Independents grow in New Hampshire
By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff
The explosive growth of independents continues among New Hampshire's electorate.
Before the 1996 presidential primary, so-called undeclared voters constituted 27.8 percent of registered voters in the Granite State, but this year, the percentage has soared to 44.9 percent, Secretary of State William M. Gardner said today.
Republicans, who 12 years ago made up 41.7 percent of the presidential primary electorate, now constitute 29.4 percent, Gardner said. Democrats, who made up 30.5 percent of all voters in 1996, have dipped to 25.7 percent. Republicans constituted a plurality of all voters in New Hampshire until the general election of 2000 when they were overtaken by independents.
In the past year, the number of independents, who can vote in either party's presidential primary, increased by almost 7,000 while the GOP rolls dipped by 8,340 voters, and Democrats fell by 4,033, Gardner said.
Independents can tip a party primary, as they did in 2000 when Senator John McCain of Arizona thumped then-Texas Governor George W. Bush. McCain, who is counting on independents again this primary, benefited from a surge of 68,492 undeclared voters taking Republican ballots, compared to 45,521 who took Democratic ballots, according to Gardner.
This year, however, polls have showed that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has been leading among undeclared voters in the Republican race. A recent Globe poll showed that he was the choice of 31 percent of independents, followed by McCain, who was supported by 23 percent of independents, and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was backed by 14 percent of undeclared voters who said they were likely to vote in the Jan. 8 GOP primary.
On the Democratic side, Barack Obama was leading Hillary Clinton among independents, according to the poll. His campaign is also counting on undeclared voters to cast ballots for him in the Democratic primary.
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It is interesting that so many voters in NH have gone independant. It really is a statement on how the general public has grown to distrust much in both parties.
What I find puzzling is why we still mostly see political platitudes from the candidates. "I am for strong families and strong defense", "I am a straight talker and I am for fiscal responsibility". I mean who isn't. These statements are all fluff and no substance.
Let's take the economy, it is the number one concern among Republicans and the General public. You can easily see why as our dollars don't go as far and it is tougher for the middle class to get by. There has actually been high inflation rates yet they changed the reporting procedure to make it seem softer. However, food, fuel and housing is all more expensive and has way outpaced income levels.
Greenspan is stating that we are more than likely entering into a recession right now (some economic experts are predicting worse).
So where is the big economic talk? Where is the large economic restructuring plan? - non existent. The only one who has any major form of economic planning is Huckabee with the Sales Tax issue but then turns around and says he wants to double defense spending.
Ron Paul is the only candidate who is talking about his stuff. He is the only who is willing to tackle these problems head on and he is being ostracized for it. They call him kooky, a crank, insane and a number of other degrading comments. What is insane is not noticing the elephant sitting squarly in the room. What is insane is putting your foot out in the path of the guy with the firehose while the house is starting to catch. What is insane is putting our heads in the sand and pretending everything is cool. What is insane is doing the same thing over and over and over again expecting a different result each time.
Let's not even TALK about civil liberties. PLEASE, if you don't want your children inheriting a debt ridden fear filled world look into Ron Paul. www.ronpaul2008.com Don't listen to the naysayers read his positions look at his interviews.
It's been over a year since a stupid comment by George Allen brought down his Senate campaign and any hopes for a 2008 presidential run.
However, when Hillary Clinton made similarly stupid comments, that are recorded on YouTube (http://youtube.com/watch?v=e1Mq8kOXV_E) why is she treated like the teflon queen?
It's time the media stopped giving the Clintons a free pass!
I think we ought to more carefully consider how independent voters behave on primary election day, especially in light of NH voting rules allowing independent voters to declare party affiliation on the day of the primary.
How many McCain or Giuliani supporters arrived on election day registered as an independent, registered that day as democrats solely for the purpose of sabotaging the democratic primaries, and voted for Hillary because she is more "defeatable" than Obama or Edwards?
This seems like a simple tactic to exploit an obviously vulnerable system. The discrepancy between pre-election polls and the results is troubling beyond our considering merely how Hillary's tears swayed the middle-aged female segment.
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