Union Leader

U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes (D-Concord) is "seriously considering" running against current U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-Rye) in 2010, The Union Leader is reporting.

"He has been approached about the race," Hodes spokesman Mark Bergman told The Union Leader. "He's seriously considering it but in the near future, his focus is on doing his job to stand up for the people of New Hampshire by protecting jobs and working to fix our economy."

Executive Councilor Ray Wieczorek (left), Gov. John Lynch, Mayor Frank Guinta, former Manchester Mayor Bob Baines (right)

MANCHESTER--A collection of state and local officials gathered to dedicate a major city bridge to the state's senior United States senator.

The naming of the Granite State Bridge after U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-Rye) became the center of focus last week when the Manchester Board of Alderman voted 13-1 in favor of renaming the bridge after Gregg. The bridge will now serve as the new gateway into downtown Manchester and the project will be completely finished in the spring of 2009.

An argument between New Hampshire Republican Chairman Fergus Cullen and Fran Wendelboe, head of the New Hampshire Reagan Network, has taken center stage in the online comment section of The Union Leader.

The two were featured in today's Granite Status over allegations that Wendelboe is organizing an effort to replace state committee members with conservatives Republicans. It started earlier this week when Betsy Miller was replaced as the chair of the Merrimack County Republicans by Anne Copp, a prominent supporter of the Reagan Network.

State Rep. Fran Wendelboe (R-New Hampton) has launched a new website called "NH GOP Voice," which she says will serve as an alternative to what she calls an underperforming official New Hampshire Republican Party site.

Since Wendelboe announced the new site earlier today, the state party has updated its own homepage with a link to a Republican National Committee story on state Rep. Sherman Packard's (R-Londonderry) election as House Republican Leader.

State Sen. Joe Kenney (R-Wakefield) says that the New Hampshire Republican Party did not do enough to assist him in his gubernatorial campaign against Gov. John Lynch (D-Hopkinton).

"From the beginning, the state Republican Party backed away from challenging Gov. John Lynch," Kenney wrote in an op-ed piece in The Union Leader. "When I made my decision to run, Lynch was on the verge of a free ride. Republicans suggested he might end up the Republican nominee. I could not stand on the sidelines and watch this happen."

Greg Moore, a New Hampshire political consultant and former campaign manager of John Stephen's congressional campaign, has written an editorial that says the Republican Party should return to its conservative roots.

"Now the GOP has finished its bingeing and is ready to check into rehab. Conservatives finally have their voice, and maybe their party, back," Moore wrote in The Union Leader.

James Tobin has been indicted on new charges relating to the phone-jamming case, The Union Leader reported.

In 2002 Tobin worked for the Republican National Committee and helped form a plan to jam the phone lines of the Democratic Party's get-out-the-vote efforts.

Londonderry Town Moderator Cindi Rice Conley has decided not to allow campaigners stand directly outside of Londonderry High School. Instead they will be have to stand on Mammoth Road.

According to The Union Leader, Rockingham County Republican Committee Chairman Greg Carson said he will challenge the decision in court if necessary.