Money in Politics..One Senate Seat..New Hampshire.. $100 million .$114 for each registered voter
New York Times...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/opinion/maggie-hassan-is-the-right-choice-for-new-hampshire.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0
_______________________________________________________________________________________
The Opinion Pages | Hot Seats
Maggie Hassan Is the Right Choice for New Hampshire
The Senate race in New Hampshire is the only one this year in which both incumbent and challenger are women (the first such race was in 1960, next door in Maine). Senator Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, is struggling to close a widening gap with Maggie Hassan, the state’s popular Democratic governor. The seat is a beachhead in the battle for the Senate, with Democrats, Republicans and special-interest groups pouring upward of $102 million into the race, or about $114 for each registered voter.
Earlier this month, Ms. Hassan stood beside Michelle Obama as the first lady said that the 2005 tape in which Donald Trump boasted about sexual assault “has shaken me to my core.” Just days before the tape emerged, Ms. Ayotte issued the most damaging of her many strangled testimonials to Mr. Trump, suggesting that he could serve as a role model, before taking that back.
Ms. Ayotte, who is 48, has contorted herself to accommodate her party’s presidential nominee, saying she was “supporting” but wouldn’t endorse him, a position that impressed no one, including Mr. Trump; he called it “weak.” Ms. Ayotte, sinking in most polls, now says she made “a mistake.” But her come-lately rejection has combined with her record to alienate independents and conservatives
.
Ms. Hassan, 58, entered politics in 1999 to fight for affordable education for disabled people like her son, Ben, who has cerebral palsy. She was elected governor in 2012 and re-elected in 2014, when Democrats were shellacked across the nation. She would have been tough competition even without the Trump millstone around her rival’s neck.