The Most Cautious Politician in New Hampshire

You guessed it: John Lynch. Despite the largest margin of victory in state gubernatorial history and strong allies in the majority in the House, Senate, and on the Executive Council. Many are wondering (including the Concord Monitor in last Sunday's paper) if Lynch will remain bipartisan, slow-moving, and extremely moderate (what an oxymoron) throughout his entire tenure in office. Democrats are especially anxious for Lynch to take action, because they realize just how precarious their rare majority in both the houses of the General Court and on the Executive Council are, and they want us to catch up to the rest of solid-blue New England.

State Democrats, I contend that John Lynch is just what we need. Sure it is annoying to have majorities everywhere and reform in the air, but no action. However, let us not forget the Republicans have essentially held complete control over the state since the formation of the GOP in the 1850s. But historically, moderate and libertarian Republicans have been elected in NH, not hard right-wingers. The anti-tax (and generally anti-government) sentiment has favored the Republicans heavily. The defeat of Mark Fernald in 2002 again showed that a pro-income tax and reformist candidate cannot easily win a general election.

But this election cycle, Republicans did not know what to do with anti-income tax, anti-sales tax, moderate, libertarian Democrats under the leadership of John Lynch. The usual attacks failed, and Governor Lynch gave the party a centrist image that couldn't not appeal to the population. With the national image of the Republican Party going to the hard right, and the Democrats going to the center, independents (who are quickly becoming the dominant block of voters in NH) split in favor of the Dems. This gets people, many of whom used to be (and still are) registered Republicans, used to voting for Democrats (a new thing in this state). And look, Democrats are in office, and the world did not end! We aren't living in trees, there's no income tax, there aren't Orwellian telescreens everywhere, and John Lynch can now do essentially what he wants.

Of course, it would've been nice if he had campaigned for Executive Council candidate Paul Martineau (44%) and State Senate candidate Bob Backus (49%), as his support could have tipped the balance and given them the majorities they needed (But he didn't want to have to deal with angry Republican incumbents). Also, Lynch could at least share his opinions on civil unions or parental notification laws.

But Lynch focuses on what needs to get done, not what is commonly argued. There are things that deserve more attention, that are often lost in the fray. Lynch has made these his priorities: raising the dropout age, raising the minimum wage, banning the burning of toxic materials, etc. These are all things that should have been done long ago, and it takes someone like John Lynch to step back and take care of business.

So lets support the governor, re-elect him and give him a majority again, and maybe he'll show a little more backbone. Of course, the next race will be harder: watch out for Lynch vs. Bass in 2008.

Thank you for reading.