Lynch visits local manufacturers

Says he hopes to boost economic development in the state

Anika Clark
Sentinel Staff

Gov. John H. Lynch was on the cutting room floor Friday, touring manufacturing firms in Charlestown and Keene.

Lynch’s first stop was at Whelen Engineering Co., a manufacturer of emergency warning systems, in Charlestown.

Later, he headed to Moore Nanotechnology Systems in Keene, a company that makes machines used by the consumer electronics, optics, defense/ aerospace and eyewear industries.

The visits, Lynch said, were part of his effort to speak with companies throughout the state and learn what can be done to help them thrive, which would thereby fuel economic development and job growth in New Hampshire.

N.H. place of primary importance

Jake Berry
Sentinel Staff

Around the country, officials are fighting for their state’s position in the presidential primary schedule like jockeys in a horse race.

But no matter the positioning, it’s a race New Hampshire has already won, according to local political analysts and enthusiasts.

Last week, Michigan became the latest state to attempt to schedule its election around the N.H. primary.

The Michigan state Senate voted Wednesday to hold the primary on Jan. 15, joining Nevada, South Carolina and Florida among the states considering scheduling their elections around New Hampshire’s to challenge the Granite State’s role in the early primary season.

The states won’t likely come first — in accordance with state law, N.H. Secretary of State William Gardner has vowed to schedule the state primary earlier than any other.

And no matter how close they come, the other states will find it difficult to challenge New Hampshire’s influence, said Paul C. Manuel, executive director of the Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College in Manchester.

Back … to the future

Gaining support, Richardson returns to stump in region

David P. Greisman
Sentinel Staff

With New Hampshire’s presidential primary now less than five months away — and with Bill Richardson seeking to move up in the polls before then — the New Mexico governor returned to the Keene area Friday for a three-day campaign stop in the Granite State.

Richardson’s first two destinations were the Staff Development Educators offices in Peterborough and Wheelock Park in Keene, where the Democrat issued 20-minute stump speeches before taking questions from those in attendance.

Richardson is scheduled to appear in Exeter and Windham today and in Manchester, Nashua, Bow and Laconia Sunday.

“I am here,” Richardson said in both Peterborough and Keene. “I’m going to every town in New Hampshire. I have been to towns that have no people. I went to Marlow.

“We’re third, we’re third in Iowa, we’re moving up. We’re a campaign that’s catching on,” he said.

As in July, when he visited Marlow as part of a three-day, 10-town New Hampshire tour, Richardson’s opening speech detailed the dramatic changes he would like to make during his first six days in the Oval Office.

Edwards pushes change theme

Tells local audiences ‘Washington is broken’

Anika Clark
Sentinel Staff

Presidential candidate John Edwards knocked the No Child Left Behind Act before a Keene audience Thursday, while serving up some homespun wisdom.

“You know you don’t make a hog fatter by weighing it,” said the Democrat from North Carolina, quoting a friend, in the same way educators can’t make children learn by testing their academic performance.

Instead, he said, a wider array of techniques should be used to measure children on an individual basis. Schools shouldn’t have their funding yanked when students slip; rather, schools should be given the resources necessary to improve, he said.

Education was one of many topics Edwards tackled during his trip to the Monadnock Region Thursday afternoon.

Obama weathers visit to Keene

Presidential hopeful talks health care, Iraq, education during stops

Jake Berry
Sentinel Staff

The dark storm clouds gathering overhead erupted into a full downpour Monday afternoon as presidential hopeful Barack Obama started to make his way to the Keene Recreation Center.

But Obama, D-Ill., took it in stride.

“We’re weathering a storm,” the U.S. senator said in a not-so-veiled reference to the current state of the country.

“It’ll pass,” he said calmly, in apparent reference to both the country’s condition and the weather.

Neither the rain outside nor the humidity inside seemed to bother the audience at the recreation center, which welcomed the candidate with a raucous applause.

Obama, 46, addressed a crowd of more than 350 at the center after participating in a roundtable discussion with six area residents and community leaders outside Lindy’s Diner.

Through both events, he addressed a variety of issues, ranging from health care to the Iraq war to education. But his overriding message, he said, was one of hope.