New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District race will be a rematch from 2010 when Charlie Bass defeated career lobbyist Anne Kuster by less than two percent.
The 2nd district runs the length of the state from the Massachusetts border up to Canada and includes both Nashua and Concord. A swing district with a true independent streak, it had been trending Democrat in recent years, with Obama receiving 56% in ’08 and Kerry garnering 52% in ’04.
Despite these Democrat trends in recent elections prior to 2010, voters in the district have shown a desire to elect independent voices. In addition to sending Bass back to Congress in 2010, the district also helped elect a new Republican U.S. Senator in Kelly Ayotte. That history will hurt a Democrat like Kuster who has a radical agenda out of step with the district’s independent streak.
Democrats have already made this one of their top targets in the country, putting Kuster in the DCCC “Red to Blue” program which will funnel national money into the race. Kuster was leading Bass in campaign cash heading into 2012, but with the amount of outside focus on this race – that is sure to be equalized. To that end, we’ve also already seen the radical liberal Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) run negative attack ads on TV about Congressman Bass in an attempt to deceive voters on his Medicare record.
Last cycle in her race against Bass, Kuster was lambasted by the New Hampshire Union Leader, the state’s paper of record. In their endorsement of Bass, the editorial board said, “Kuster is so liberal she thinks Obamacare didn't go far enough in taking over the health care and health insurance industries. She actually thinks the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 caused the recession. She supports the stimulus and thinks Washington should pass another one.”
As the 2010 race highlighted, Kuster, who garnered nicknames such as “left wing darling” and “super-liberal,” is a radical who pretends to be moderate to appeal to 2nd district voters. In 2012, this is again sure to be a key issue the Bass campaign will seek to highlight. Make no mistake, if Ann McLane Kuster is elected, New Hampshire families can guarantee that she’ll put her party’s liberal tax-and-spend agenda before standing up for them.
Kuster may not want to talk about President Obama’s healthcare law anymore now that it has driven up costs and destroyed jobs in New Hampshire, but if Kuster had her way, we’d all have government-run healthcare. Her problem with Obama’s plan is that it’s not liberal enough.
By supporting such partisan plans like ObamaCare and the failed so-called “stimulus,” Kuster has proven that she’s more concerned with party loyalty than with helping New Hampshire small businesses get back to hiring again. With a record like Kuster’s, it’s no wonder Obama and Washington Democrats want her in Congress.
While this rematch is certain to be hard fought and close, voters will again have a clear choice in candidates. Bass has voted against big-government bailouts, crushing regulations and voted to repeal the President’s failed healthcare takeover. Anne Kuster is running on a platform to force even more of these same policies on New Hampshire families that have driven up healthcare costs, hurt small businesses and suffocated economic growth.