Nonprofit groups want primary say

Hoping jointly to be heard above political din

Zachary Chapman
Sentinel Staff

With the sprawling field of presidential candidates campaigning full swing in New Hampshire, one often-overlooked and historically disparate political group is looking to mobilize and it is using New Hampshire as its base.

The National Nonprofit Primary Project, a national initiative by the Nonprofit Congress to raise political awareness of the nonprofit sector, stopped in Keene Thursday as part of the project’s New Hampshire launch.

Eleven local nonprofit leaders gathered at Walpole Savings Bank in Keene Thursday for a mini-course on what they can do to draw the attention of presidential candidates campaigning in New Hampshire.

To Tancredo, immigration law is everything

In Westmoreland, candidate focuses on closing border

Jake Berry
Sentinel Staff

WESTMORELAND — Presidential hopeful Tom Tancredo dedicated about three minutes of his hour-long speech at a Westmoreland house party Saturday to the war in Iraq.

He gave five seconds to abortion; and three seconds to gun rights.

The remaining 55 minutes or so were nearly all dedicated to immigration — a controversial topic that is the defining issue, Tancredo said, of the 2008 presidential election.

Reading between lines on election

Books are a popularity gauge

Ian Bagley
Sentinel Staff

In the months leading up to New Hampshire’s 2000 presidential primary, U.S. Sen. John McCain’s book “Faith of My Fathers” was a big hit at the Toadstool Bookshop stores in Peterborough, Keene and Milford.

Willard Williams, who owns the Toadstool chain, said the book’s popularity was an early sign that McCain, of Arizona, would do well in New Hampshire — and he did, narrowly defeating George W. Bush in the state’s Republican primary.

So far this year, it appears that Sen. Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat, has cornered the market on candidate book sales in the Monadnock Region.

However, it’s still early, and there are plenty of books by candidates or about candidates expected to hit the shelves between now and the primary, local booksellers say.

An endorsement by any other name…

Ian Bagley
Sentinel Staff

The word “forgettable” might best describe Keene Mayor Michael E.J. Blastos’ support for Bow resident Katrina Swett’s Senate campaign — at least from the mayor’s perspective.

On Thursday, Blastos said he hadn’t yet endorsed a candidate for the 2008 U.S. Senate primary race.

But two press releases on candidate Katrina Swett’s campaign Web site list Blastos as a member of the “steering committee’s Executive Team” for Swett’s campaign.

In Thursday’s interview with The Sentinel, Blastos said he had contributed $50 to Swett’s campaign, but was waiting before endorsing a candidate.

However, Blastos received a call later Thursday from Katrina Swett’s husband, Dick Swett, a former U.S. House member and former U.S. ambassador to Denmark, after The Sentinel left phone messages with Swett campaign manager Robert D. Quinn, inquiring about the apparent discrepancy.

Longshots take to the streets

Ian Bagley
Sentinel Staff

While running some errands in downtown Keene last week, James C. Mitchell Jr. of Lake Villa, Ill., struck up a conversation with a woman checking out a rack of used books.

Sporting a blue denim jacket and a tie, Mitchell, 70, mentioned he was a trustee for the Lake Villa public library — in addition to running for the Republican party’s presidential nomination.

“‘So maybe you’ll think about voting for me, because I like books, too,’” he told her.

Mitchell is also a U.S. Navy veteran, a youth soccer coach, the former president of the Mallard Ridge Estates Homeowners Association in Lindenhurst, Ill., and an unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Congress in 2006.

He’s one of about 140 presidential candidates who are making a run for the presidency, even though they lack the money or the clout to garner nationwide media coverage.

Not all of these lesser-known candidates end up running in the New Hampshire primary, where the fee to file your candidacy is $1,000.

But some do. In 2004, for example, there were 37 candidates on the state primary ballot, including Democrats and Republicans.