by Eric W. Green
JEFFERSON, NH - Results of the January 27 Republican New Hampshire primary -
virtually ignored or even denied by national media such as Fox News and
C-SPAN - show that President George W. Bush faces a significant obstacle to
his re-election in November, according to political analyst Peter H.
Estabrooks.
Despite what Estabrooks characterizes as "an ongoing lack of national or
local press coverage of the actual results or their implications," a voter
turnout analysis released by New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardiner
indicates clearly that Bush fell far short of the "85 per cent" landslide
victory purported by political pundits. On election eve, national columnist
and "Capital Gang" pundit Bob Novak predicted that Bush would receive "99
per cent" of the GOP vote.
"There are roughly 278,000 registered Republicans in New Hampshire," says
Estabrooks, who has independently tracked NH primary results since 1992,
when insurgent Republican Pat Buchanan challenged then-President George H.W.
Bush on his "no new taxes" lie and garnered 37% of the Republican vote,
badly shaking the re-election effort of the current President's father, who
lost to Bill Clinton that November.
"Given that this President Bush received just 53,000 votes, versus 13,000
votes that went to other candidates - including a field of unknown
Republican challengers, Democrats both known and unknown, and write-in votes
for Republican friends and neighbors of disgruntled Republicans across the
state - that means that roughly a quarter of the total vote went against
Bush," observes Estabrooks. "The mainstream media has so far covered up that
reality."
In addition, he notes, the last-minute appearances in New Hampshire by
"Republican big guns" including Governor Craig Benson, Massachusetts
Governor Mitt Romney, and U.S. Senator John McCain, failed to rally eleventh
hour turnout by rank and file Republicans to support President Bush.
Adding insult to injury, there were even anti-Bush protests yesterday in
Merrimack when Bush finally came to New Hampshire. Angry voters who came out
included union workers, veterans, bikers and college students.
"All of the facts suggest a powerful message that general election candidate
Bush faces a serious problem in New Hampshire, and probably across the rest
of the country," says Estabrooks. "The numbers speak of a strong message
equivalent delivered four years ago by John McCain, when he upset Bush in
the 2000 New Hampshire Republican primary. Put simply, this President is in
big political trouble."
Two of Bush's under-publicized "dark horse" opponents in New Hampshire -
former Berlin Mayor Richard Bosa, and Miami Beach "Bush-Nazi journalist"
John Buchanan - agree with Estabrooks.
"Considering that my entire campaign was silenced by the Republican National
Committee and the New Hampshire GOP, and that and their Fortune 500
corporate patrons made sure I got no press coverage, despite campaigning in
more than 183 cities and towns across the state, I feel that I won a moral
victory by getting my 841 votes," says ex-Mayor Bosa, a veteran of the
Vietnam war and international businessman who now resides in Portsmouth.
"For my part," says Bosa's counterpart Buchanan - who became, last
September, the first newspaper reporter in U.S. history to see the "Bush-Nazi files" at The National
Archives and Library of Congress and published a series of articles in The
New Hampshire Gazette in October and November - "I came up here to prove, as
'the truth candidate' representing 'we the people' against the Bush-Cheney
regime and their corporate conglomerate media backers that America still
belongs to us and not to them. I agree with Mr. Estabrooks that the low
Republican turnout and the fact that a quarter of those voters went against
Bush because his policies have devastated the state of New Hampshire and the
nation represents a virtual indictment of this President. Like Mayor Bosa
and much of the President's Republican base, I intend to see him held
accountable at the ballot box in November."
Buchanan also alleges that he
has been the victim of a "dirty tricks" campaign by the Republican National
Committee and New Hampshire GOP. On January 22, NH state chair Jayne
Millerick filed a false police report with Concord Police alleging
"harassment" by Buchanan, who claims he was "intimidated and thrown out of
the GOP headquarters in Concord by "two thugs" at the direction of
Millerick. He also says he has a half-dozen witnesses to the incident,
including a TV news crew and a newspaper reporter from Buffalo, NY. "I
intend to prosecute Ms. Millerick and Karl Rove to the full extent of the
law, for doing to me what they did to John McCain in New York state in 2000,
for which Senator McCain won a landmark lawsuit which my attorneys will use
as precedent for my lawsuit alleging criminal subversion of the electoral
process as if we were in Nazi Germany in 1933."
Adds respected New Hampshire talk radio host and commentator Don Rondo, 74,
and a lifelong, loyal Republican: "To say Bush is in trouble is, in my
opinion, an understatement," he says. "This is the first election in my
lifetime where a President is not only a cause of concern to voters, but is
actually despised.
"Under this President," Rondo says, New Hampshire has lost more than 21,900
jobs, including a quarter of our manufacturing jobs. We have 7,000 homeless
veterans, and our public drinking water is being auctioned off for
privatization and profit in places like France and Germany. The American
Revolution began here when we caused the overthrow of another tyrant named
King George. I'd say this one's days are numbered, too."
Even Clear Channel talk host Dan Pierce noted on the air after the election
that Bush has led to an unprecedented "division" in America and one that led
directly to "threats and vile insults" against Pierce for his pro-Bush
comments on C-SPAN.
"It's time for the American people and Republican voters to get real," says
Estabrooks. "But most of all, the President has to get real."
[According to The Concord
Monitor, January 27, 2004, the New Hampshire Primary vote count is:
George W. Bush 53749 votes, Other 9178 votes. This count omits the roughly
4000 write-in votes for the other candidiates according to Mayor Bosa and
Republican candidate John Buchanan.]