Remember Governor Ovide Lamontagne?
That's right, you don't...
This despite the fact that Ovide seemed to the front-runner in his 2012 race for the corner office against then State Senator Maggie Hassan.
Why?
This is because Hassan (with the help of outside groups) was able to paint Ovide as a right-wing extremist and used choice as her main rationale.
All four current members of the Congressional Delegation and the Governor identity as being 'Pro-Choice'.
A big part of the NH Dems Playbook for two decades has been to label (usually male) Republicans as being extremists on women's issues. To date, they have failed to do this with Governor Chris Sununu.
The issue of choice is also often lumped into the individual freedom and liberty aspect of the independents that make up 43% of the electorate in our state.
That is why Sununu's comments on New Hampshire Today on Thursday were so significant.
Sununu saying he wouldn't veto the budget over the inclusion of a late term abortion ban isn't a big deal until you get into the details of that ban and think about how this will play out in a potential U.S. Senate campaign with tens of millions of dollars being spent.
I believe that the majority of 'Granite Staters' don't believe anyone should walk into their doctor after 24 weeks and say, "Eh, I don't want to have a kid. Can I get an abortion?"
Both the Governor and Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley have said that there's insufficient data collection to show whether these abortions are actually taking place in NH.
They say there should be a law on the books to make sure they don't.
Fair enough.
The details of the bill are what's problematic, as currently written. No exceptions for rape or incest, very limited exceptions for the life of the child and a doctor is subject to prosecution for performing any such abortion.
The campaign ads against Sununu write themselves.
Imagine the worst in each of those non-exceptions, and expect them to play out on your TV screen or device in 2022, if Sununu runs.