For Janeway challengers, a fiscal focus in a media blackhole

Concord business owner Andy Sanborn (R-Loudon) and former state rep. Larry Elliott (R-Antrim), who are both running for the opportunity to challenge freshman state Sen. Harold Janeway (D-Webster), agree on the message, but the question for their primary is who can get that message out.

Both Republican Seante District 7 candidates said they are running on a message of lower government spending.

"My friends, the Democrats, have decided to fill the budget with fees. Whether it's the phone bill or car registration state fees are going up," Elliott said.

While, Sanborn stressed the state's cost-of-living, "It's becoming expensive to live here. The state budget is making it difficult for people to live in New Hampshire."

Former state Sen. David Currier (R-Henniker) said that a candidate needs to do well in Henniker, Weare and Hillsborough.

"Those are the bigger towns and you need to pull most of your votes from there," he said.

Currier, who has endorsed Elliott, added that developing a media strategy for the primary can be difficult.

"In the district you have three papers that people gravitate towards," Currier said. "The people in the central part of the district read the Concord Monitor while people in Loudon tend to get their news from the Laconia Citizen and the southern part reads the Union Leader. It's such a tricky district."

In the 2006 general election Janeway defeated state Sen. Bob Flanders (R-Antrim) by 3,000 votes. Janeway won in towns such as Antrim, Canterbury, Hancock, Webster and Warner by hundreds-of-votes.

Sanborn, owner of the The Draft in Concord, said he is a better candidate than Elliott because of his experience as a small business owner, but admitted that he remains a "relative unknown."

"My biggest challenge is that I'm still a relative unknown. I've been going to Republican meetings and attending parades. I'm just trying to reach out to everyone."

Elliott, who labels himself "Fiscally Conservative yet Socially Responsible," told us that he is running a campaign that is "back to the basics."

"It's crazy to spend so much money for a job that pays almost nothing," he said.

Elliott added that his campaign is focused on appealing to all voters. "We need to reach folks on both sides of the tent."