GOP loses a supporter in the Granite State

Although not so dominant as it once was, the New Hampshire GOP is still very powerful in the Granite State. However, the state GOP's recent attacks on labor may be starting to cost it support. New Hampshire may be more conservative than neighboring Massachusetts, but it also has a lot less millionaires. Demonizing working people who stick together may work with some of the wealthy suburbanites in the southern part of the state, many others in New Hampshire find it offensive. Here's a recent letter to the Nashua Telegraph:

Dear NH GOP:

It’s over. We had a good run, you and I. We saw so many things the same way: taxes, gun rights, immigration, seat belt laws and even the occasional social issue. We’ve been together for 20 years, but now I have to end it.

You have labeled me public enemy No. 1 because I’m a union member. I belong to IBEW 2320. I’m also a homeowner, I work and live in New Hampshire, and the wages you think are too good for me go right back into our economy.

In the five short months since Dec. 1, I’ve been called a thug, a criminal, an animal and a goon. My intelligence has been called into question, as well as my morality.

I’ve been accused of violence and intimidation, and the responsibility for the financial woes of this state has been laid on my shoulders. You’ve tried to silence those among you who would stand up for me, like Rep. Lee Quandt, R-Exeter.

You tell me not to take it personally, but it could not be more personal. This goes way beyond ideology. You have insulted me, my family and my friends again and again, you have embraced every negative stereotype you can find about us, and even though a great many of us are the reason you have your majority, you stubbornly refuse to believe that any union member would ever vote Republican.

I will continue to support those who supported me, but to the rest of you: Goodbye.

Peggy McCarthy

Nashua

This conservative voter will never be knocking on doors for progressive Democrats. Yet she, and maybe her friends and family, will no longer be a reliable vote for the GOP. My guess is that she represents what will become a serious "enthusiasm gap" for Republicans in 2012. Do they care about this? Or is serving the interests of their corporate masters now more important to the Rethugs than their own political survival? It could be they see the long-term gains from destroying labor as so great as to justify risking short-term political losses.