Yesterday Fergus Cullen, chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party, released the following statement:
CONCORD - A new Rasmussen poll released today shows a five point gap in the US Senate race. The poll which is posted on RasmussenReports.com shows Jeanne Shaheen leading Senator John Sununu by only five points, 48% to 43%.
The poll also shows that 50% of New Hampshire residents support the General Petraeus report calling for a gradual reduction of US forces in Iraq.
"This poll shows how out of touch Jeanne Shaheen, Katrina Swett, Jay Buckey and the angry left wing democrats are on the war. Voters are not supporting a rash surrender in Iraq, but rather a thoughtful measured approach similar to that supported by Senator John Sununu," said today by New Hampshire Republican Chair Fergus Cullen.
Even if one is willing to forgive the grammatical weirdness in the last sentence, statements like this cannot go unchallenged. The Buckey Campaign has issued the following press release:
Senate Candidate Jay Buckey Responds to NH Republican Attack
Lebanon, NH – "John Sununu voted for the Iraq resolution and, back in 2003, when showing leadership on Iraq would have made an importance difference, John Sununu didn’t step forward," said US Senate candidate Jay Buckey.
"The facts and his record don’t support the notion that Sununu would provide real leadership now," said Buckey. "As citizens, we want our senators to look at the facts, assess them critically, and make good decisions. We don’t need them to follow the president uncritically, as John Sununu has done on Iraq."
"The attacks the Republican Party is leveling highlight the problems we are having with our political system and show why Republican leadership has been ineffective," said Buckey, responding to a misleading press release issued yesterday by the New Hampshire Republican Party.
"The attacks are meant to be divisive. But at the end of the day, we are all Americans and have to work though these problems together. We all have a stake in the outcome in Iraq."
On the campaign trail, Buckey has been articulating the connection between US military action in Iraq and access to oil, explaining that it is part of a long-standing US policy, dating back to the Carter Doctrine of 1980, to defend US access to the Persian Gulf by force, if necessary.
"General Petraeus is a patriot, but his report doesn’t address the underlying issue. We can no longer afford to focus only on tactical approaches to ending the war in Iraq. We must address the strategic context, which is our nation’s dependence on oil. We must take action immediately to move away from oil and toward clean, renewable alternative energy sources. It’s a vital national security interest – and a vital economic interest."
The funniest thing about this whole situation is that the GOP continues to try to spin polls showing how weak an incumbent Sununu is as showing that the Democratic challengers are somehow "out of touch." Sununu hasn't broke a majority against "unknown democrat," let alone the announced candidates. We have a great opportunity for New Hampshire to put a true progressive into the Senate in 2008.