I was led to believe that was something only Repuglicans did.
"N.H. GOP decries Senate poll, asks state to investigate" by Norma Love, Associated Press | July 27, 2010
CONCORD, N.H. — The state Republican Party asked the attorney general yesterday to investigate whether Democratic Senate candidate Paul Hodes conducted polling aimed at spreading negative information against his Republican opponent, Kelly Ayotte....
The callers asked whether voters would be more or less likely to vote for Ayotte if they knew she ignored or failed to pursue a now-closed New Hampshire mortgage firm at the center of a Ponzi scheme when she was attorney general. Hodes has run ads hammering at Ayotte for not pursing the case.
Ayotte was attorney general when complaints surfaced about the mortgage firm now accused of swindling investors out of millions of dollars. But in accordance with state law, the complaints were sent to the state banking department, which has jurisdiction over such matters.
Yeah, I could SEE WHERE UPHOLDING the LAW is a PROBLEM for some people.
New Hampshire law says that, under certain conditions, poll questions about an opposing candidate that touch on the candidate’s character, status, or political stance or record amount to “push polling,’’ a negative campaign technique....
Mountain West Research of Pocatello, Idaho, conducted the poll last week for Anzalone-Liszt Research, whose website lists Hodes as a client.
Stacey Jenkins, Mountain West’s attorney, said it acted as a subcontractor gathering information for Anzalone-Liszt and does not know which candidate paid for the research.
“They present us with a script that they’ve crafted and ask us to contact a list of phone numbers provided to us,’’ said Jenkins. “We read the script and provide information back to them.’’
Jenkins called the research a “message test’’ to determine reactions to statements. In a message test, the number of people called is much smaller than a push poll, Jenkins said.
Do you get this message?
“A push poll is an attempt to sway public opinion in and of itself,’’ he said....
You know, like a NEWSPAPER!!!
Hodes spokesman Mark Bergman would not say whether Hodes paid for the poll.
Translation: He did.
“All of our polls are lawful and conducted for statistical purposes only, not to disseminate messages. We don’t comment on the specific timing or content of any market research we conduct,’’ Bergman said.
Bergman said the complaint is frivolous and “trying to score cheap political points.’’
That is what a Republican would say, right?
Also see: Slow Saturday Special: S*** Politics
I was wondering what that smell was.
Nothing like Globe lies like a cherry on top.
"N.H. Democrats fight to maintain dominance; Only Lynch fares well in the polls" by Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff | July 6, 2010
CONCORD, N.H. — After two election cycles in which they swept the Republicans, New Hampshire Democrats are leaning into a gale-force political headwind this fall. Only Governor John H. Lynch, seeking an unprecedented fourth two-year term, has decent poll numbers at this point and even those are down quite a bit from consistently stratospheric highs of the recent past....
“My sense is that Republicans have a very good chance of taking the Senate seat, both congressional districts, as well as control of the Legislature, and Lynch may be the one Democrat who can make it through this Republican wave,’’ said Andrew E. Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, which conducts the Granite State poll for WMUR-TV and also polls for The Boston Globe....
Republicans sense an opening against a governor whose job approval rating peaked at 80 percent in one Smith poll, didn’t fall below 70 percent until a year ago, and was at 56 percent in April, amid a carpet-bombing of television attack ads by a national group critical of Lynch for reversing his stand and signing gay marriage into law in New Hampshire....
As if that peripheral issue is going to decide it!
Of course, he is out because he is an incumbent.
New Hampshire operates on two-year budgets and has no state income or sales tax....
Maybe you should give it a look-see, Massachusetts.
