remain uninsured, the disastrous Iraq war goes on with no end in sight, and global warming goes unchecked,” said Russ Ouellete, an undeclared voter from Bedford. “It’s time for a President who will stop promising change and actually rise above the partisan gridlock to deliver on it. Obama is the one candidate in this race who can bring people together to put real results ahead of party politics.”

Today at a roundtable with independents in Littleton, Obama reiterated his intention to be a president who forges bipartisan solutions on big challenges. As an Illinois State Senator and a United States Senator, Obama has worked with Democrats and Republicans to make government work for people – expanding healthcare coverage, providing tax relief for working Americans, and passing sweeping ethics reforms.

The following undeclared New Hampshire voters publicly announced their support of Obama:
Anne Aasgaard, Peterborough

Deborah Abelman, Concord

Donna Ackerman, Sanbornville

George Ackerman, Sanbornville

Sandra Adams, Nashua

Sharon Adler, New Boston

Elinor Adler, Salem

Walter Adler, Salem

Jennifer Agans, Amherst

Gillian Aguilar, Portsmouth

Francis Aguilar, Portsmouth

Sandra Akacem, Enfield

Mary Akerly, Goffstown

Kathleen Aldridge, Gilford

Meredith Allen, Londonderry

Julienne Allen, Manchester

Mary Allison, Freedom

Evelyn Amidon, Merrimack

Edison Amorim, Rochester

Eric Anderson, Stratham

Mark Anderson, Concord

Arthur Ansdell, Merrimack

Dr. Timothy Antaya, Hampton Falls

John Anton, Atkinson

Kelly Antonelli, Rochester

Wendy Appleton, Bedford

Elaine Arata, Belmont

Faith Armington, Nashua

Amanda Armstrong, Portsmouth

Christian Arnold, Jaffrey

Amy Aro-Youngman, Keene

Andrew Arthur, Nashua

Phyllis Ashenhurst, Nashua

Fuad Ashour, New Ipswich

Joseph Astle, Warner

Edward Atwell, Wolfeboro

Lisa Auger, Atkinson

George Ayres, Lyndeborough

Rena Badger, Nashua

Joseph Badger, Jackson

Michael Bagshaw, Mont Vernon

Janet Bailey, Hooksett

Gladys Baker, Nashua

Gretchen Baker, Manchester

Patricia Baker, Rochester

Gunnar Baldwin, Thornton

Heather Baldwin, Thornton

Margaret Ball, Belmont

Bennett Ball, Rochester

Patricia Ballestero, Madbury

Anatoli Baranov, Merrimack

Huntington Barclay, Silver Lake

Caroline Barnebey, Wolfeboro

Sandra Barton, Northwood

Janet Bayard, Meredith

Suzanne Bayard, Meredith

Susan Bean, Concord

Laura Bedard, W Peterborough

Kimberly Beers, Concord

Althea Behm, Northwood

Dorothy Belanger, Hinsdale

Brian Belgard, Keene

Joann Beliveau, Goffstown

David Bell, Weare

Charles Bell, Tilton

Seth Benowitz, Goffstown

Frederick Benson, Winchester

Nancy Benson, Dover

Irene Benson, Marlborough

Norma Bentilla, Raymond

Allan Berggren, Claremont

Dorothy Bernier, Manchester

Michael Berry, Bedford

Marion Best, Wilmot

Irene Bey, Center Conway

John Beyrent, Gilford

Vidhya Bhat, Durham

Erica Bickford, Wolfeboro

Violet Bishop, Merrimack

Mary Blackford, Concord

Thomas Blake, Northwood

Francis Blodget, Wolfeboro

Francis Blodget, Wolfeboro

Margaret Blodget, Wolfeboro

Samuel Boduch, Barrington

Mark Bogdanovich, Atkinson

Megan Bogonovich, Concord

Charles Bojus, Freedom

Patricia Bojus, Freedom

Paula Bonner, Concord

Marjorie Bonneville, Tilton

Charles Bonosky, Portsmouth

Robert Borden, Keene

Scott Borkland, Newington

Robert Bouchard, Pembroke

Albert Bourque, Portsmouth

Bonny Bourque-Pinkham, Somersworth

Robert Bowen, Londonderry

Catherine Boyle, New Ipswich

Eric Bozoian, Manchester

Elizabeth Bramante, Durham

Doria Bramante, Durham

Susan Branch, Concord

David Bredow, Bedford

Cynthia Brewster, Gilsum

Roger Brickner, Haverhill

Robert Briere, New Boston

Alyssa Brigandi, Dover

Paul Brock, Bedford

Allen Brown, Peterborough

Virginia Brown, Peterborough

Virginia Brown, Barrington

Mary Brown, Hanover

Nancy Brown, Rindge

Allison Browne, Plymouth

John Browne, Bedford

Sue Browne, Thornton

William Browne, Thornton

David Brownell, Bartlett

Dorothy Brownell, Bartlett

Marie Bruce, Derry

Frank Brunette, Hampton

Theresa Brunette, Hampton

Jonathan Bryde, Manchester

Tracey Bryde, Manchester

Beverly Bullard, Farmington

Stuart Bullis, Milton

Gary Bullock, Canterbury

Paul Burdick, Nashua

Donald Burness, Rindge

Donald Burns, Bow

Margaret Cade, Freedom

Dennis Cannon, Merrimack

Roger Cantlin, Canaan

Mary Carleton, Etna

Barbara Carpenito, Manchester

Jane Carr, New Boston

Gail Carter, Rochester

Christopher Carter, Hopkinton

Jessica Carter, Nashua

Kimberly Cartier, Auburn

Jaime Caryl-Klika, Concord

James Casazza, Pelham

Peter Case, Tamworth

Anna Casey, Newmarket

David Casey, Laconia

Sheldon Cassady, Concord

Anthony Catalino, Greenland

Anthony Cataluna, Nashua

Cassandra Caza, Exeter

James Cestrone, Hudson

Meredith Cestrone, Hudson

Karin Cevasco, Nashua

Phyllis Chamberlain, Keene

Melanie Chaput, Nashua

Joseph Chartier, Concord

Linda Chesley, Charlestown

Harry Chesley, Charlestown

Marshall Chewning, Claremont

Susan Childress, Wilton

Eleanor Childs, Pelham

Wesley Chisholm, Sharon

June Churchill, Keene

Robert Claflin, West Chesterfield

Pamela Clark, Laconia

Melissa Clark, Gilmanton Iron Works

Daniel Clark, Somersworth

Charles Clarke, Loudon

Adrienne Clement, Exeter

Jennifer Coburn, Newport

Tamara Cocchiarella, Campton

Timothy Cofran, Gilmanton

Harriett Cohen-Alexander, Auburn

Jeffrey Cole, Manchester

Candace Cole-McCrea, Milton

Vangie Collins, Nashua

Paula Colman, Rochester

Anne Commenator, Derry

Jose Concepcion, Stoddard

Richard Conde, Henniker

Kathleen Connair, Claremont

Claire Connolly, Manchester

Joan Connors, Portsmouth

Marguerite Connors, Hampton

Darryl Conrad, Merrimack

Warren Cook, Laconia

Jennifer Cooke, Lyme

Sarah Cooley, Concord

Linda Cooney, Sunapee

Deborah Cooper, Dunbarton

Kelly Corbelle, Exeter

Ronald Cormier, Belmont

Doris Cote, Nashua

Janet Cote, Bristol

Tyler Cote, Keene

David Cote, Manchester

Sylvia Countway, Alton

Rebecca Courser, Warner

Diane Coveny, New Hampton

James Cowan, Hollis

Lynn Cowan, Hollis

Courtney Cox, Harrisville

Marie Coye, Litchfield

Cecelia Crapser, Center Conway

Brian Crowley, Exeter

Constance Cuddemi, Henniker

Kenneth Cutting, Alexandria

Sarah Cutting, Alexandria

Genevieve Danielian, Goffstown

Karen Dannis, Raymond

Sasha Davidson, Portsmouth

Loren Davis, North Conway

William Davis, North Conway

Jessie Dawes, Peterborough

John Dawnis, Newmarket

Tanya Decato, Canterbury

Melvin Defosses, Alexandria

Vernon Defreese, Portsmouth

Mark Defreitas, Manchester

Carol Delaurier, Brookfield

Helen Deloge, Concord

Laura Delucia, Manchester

Andrew Demers, Pelham

William Demers, Bethlehem

Dawn Demers-Cowled, Greenfield

Ruth Depuy, Peterborough

Norman Depuy, Peterborough

Stephanie Derosier, Belmont

Jeffery Desmond, Claremont

Carol Despres, Marlow

Brett Destefano, Greenland

Christine Destrempes, Harrisville

Linda Devere, Ossipee

Aja Devork, Wolfeboro

Michael Diamond, Salem

Rita Diclemente, Hollis

Mary Digregorio, Center Conway

Karen Dill, West Chesterfield

Anita Dinitto, Exeter

Stacey Dionne, Weare

William Diprima, Stratham

Christopher Dixon, Hudson

Cynthia Dobe, Concord

James Dockham, Walpole

Paul Doherty, Merrimack

Ashley Stiles, Nashua

Dana Donovan, Kensington

Lisa Douglas, Nashua

Elisabeth Draper, Claremont

Leo Drouin, Walpole

Renald Dubreuil, Goffstown

Dorothy Duckworth, Thornton

Priscilla Duffy, Dover

Lois Dugan, Londonderry

Mark Dugas, Exeter

Andrew Duncan, Concord

Heather Dunford, Epsom

Patricia Dunn, Jackson

Nicole Dupuis, Stratham

Donna Dusell, Andover

Lila Dyas, Wilton

Alex Dyment, Durham

Gary Eager, Manchester

David Eastman, Tamworth

Horace Eaves, Exeter

Diane Eddy, Lee

Adam Edgar, Dover

Indra Edmonds, Strafford

Susan Edwards, Hanover

Janet Eldridge, Somersworth

Thomas Elliott, West Lebanon

William Elliott, New Boston

Jessica Ellis, Concord

Jason Emmick, Manchester

Laura Emmick, Manchester

Jeanne Emmick, Milford

Barbara Enright, Peterborough

William Epply, Hanover

Howard Epstein, Gilford

Christina Estes, Farmington

Jeffrey Evans, Nashua

Ann Ewalt, Dover

Barbara Ewell, Derry

Diane Faiella, Manchester

Thomas Favorite, Brookline

Karen Favorite, Brookline

Nicholas Fegley, Ctr Barnstead

Theresa Fenton, Nashua

Paula Ferenc, Rumney

Leah Ferenc, Rumney

Jeffrey Ferguson, Concord

John Fernandez, Hampstead

Charles Ferrando, Keene

Elizabeth Ferrer-Quasli, Salem

Catherine Ferriero, Derry

Nancy Fisher, Concord

Gregory Fitzgerald, Merrimack

Brian Fitzgerald, Alton

Brandyn Fitzgerald, Merrimack

Jane Flanders, Laconia

Teri Fleck, Wonalancet

Louise Flynn, Goffstown

Elizabeth Foemel, Nashua

Roy Foltan, Bath

Jeanne Foltan, Bath

Juanita Fonseca, Exeter

Judy Foote, Tilton

Donald Forrest, Claremont

Kristine Fortier, Raymond

Gunnar Foss, Northwood

Marie-Anne Foss, Goffstown

Charles Foss, Goffstown

Barbara Fournier, Concord

Michele Foye, Tilton

Anne Franciosa, Belmont

Marie Franklin, Kensington

Irene Franzen, Hooksett

Russell Frasier, Manchester

Desiree Frasier, Manchester

Roger Frechette, North Conway

Robert Fredette, Dover

Bruce Freeman, Litchfield

Robert Freeman, Laconia

Kerry Freeman, Laconia

Charles French, North Conway

Robert Frese, Exeter

Scott Fullam, Littleton

Eric Funk, Manchester

W Funk, Gilmanton

Michelle Funke, Manchester

Melanie Gabree, Bedford

Mary Gabrick, Laconia

Robert Gage, Dover

Janice Gallinger, Portsmouth

Claire Gannon, Campton

Robert Garcia, Exeter

Sandra Garcia, Amherst

Marion Gardner, Gilford

Roberta Garfield, Plainfield

Christopher Garland, Peterborough

David Garrapy, Keene

Susan Garvan, Wolfeboro

Julie Garvin, New Boston

Andra Gawley, Nashua

Judith Geaghan, Salem

Samuel Geiger, Rindge

Nancy Geissenhainer, Madison

Derek Gelinas, Manchester

Dannielle Genovese, Kingston

Christopher George, Portsmouth

Madgeline Gerlach, Pittsfield

Margaret Ghiloni, Londonderry

Joseph Ghiloni, Londonderry

John Ghiorzi, Nashua

Joseph Giannelli, Freedom

Patricia Gianotti, North Hampton

Richard Giglio, Freedom

Peter Gilligan, East Kingston

Karen Gilmore, Merrimack

Joan Glutting, Lee

Brenda Godwin, Andover

Judith Goguen, Alexandria

Barry Goldman, Windham

Lynn Goldman, Windham

Steven Gordon, Hopkinton

Anne Gould, Bedford

Carol Gove, Temple

Carol Grace, Merrimack

Charles Grace, Merrimack

Sally Graf, Jaffrey

Julie Grandgeorge, Goffstown

Heather Gray, Goffstown

Stedman Gray, Gilsum

Holly Green, Henniker

Harold Greene, Thornton

Amanda Greenier, Merrimack

Martha Gregory, Marlborough

Robert Grier, Alstead

Kathryn Griffin, Winchester

Justine Griffin, Merrimack

Carlos Gristani, Hollis

Linda Gross, Derry

Bonnie Guercio, Hollis

Andrea Guidoboni, Milford

George Guild, Nashua

James Guy, Dublin

Paul Hackett, Gilford

Betty Hackmann, New London

Carolyn Hackwell, Hopkinton

Robert Hackwell, Hopkinton

Francine Hall, Exeter

Anson Hall, Exeter

Sara Hall, Exeter

Brendon Hamberger, Milford

F Hamel, Laconia

Mary Hamer, Bedford

Diana Hanks, Merrimack

Eugenie Hansen, Exeter

Robert Hardy, Pittsfield

Pamela Hardy, Boscawen

Sheila Harmon, Derry

Shirley Harper, Rye

Holly Harris, Durham

Christi Hartford, Conway

Richard Hartford, Conway

Neill Hartman, Hanover

Ardith Harvey, Hampton Falls

Philip Harvey, Hampton Falls

George Hast, Tilton

Wendy Hatfield, Rochester

Stefan Hausberger, Nashua

Edward Hause, Dover

Jan Havinga, Mont Vernon

Maria Havinga, Mont Vernon

Jared Hay, Dover

Jerry Hejtmanek, Portsmouth

Arthur Heller, Keene

David Henriquez, Litchfield

Joan Henson, Exeter

Adren Hervey, Durham

Joan Hickey, North Conway

Carol Higgins, Rochester

Jason Hilbert, Durham

Isabella Hill, Francestown

Daniel Hillsgrove, Alton

Sandra Hines, Derry

Debra Hodges, Goffstown

Laura Hodgkins, Bow

Joseph Hoebeke, Manchester

Judith Holley, Hillsborough

Frank Holmes, Madison

Alice Holmstrom, Rollinsford

Dennis Holt, Manchester

Susan Holt, Amherst

Tia Maria Hooper, Henniker

Angela Hosage, Amherst

Catherine Hosage-Norman, Nashua

Diane Howard, Keene

Jayne Howe, Merrimack

Suzanne Huggard, Deering

Denise Hunneyman, Salisbury

Randall Hunneyman, Salisbury

Gena Hunt, Hudson

Marie Hurlbert, Winchester

Wendy Hurley, Rochester

William Hurley, Rochester

Heather Hurtt, Portsmouth

June Iffland, Bow

Sookjwa Ihm, Exeter

John Indelicato, Windham

Ingrid Inferrere, Manchester

Patricia Ingelstrom, Greenfield

Crystal Islam, Londonderry

Kip Jackson, Merrimack

Ann Jackson, Nashua

Donna Jacobs, Nelson

Thomas Jameson, Chichester

Ronald Janowitz, Manchester

Sonya Janson, Lebanon

Bradley Jarvis, Dover

Sally Jasper, Hollis

Alex Jeanty, Londonderry

John Jewell, Concord

Cynthia Jewett, Roxbury

David Jewett, Roxbury

Joel Johnson, Portsmouth

Joanne Johnson, Rochester

Margaret Johnson, Wonalancet

Ulla Johnson, Amherst

Judith Johnson, Jackson

Shirley Jones, Concord

Beverly Jones, Laconia

Phyllis Jordan, Chichester

Germaine Joyce, Concord

Dale Kandoll, Temple

Laurie Kandoll, Temple

Mary Kane, Loudon

Krishnamurthi Kannan, Merrimack

Christopher Kantargis, Merrimack

Andrew Kaplan, Portsmouth

Martin Karawski, Weare

Anthony Karistianos, Hudson

Lee Kass, Amherst

Stanley Kass, Amherst

Thomas Kehler, Hanover

Dan Keith, Belmont

Craig Kellem, Lyme

Christopher Kelley, Merrimack

Debra Kendall, Merrimack

Carianna Keniston, Exeter

Theresa Kennett, N Conway

Kay Kenyon, Nashua

Bonnie Young Kerr, Manchester

Newton Kershaw, Manchester

Lisa Kershaw, Mont Vernon

Kimberly Kerwin, Hancock

Karen Kharitonov, Ctr Barnstead

Maxim Kharitonov, Ctr Barnstead

Charles Khoury, Wilton

Kenneth Kiburis, Keene

Kimberly Kiesman, North Conway

Dawn Kilcrease, Rindge

Michael Kiley, Manchester

Mary Kimmel, Concord

Molly King, Gilford

Barbara Kingsbury, Hinsdale

Charles Kingsbury, Hinsdale

Deborah Kinson, Bow

Amy Kipphut, Concord

Timothy Klika, Concord

Sean Klingle, Merrimack

Gary Knight, Brookfield

Marianne Knowlton, Portsmouth

Barbara Koivula, Bennington

Ronald Koivula, Bennington

Diane Koller, Peterborough

William Kramer, West Lebanon

David Krempels, Portsmouth

Jason Ku, Manchester

William Kucharski, Milford

Elaine Kulingoski, Nashua

Bradford Kuster, Hopkinton

Jane Labelle, Warner

Jane Lacasse, Concord

George Lacourse, Winchester

Dan Lacrosse, Windham

Jeffrey Ladd, Wolfeboro

Stephanie Laflamme, Bedford

Sharon Laflamme, Fitzwilliam

Jennifer Lague, Derry

Richard Lak, Dover

Anne Lalish, Northwood

Jeffrey Lalish, Northwood

Laurie Lalish, Northwood

Kelly Lalonde, Bedford

Orlando Lamarco, Rochester

Claire Lambert, Nashua

John Lamoureux, Claremont

Nancy Lamoureux, Milton

Marc Lanciaux, North Conway

Charles Langille, New Ipswich

Linda Langille, New Ipswich

Charles Langille, Keene

Faith Laro, Concord

Stephen Laroche, Deerfield

David Laroche, Merrimack

Martha Larrabee, Lebanon

Jody Latulippe, Derry

Charles Laurent, Laconia

Suzanne Lavalla, Nashua

Muriel Lavalley, Concord

Allison Leach, Dover

Caitlin Leary, Amherst

Donna Leavell, Manchester

Rodman Leavell, Manchester

Karen Leavitt, Deerfield

Jessica Leavitt, Sunapee

Martha Leclair, Plymouth

Joseph Leclaire, Hinsdale

Joanne Lecount, Mason

Anne Lederhos, Amherst

Julie Lee, Londonderry

Stephen Lee, Londonderry

Helen Lee, Concord

Jeffrey Lee, Durham

Maryann Lehman, Raymond

Susan Leidy, Concord

Robbin Leigh, Bow

Jacqueline Lewis, Derry

Carol Lewis, Bedford

Marie Lightizer, Newton

Matthew Lightizer, Newton

Nancy Lindsey, Laconia

William Linkroum, Merrimack

Tigest Lint, Merrimack

Charles Lippincott, New Boston

Lynn Lippitt, Milford

Edward Littlefield, Merrimack

Daniel Lloyd, Newport

Steven Lombard, Moultonborough

Craig Lombardo, Concord

Loretta Long, Somersworth

Caroline Lopardo, Weare

Frances Lovejoy, Keene

James Lowther, Merrimack

Kristopher Lozeau, Nashua

Jason Lucey, Dover

Brook Luers, Nashua

Mary Lyman, Belmont

Michael Lynch, Concord

Mark Mabra, Concord

Lisa MacAllister, Jackson

Douglas MacDonald, Nashua

Elise MacDonald, New Ipswich

Rosemary Mack, Dublin

John MacLeod, Wilmot

Nancy MacLeod, Wilmot

Gerald Mafera, Derry

Marie Magoon, Bennington

Farzad Mahjobi, Nashua

Dennis Mahoney, Derry

Helen Mahoney, Goffstown

Jessica Mahoney, Manchester

Gregory Makechenie, Andover

Mia Manning-Osborn, Peterborough

Stephany Marchut Lavallee, Henniker

Martin Marcinkoski, Rochester

Kenneth Marcks, New Boston

Janice Marden, Goffstown

Marjorie Margolis, Sharon

Paul Marrone, Concord

Donald Marshall, Fremont

Elsa Marshall, Dover

Bruce Marshall, Hampton

Lucinda Marshall, Hampton

Mary Martel, Wilton

Lindsay Martel, Goffstown

Jennifer Mason, Portsmouth

Amy Mason, Canterbury

Kevin Mason, Canterbury

Kyle Masters, Henniker

Robyn Matheson, Exeter

Theodore Mathias, Hanover

Gail Matthews, Wilmot

Glenn Matthews, Wilmot

Richard Matz, Dover

Ridgely Mauck, Concord

Edward Maura, Tamworth

Tyler McArthur, Nashua

Judith McBriarty, Milford

Michelle McCarron, Hillsborough

Martha McCarthy, Sanbornville

Ryan McCarthy, Sanbornville

Barbara McCarthy, Derry

Kathleen McCarthy, Kensington

Jane McClung, Concord

Theresa McCoole, Hampton

Glenn McCracken, Freedom

Genella McDonald, Canterbury

Sean McDonald, Canterbury

Summer McFarland, Nashua

Eric McGee, Nashua

Leroy McGhee, Somersworth

Katelyn McGrail, Stratham

Richard McKay, Nashua

Lisa McKee, Nashua

George McKelvey, N Haverhill

Mary McKelvey, N Haverhill

Heather McKendry, Eaton

Daniel McKernan, Nashua

Everett McLaughlin, Gilford

Lynda McLaughlin, Manchester

Rebecca McLaughlin, Somersworth

Carol McMahon, Wolfeboro

Deborah McNally, Barrington

Prentiss McNeill, Windham

Paul McShane, Merrimack

Wendi McShane, Merrimack

Joseph Medeiros, Hudson

Rebecca Medeiros, Hudson

Chuba Menakaya, Manchester

Mary Menner, Bedford

Mary Merritt, Littleton

Thomas Merritt, Littleton

William Merrow, Hopkinton

George Merrow, Hopkinton

Alexandra Merwin, Meredith

Jonathan Merwin, Meredith

Robert Merwin, Meredith

Cynthia Meyer, Marlborough

Robert Mike-Mayer, Exeter

Theodore Mikolyski, Raymond

Joanne Milbury, Concord

James Miller, Meredith

Genevieve Miller, Bedford

James Miller, Bedford

Beverly Miller, Exeter

Nadine Miller, Portsmouth

Jeremy Miller, Portsmouth

Joelly Miller, Portsmouth

Deborah Millette, Northwood

Nanci Mills, Lee

Edith Milton, Francestown

Peter Milton, Francestown

Jennifer Molahan, West Lebanon

William Monafo, Peterborough

Matthew Monahan, Bedford

Elena Monastireva-Ansdell, Merrimack

Geraldine Monti, Holderness

Susan Mooney, Gilford

Maynard Moore, Center Tuftonboro

Carol Moore, Concord

Keith Moran, Newport

Peter Morgan, Salem

Kimberly Morgan, Moultonborough

Kenneth Morreale, Londonderry

Christopher Morris, Harrisville

Teresa Morris, Harrisville

Kelley Morris, Gilmanton

Scott Morrissette, Manchester

Kevin Morton, Merrimack

Robin Mose, Hancock

Susan Moseley, Bow

Muriel Motard, Nashua

Eric Muehlmatt, Hooksett

Michael Mulloy, Salem

Frances Mulroy, Goffstown

Steven Munroe, Newmarket

Kathleen Murdough, North Conway

Jean Murphy, Moultonborough

Thomas Murphy, Moultonborough

Mariann Murphy, Wolfeboro

Thomas Murphy, Dover

Susan Murphy, Hampstead

Matthew Nania, Portsmouth

Linda Neilson, Hinsdale

Lynda Nelson, Derry

Sandra Neveu, Nashua

Lisa Neville, Francestown

Wesley Nichols, New London

Juanita Niemczyk, Hampton

Claire Nix, Keene

Mary Nocie, Warner

Sheila Nolan, E Hampstead

Timothy Nolin, Ossipee

Gail Nostrom, Newmarket

William Nostrom, Newmarket

Kathleen Obrien, Atkinson

Joan O'Brien, Barrington

Denis O'Connell, Concord

Shannon O'Connor, Hillsborough

Malcolm Odell, South Hampton

Maude Odgers, Peterborough

Patrick O'Donnell, Concord

Kendra O'Donnell, Concord

Kenneth Oliver, Stratham

Karina Olson, Durham

Dorthea O'Neil, Weare

Fred Ordway, Litchfield

Meredith Orourke, Bedford

Justin O'Rourke, Manchester

Karen O'Rourke, Manchester

John O'Shaughnessy, Northfield

Joe Ossai, Bedford

Jean O'Sullivan, Bartlett

David O'Sullivan, Bartlett

Russell Ouellette, Bedford

Erik Ouellette, Belmont

Kathryn Owens, Nashua

Kevin Packard, Merrimack

Warren Palmeira, Danbury

Christine Pariseau Telge, Manchester

Thomas Park, Washington

Alison Parodi-Bieling, Epsom

Carin Parr, Manchester

Janice Parrinello, Merrimack

Claire Partridge, Sanbornville

Barbara Ann Paster, Exeter

Nicholas Pavloski, Hudson

Anthony Pazasis, Belmont

E Pazasis, Belmont

Patricia Pedersen, Litchfield

Graham Pendlebury, New Boston

Lori Pepler, Wilton

Paula Perez, Merrimack

Kathryn Perkins, Concord

Carolyn Perret, Hooksett

Gloria Perrin, Keene

Rachel Perry, Sanbornton

Sheldon Perry, Tamworth

Barbara Perry, West Lebanon

Casey Peters, Cornish

Theresa Peters, Laconia

Donna Philbrick, Sullivan

Franklin Philbrick, Sullivan

Andrew Phillips, Auburn

Joan Phipps, Hillsborough

Rodney Phipps, Hillsborough

Daniel Pickering, Hancock

Luke Pickett, Stratham

Dana Pierce, Nashua

Mark Pierce, Wolfeboro

Lawrence Pihl, Merrimack

Ann Pike, Merrimack

Alison Pike, Stratham

Cynthia Pinard, Raymond

Peter Pinckney, Gilford

Donna Pinckney, Gilford

Robin Pinto, Hanover

Patricia Place, Francestown

Denise Plante, Nashua

Mary Platt, Concord

Anthony Poirier, Canaan

Sherry Poirier, Canaan

Lisa Pollard, Hooksett

Jeanine Poole, Concord

Anthony Poore, Manchester

Nancy Poulin, Bow

Daniel Poulin, Conway

Pamela Powers-Moll, Bedford

Barbara Pressly, Nashua

Joyce Priestly, Alexandria

Dana Primiano, Hancock

Marian Prout, Hampton

Geraldine Prusko, Gilmanton

Cindy Quetti, Hampton

Anjali Quinn, Exeter

Brenda Quinn, Hopkinton

Barbara Rafferty, Concord

Nancy Ragazzo, Merrimack

Lynn Rainsley, Rochester

Robin Rainville, Pembroke

John Randolph, Hanover

Tina Rapp, Sharon

John Rauscher, Weare

Bonnie Rausher, Weare

Frederick Rawlings, Chesterfield

June Rawlings, Chesterfield

Alex Ray, Holderness

Delma Reagan, Salisbury

Ida Reardon, Seabrook

Kevin Reardon, Derry

Nina Reed, Manchester

Shawn Regnier, Littleton

Blossom Reid, Manchester

Sean Reilly, Manchester

David Renfors, Salisbury

Trudy Renfors, Salisbury

Julie-Ann Rennie, Barrington

George Reville, Merrimack

Deidre Reynolds, Nashua

Charles Rhoades, Dover

Dorothy Richards, Litchfield

Doris Richmond, Peterborough

Norma Roberts, Exeter

Struan Robertson, Tuftonboro

Lenore Robertson, Tuftonboro

Paula Rockwell, Rindge

Linda Roeder, Belmont

Melissa Rogers, Manchester

Matthew Rolph, Warren

Rita Roper, Hudson

Michael Ross, Portsmouth

Roberta Rossi, Bedford

Lockard Row, Peterborough

Patricia Row, Peterborough

Cherri Rowell, Belmont

Maurice Roy, Nashua

Mark Rubacky, Merrimack

David Rude, Salisbury

Franklin Rudolph, Nashua

Rosemarie Rung, Merrimack

Raelene Rust, Keene

James Sabine, Hinsdale

Crystal Sabine, Hinsdale

Luke Sacher, Fitzwilliam

Charles Samardelis, Windham

Ralitsa Samardelis, Windham

Frederick Sanford, Derry

Mieko Sano, Milford

Edward Santee, Nashua

Diana Sargent, Manchester

Steven Sarro, Bedford

Nancy Sawyer, Amherst

Irene Sawyer, Milford

Shelley Saylor, Charlestown

Jennifer Saylor, Charlestown

Eugenie Scagel, Wilton

Stephany Scaglione, Somersworth

Ellen Scannell, Goffstown

John Schena, Nashua

Janet Schofield, Portsmouth

Nancy Schofield, Concord

Cory Schofield, Concord

Adam Schwarz, Etna

Thomas Scribner, Manchester

Stephanie Seacord, Newfields

Laura Sebert, Peterborough

Elaine Seibel, Hill

Stephanie Sewhuk, Nashua

Steven Sewhuk, Nashua

William Sharp, Litchfield

Isabel Sharp, Litchfield

Sara Shattuck, Bristol

Nora Shaw, Marlborough

David Shaw, Hudson

Keri Shaw, Hudson

Richard Shaw, North Hampton

Nancy Sheeler, Lebanon

Opheilla Sheen, Derry

Elizabeth Shirley, Nashua

Tara Shore, Laconia

Cris Shuldiner, Pelham

Kathleen Shumway-Pitt, Laconia

Lindley Shutz, Concord

Robin Silva, Portsmouth

Glenn Silva, New Boston

Rena Simard, Gilmanton

Deborah Simbalist, Effingham

Richard Simbalist, Effingham

Priscilla Simm, Hillsborough

Judith Singh, Nashua

David Singleton, Hill

Maria Singleton, Hill

Edward Sirois, Merrimack

Julie Slattery, Pelham

Joseph Smath, Durham

Stuart Smith, Lyme

James Smith, Moultonborough

Rose Smith, Moultonborough

Alexander Smith, Rochester

Edna Smith, Rochester

Thomas Smith, Moultonborough

Martha Smith, Lincoln

Ernest Snow, Swanzey

Anna Sodemann, Plainfield

Robert Sodemann, Plainfield

Eric Soederberg, Bedford

Andrea Solomon, Manchester

Lori Southwick, Northfield

Concepcion Spaulding, Manchester

Darrell Spencer, Nashua

Lauren Spencer, Wolfeboro

Robert Spiegelman, Londonderry

Calvin Spurr, Rochester

Doris Spurr, Rochester

Amy St George, Peterborough

Roberta Stanley, Conway

Margaret Stark, Salem

Devin Starlanyl, West Chesterfield

Michael Steckevicz, Nashua

Shirley Stephenson, Lyndeborough

Linda Stephenson, Canterbury

Robert Stevens, Belmont

Matthew Stevens, Lee

Rosemary Stewart, Wakefield

Anthony Stoddard, Sandown

Kimberly Story, Exeter

Gayle Strachan, Lebanon

John Strachan, Lebanon

Matthew Straub, Concord

Natalia Strong, Bow

Russell Strong, Bow

Naureen Stubbs, Tilton

Doraswamy Subramony, Nashua

Uma Subramony, Nashua

Paula Super, Merrimack

Roman Susalka, Nashua

Donna Swain, Laconia

Donna Swanson, Durham

Larry Swanson, Durham

Patricia Swonger, Merrimack

Roy Swonger, Merrimack

Nancy Szeto, Claremont

Riana Szymkiewicz, Newbury

Alexander Takantjas, Belmont

Bonnie Taylor, Kingston

David Taylor, Kingston

Peter Telge, Manchester

Elizabeth Terry, Stratham

Elizabeth Terry, Concord

Neil Theberge, Litchfield

Audra Theroux, Merrimack

Erin Thesing, Hopkinton

Susan Thielen, Keene

Carolyn Thomas, Portsmouth

Angelika Thomas, Concord

Brenda Thomas, Bedford

Barbara Thompson, West Lebanon

Trili Timm, Chichester

Melissa Tobey, Exeter

Sharon Todd-Elliott, New Boston

Sally Tomlinson, Orford

Sibylle Tornow, Merrimack

Ronald Tornow, Merrimack

Jennifer Torok, Dover

David Tothill, Ctr Barnstead

John Tourgee, Sharon

Geraldine Tower, Moultonborough

Richard Tower, Moultonborough

Douglas Towle, Loudon

Erick Towle, Chichester

Carolyn Tracy, Concord

Jessica Tremblay, Bedford

Darlene Tripp, Dover

Cornelia Trombly, Concord

Daniela Turczyk Cooper, Manchester

Hope Ullman, Wolfeboro

Darlene Underhill, Exeter

Debra Underwood, Claremont

Henri Vaillancourt, Greenville

Chris Valade, Nottingham

Charles Valentine, Nashua

Garrison Valentine, Rochester

Inge Valentine, Rochester

Nikolas Valkanos, Manchester

Etienne Vallee, Conway

Marcia Vallier, Wilton

Grant Vandyck, Bow

Priya Venkatesan, Lebanon

Tonya Victoria, Epping

Virginia Virgil, Rumney

Andru Volinsky, Concord

Cynthia Wahrlich, Claremont

John Wakelin, Chichester

Elaine Wallace, Londonderry

Joseph Wallace, Merrimack

Jacob Wangel-Komisar, West Lebanon

Betty Ward, Concord

Janet Ward, Hopkinton

Francis Warman, Hopkinton

Lissa Warren, Salem

Penny Warren, Bedford

Marylucille Washington, Hanover

Deborah Watrous, Concord

Robert Wayss, Portsmouth

Roxanne Weber, Hudson

Christine Weed, Concord

Casey Weeks, Moultonborough

Natalie Weeks, Belmont

Marcus Weeks, Belmont

John Weld, Manchester

Prudence Wells, Mason

Franklin Welton, New Boston

Joyce Welton, New Boston

Richard Weston, Concord

David Whelan, Concord

Melissa Whelan, Bow

Jon Whitcomb, Etna

Wendy White, Dublin

Mary Whitehead, Pembroke

Jay Wibben, Troy

Nancy Wibben, Troy

Herman Wiegelman, Hillsborough

Yvonne Wiegelman, Hillsborough

Charles Wilbert, Candia

Laurie Wilder, Hooksett

Janice Williams, Stratham

Jessica Williams, Dover

Rachel Williams, Dover

Kathleen Williamson, Weare

William Wilson, Weare

Patricia Wilson, Warren

Donald Winchester, Antrim

Susan Wingate, Rumney

Richard Winneg, Bedford

Deborah Wiswell, Concord

Sharon Witaszek, Hopkinton

Eldwin Wixson, Plymouth

Charles Woodbury, Manchester

Elizabeth Woodbury, Manchester

Matthew Woodbury, Manchester

Alan Worcester, Center Conway

Todd Wormstead, Somersworth

Lee Wotherspoon, Newton

Candace Wyman, Alton Bay

Nicholas Yager, West Lebanon

Dean York, Manchester

Catherine Young, Nashua

Jayne Young, Strafford

Cynthia Young, Exeter

Virginia Young, Epping

Michelle Young-Hampe, Tilton

Annette Zamarchi, Concord

George Zarella, Bedford

Lucyann Zeller, Canterbury

Debra Zimmermann, Gilford

Frank Zito, Bedford

EDWARDS ANNOUNCES PLAN TO TAKE ON HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES TO HELP FAMILIES

As part of “America Belongs to Us” week, Edwards calls for stronger insurance laws to prevent abuse and ensure American families can get the care they need

MANCHESTER – In New Hampshire today as part of “America Belongs to Us” week, Senator John Edwards unveiled his proposals to take on health insurance companies and highlighted why he is the one candidate the American people can trust to stand up to the big corporations who have used their money and lobbyists to rig the system in Washington at the expense of hardworking American families. Edwards called for stronger insurance laws to prevent abuses and ensure that everyone can get the insurance they need, strengthening enforcement of insurance rules, and the creation of more competition and choice in insurance markets.

“The American health care system is broken,” said Edwards. “Even families with insurance are often unprotected from catastrophic events, as insurers fight legitimate claims, impose coverage caps, and look for technicalities to cancel policies. Half of families entering bankruptcy today are driven by high medical costs.

“I have spent my entire life battling special interest groups to protect the rights of regular Americans. In courtrooms, I stood with families who needed a voice against armies of insurance company lawyers. In the Senate, I championed the Patients’ Bill of Rights to fight managed care and insurance company abuses. I’ve seen first-hand how far too often health insurance companies will put profit and executive bonuses above the medical needs of their customers.

“Last week, Governor Romney proposed even further deregulation of the health insurance industry – a plan that could lead to even more insured Americans without the care they need. This is clearly the wrong approach. We need tough new insurance laws to prevent abuses and ensure that Americans are no longer on their own against insurance companies.”

Under the Edwards’ plan, insurance companies will be required to sell insurance to everyone, regardless of their preexisting conditions, and prevented from denying coverage after a condition develops. Edwards will put a stop to the practice of charging more to individuals with certain occupations or with pre-existing conditions, and will set national accounting standards requiring insurers to spend at least 85 percent of their premiums on patient care. Edwards will empower consumers by forcing insurance companies to be more honest and transparent about what they will ultimately cover and making sure all insurers guarantee comprehensive benefits. Edwards also called for an updated bill of rights for patients and providers.

To strengthen oversight and maintaining insurer accountability, Edwards will create Health Care Markets and offer advocates to help patients negotiate with insurance companies. And to increase competition and stop insurance company monopolies, Edwards will block mergers that could hurt consumers, doctors and hospitals. Also, his new public insurance plan will increase competitive pressures on private insurers to hold down their costs and deliver better coverage.

Edwards’ proposals for taking on the insurance companies are part of the “America Belongs to Us” week, in which he will lay out detailed policy proposals to address specific issues that matter that matter most for American families, including the rising cost of home heating oil, protecting our children from unsafe toys and ensuring access to safe and affordable prescription drugs.

For further details on Edwards plan to take on health insurance companies, please see the “Taking on Health Insurance Companies to Help Families” paper included below.

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TAKING ON HEALTH INSURERS TO HELP FAMILIES AND PREVENT ABUSES
The American health care system is broken. There are 47 million Americans who lack health insurance, and 18,000 people die every year as a result. Health care costs are skyrocketing and premiums are up 90 percent since 2000. Even families with insurance are often unprotected from catastrophic events when insurers fight legitimate claims, impose coverage caps, and seek excuses to revoke coverage when its needed most. Half of families entering bankruptcy are driven there by high medical costs. Many people who have health insurance are “underinsured” and postpone needed health care because of their meager coverage. [Census Bureau, 2007; IOM, 2002; KFF, 2006; Warren et. al., 2005; Consumer Reports, 2007]
As senator, John Edwards championed the Patients’ Bill of Rights to fight managed care and insurance company abuses. Now more than ever, the health insurance industry needs to be kept honest. While companies have an obligation to treat their customers with fairness and dignity, too often companies put their own profits and executive pay first. Today, Edwards outlined his plan to make sure that families with insurance have the health care safety net they pay for and need.
Insurance Industry Abuses: The current health care system is broken, often letting down even families with insurance. The abusive behavior of insurance companies includes:
• Designing confusing forms and procedures that make it very difficult for patients to claim the benefits they deserve and forcing patients to hire paperwork consultants. [Pryor et. al, 2007; NY Times, 10/13/2005]
• Using complex and unfair rules to cancel insurance policies after people get sick, despite accepting past payments. California regulators fined one insurer, Blue Cross of California, $1 million for violating state rules and abusively canceling insurance policies from 2004 to 2006. Another insurer, Health Net, paid bonuses based upon the number of patients whose policies were canceled for technicalities. [Pryor et. al, 2007; Sacramento Bee, 8/29/2007; LA Times, 3/28/3006 and 11/9/2007]
• Wrongly denying medical treatment needed to live and covered by insurance. [Wall St. Journal, 11/16/2007]
• Charging patients more for “out-of-network” doctors at “in-network” hospitals, leading patients to unwittingly incur thousands of dollars in bills despite trying to follow the rules.
• Creating procedural barriers and paperwork that keep doctors from providing needed care.
Lack of Competition: In 299 of 313 markets recently surveyed, one health plan controls at least 30 percent of the market for health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations. In the last 12 years, the Department of Justice has only challenged two of more than 400 insurance company mergers. There is a merger pending in Nevada that would put 80 percent of the state’s HMO market in the hands of one insurance company. High levels of market consolidation raises concerns that the insurance market may not be competitive, hurting the health care system. [AMA, 2007; Velazquez, 2007]
Huge Levels of Executive Pay: As premiums skyrocket and some patients are denied care they need, insurance company CEOs are often paid tens of millions of dollars a year. In 2006, it was reported that the CEO of one of the world’s largest insurers, UnitedHealth Group, had been awarded an astonishing $1.1 billion in stock options, enough to cover roughly 750,000 uninsured children with health insurance for one year. [AFL-CIO, 2007; NY Times, 10/16/2006]

FIGHTING FOR FAMILIES’ RIGHTS TO BASIC INSURANCE
John Edwards has fought special interest groups his entire career and knows that we need a health care system that works for everyone. His health plan will reform the health insurance industry to help us all get the insurance we need. Today, he proposed new laws to prevent abuses, stronger enforcement of insurance rules, and more competition and choice in insurance markets. Americans will no longer be on their own against insurance companies.
Tough New Insurance Laws:
• Insurance that Is Always There: John Edwards will stop insurance industry “rescissions,” the practice of dropping individuals from insurance for technical reasons after they need their coverage. Edwards will pass a guaranteed issue law requiring insurance companies to sell insurance to everyone, regardless of their preexisting conditions, and preventing from denying coverage after a condition develops.
• A Fair Price for Good Insurance: Today, insurance companies will charge certain occupations and individuals with preexisting conditions more for insurance, such as police officers, firefighters, and construction workers. Edwards will put a stop to this practice, requiring community rating so that all people have access to insurance at a fair price.

• Ensure that Premiums Help Patients: Enacting health care reform to expand insurance to all families also requires establishing new rules so insurance companies cannot continue charging hardworking families excessive premiums, while pocketing the savings. Edwards will require insurers to spend at least 85 percent of their premiums on patient care as several states already do. The plan will force insurers to cut wasteful spending and pass savings on to families and employers.
• Empower Consumers: John Edwards will remove the mystery in what insurance companies cover. New “truth-in-insuring” rules will require insurance companies to be transparent and honest about what they will ultimately cover. The rules will set standards on explaining private insurance products and understandable medical bills.
• Guaranteed Comprehensive Benefits: Some states mandate that insurance companies must provide benefits like preventive care to children and screening tests like mammograms. Some insurance companies leave out these common-sense procedures. Under the Edwards plan, every American will have comprehensive benefits including preventive care and important tests.

• Creating a Bill of Rights for Patients and Providers: Now more than ever, Americans need a Patients’ Bill of Rights for insurance and managed care companies. In 2001, John Edwards fought for the original Bill of Rights, which passed the Senate but was eventually blocked by insurance company lobbyists. As president, Edwards will help create an updated Bill of Rights to solidify the protections discussed in 2001 and reflect today’s need to reform insurance companies’ practices.
It is also time to protect doctors and hospitals from insurance company abuses. By making it difficult for health care providers to collect on their claims, insurance companies make it difficult for patients to get the care they need. Complex forms, long hold times on the phone, and inappropriate denials of payment for needed treatments are just some of the insurance company tactics. Edwards will develop strict rules for insurance companies that will make it easier for doctors and hospitals to get paid for and deliver needed care.
Stronger Enforcement:
• Maintaining Accountability: All Americans need and deserve a strong line of protection against insurance companies. Edwards will revolutionize the individual and small group insurance markets with his new Health Care Markets, which will negotiate plans and carefully enforce protections for families. Edwards will also ask the Department of Justice and work with states to oversee insurance markets.
• Create an Advocate for Patients: In California, when a patient has a dispute with a managed care company, the state reviews the case to make sure the company acted within the law. Every patient deserves an advocate when he or she needs it. Edwards will look to models like California’s and build a national resource for regular people to get the help they need in negotiating with for insurance companies and HMOs. Edwards will also establish a medical home for Americans with chronic diseases, giving patients a primary care doctor who can advocate against insurance companies for needed care.
More Competition
• Stop Insurance Company Monopolies: Edwards will apply rigorous standards and block mergers that could hurt consumers, doctors and hospitals. He will direct the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct an immediate and comprehensive review of the health insurance market and make recommendations on how to ensure a competitive market. Where monopolies already exist, he would break them up to ensure competition. He will also revisit the insurance company exception to the nation’s antitrust laws.
• New Competition for Private Insurers: The Edwards plan creates new choices for American families. The new Health Care Markets will be available to everyone who does not get comparable insurance from their jobs or a public program and to employers who choose to join rather than offer their own insurance plans. Families and individuals will choose the plan that works best for them. The markets will include a new public plan similar to Medicare. If enough people choose the public plan, then the US will evolve towards a single-payer plan. As a result, private insurers will face new rules and competitive pressures to hold down their costs and deliver better coverage.

On Nov. 28, the Kevin Harrington Student Ambassadors at the Institute of Politics will offer Saint Anselm’s nearly 2,000-member student body the chance to weigh in on the candidates at polling places throughout campus. This is the earliest known, large-scale mock primary vote to occur in the state.

The student primary follows the Saint Anselm College Issues Poll, which in October surveyed more than 1,500 likely New Hampshire Primary voters, who themselves will go to the polls themselves in about six weeks.

Saint Anselm students are uniquely prepared to vote in the mock primary. The college’s Institute of Politics is a stop on the campaign train for many presidential contenders. And throughout the fall, Institute programs have engaged the student body with educational programming. During Citizenship Week in September, the entire student body was offered the opportunity to register to vote, and to learn more about the candidates and the issues.

“We hope to collect a representative sample of our entire student body, representing students from throughout New England, and across the country,” said Katelyn Kerins ’09, one of the Student Ambassadors planning the event. “This vote should provide a good indication of how candidates’ messages are resonating with young voters.”

The results will be made public at 9 a.m. Nov. 29, at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. The presentation will be open to the public.

Des Moines, Iowa – Today, Sen. Joe Biden announced his plan to reduce pressures that are causing the price of oil to skyrocket and to transform America into the source of the world's energy future. While the unveiling was originally scheduled to take place at a Kum and Go gas and convenience store that offers E85/Flex-Fuel – due to inclement weather, Sen. Biden outlined his plan from his Iowa campaign headquarters.

"We must begin to embrace – like Kum & Go and General Motors – innovation that reduces our dependence on oil, builds an export economy of clean technologies, and reverses the effects of climate change," said Sen. Biden.

With Flex-Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) as his backdrop, Sen. Biden said, "We must fundamentally shift the way we consume energy in this country in every sector of the economy – from increasing fuel efficiency of vehicles and using alternative fuels to generating more power from renewable sources like the wind and the sun."

By raising fuel economy standards, increasing the amount of farm-grown fuel in the nation's fuel supply, mandating that every new vehicle built in the US be a flex-fuel vehicle and requiring large gas station chains to add alternative fuel pumps to at least half of their stations by 2017, Sen. Biden would substantially decrease our dependence on oil from unstable regions like the Middle East and cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 100 million tons a year.

He called on the Administration to contain the rising security premium on oil by stopping its policy of ratcheting up tension with Iran.

"The price of every barrel of oil includes what the energy experts call a 'security premium' – an extra cost directly related to the risk of conflict - the more tensions rise, the higher the security premium goes," said Sen. Biden. "We must stop the self-defeating saber-rattling when it comes to Iran. Instead, we should make clear our interest is not regime change but conduct change."

Sen. Biden announced a $50 billion investment in green jobs, alternative energy and energy efficiency. He also committed to setting higher energy efficiency and renewable energy targets for the federal government - the nation's largest energy consumer.

Sen. Biden pledged to restore US leadership on climate change by immediately directing US negotiators to return to global climate change negotiations and bringing with them a plan from the US to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

EDWARDS: CONGRESS SHOULDN’T HAVE HEALTH CARE IF AMERICANS DON’T

Second major New Hampshire ad highlights plan to hold Congress accountable for passing universal health care

MANCHESTER -- Senator John Edwards begins a new wave of New Hampshire television advertisements later today with an ad that features Edwards’ plan to hold Congress accountable for passing universal health care within six months after he takes office as President. The ad will run statewide.

“We all want universal health care – but just having a plan is not enough,” Edwards said. “We've seen plans fail before in Congress, and they will fail again unless we have a new approach. We have to be willing to take on the drug companies, insurance companies, and their Washington lobbyists who killed reform last time. But if you're defending the system, taking money from their lobbyists and giving them a seat at the table, reform is just not going to happen.”

On the first day of Edwards’ administration, he will submit legislation that ends health care coverage for the president, all members of Congress, and all senior political appointees in the legislative and executive branches of government on July 20th, 2009 – unless Congress has enacted universal health care reform.

Edwards will require Congress to pass universal health insurance that meets four principles: (1) It must be truly universal; (2) Anyone who has health care must be able to keep it and pay less for it; (3) Anyone who doesn’t have health care must get it, with help if they can’t afford it; (4) Doctors and patients, not insurance companies and HMOs, must have control over health care decisions.

The ad runs 30 seconds and is posted on Edwards’ webpage – http://www.johnedwards.com/watch/health-care-ad/. The transcript of the ad follows:

“When I’m president I’m going to say to members of Congress and members of my administration, including my cabinet: I’m glad that you have health care coverage and your family has health care coverage. But if you don’t pass universal health care by July of 2009 – in six months – I’m going to use my power as president to take your health care away from you. [Applause] There’s no excuse for politicians in Washington having health care when you don’t have health care. I’m John Edwards and I approve this message.”

Today’s announcement builds on Edwards’ growing momentum in New Hampshire over the past month, including:


• November 17: The Edwards campaign launches Young Granite Staters for Edwards at www.johnedwards.com/nh/youth.

• November 11: Edwards releases an 80-page policy book, The Plan to Build One America, and announces that more than 70,000 copies will be delivered to New Hampshire voters during ongoing statewide canvasses.

• November 9: The Edwards campaign announces 433 New Hampshire Women for Edwards as Cate Edwards and President Emeritus and Founder of NARAL Pro-Choice America Kate Michelman campaign across the state.

• October 31: Edwards earns the endorsement of the 10,000-member strong New Hampshire State Employees Association (SEIU Local 1984).