Concord Monitor

In 2006, Executive Council John Shea (D-Nelson) was on a flight to Belgium when he heard he had pulled off an upset victory and defeated Councilor Peter Spaulding. Two years later, Shea has visited every town in District 2 and has been campaigning extensively with Gov. John Lynch (D-Hopkinton).

This year though Shea is facing well-known Merrimack County Attorney Dan St. Hilaire (R-Concord) in a race that could determine which party has the majority on the powerful council. The Executive Council approves gubernatorial appointments and votes for every state contract over $5,000. Currently the Democrats have a 3-2 advantage on the council.

A poll sponsored by The Concord Monitor shows Barack Obama leading John McCain in New Hampshire.

The poll has Obama beating McCain 50 percent to 43 percent. The last Monitor poll had Obama leading McCain 48 percent to 44 percent.

Last night U. S. Rep. Paul Hodes (D-Concord) and Jennifer Horn (R-Nashua) participated in a forum sponsored by the Concord Business and Professional Women organization.

"Hodes described how his greatest successes have involved helping constituents back home. Horn talked about her family, accused Hodes of failing to change Washington enough and called for a smaller, more frugal government free of ‘roadblocks,'" The Concord Monitor reports.

In an attempt to experiment with a new format for story-telling, the editor at the Concord Monitor, Felice Belman, had no idea that a full-page cartoon would enrage so many readers.

A piece in the Sept. 5 edition of the newspaper titled, How We Got Gay Married by Monitor staffer Clay McCuistion has struck a nerve and lead to numerous angry phone messages on Belman's voice mail. The cartoon, using McCuistion’s “gentle and sometimes goofy humor” helped paint the picture of his recent nuptials with his long-time partner of seven years.

A volunteer collecting signatures for the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition has been charged with assaulting a disabled senior citizen on July 28th, The Concord Monitor is reporting.

Eric Green was gathering signatures in Concord when he began arguing with a 65-year old man over taxes. According to a police report Green pushed the man over the curb and the man fell to the ground. Green then left the scene but police were able to track him down. An arrest warrant was issued for Green and when Green failed to turn himself in Concord police arrested Green at his home.

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr is scheduled to visit Manchester on July 22.

Barr, a former U.S. Rep. from Georgia, will visit Manchester's Murphy's Taproom at 8:00pm, The Concord Monitor's Lauren Dorgan is reporting.

Editors note: This is a daily summary of news about the U.S. Senate race between U.S. Sen. John Sununu (R-Waterville Valley) and former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D-Madbury).

Today in the U.S. Senate race Jeanne Shaheen dominated the news cycle.

A Concord Monitor analysis finds that freshmen U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes (D-Concord) and U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Rochester) share more than just the same political affiliation.

"Both have sided with House Democratic leaders on about 98 percent of votes, according to congressional voting records records," The Monitor concluded. "Those percentages put Hodes and Shea-Porter in the top fifth of House members when it comes to voting with their own party."