The big news in the polls here is that McCain is tanking.
Last night, MoveOn.org aired a commercial (is it just running in NH?) that was highly critical of McCain, and showed him cozying up to Bush--a kiss of death these days. This made me wonder what the purpose of this ad is. MoveOn should save their money here, "The Senator Formerly Known as a Maverick" McCain is shooting himself in the foot. He was "the front-runner" and a Granite State darling until his latest change of strategy or whatever you call this newfound anti-maverick thing he's doing. Time for Mitt or Rudy to swing up and fill the void, but there's no sign of either any time soon.
But the MoveOn ad (which ran during Ugly Betty on ABC) got me to thinking...does anyone out of state realize that NH is basicly a one-network state? Our only major broadcast network is an ABC affiliate in Manchester: WMUR. (Not counting PBS I guess, and certainly not counting the Al Kaprielian station.) If Granite Staters want state & local news or weather (or school cancellations!), that's pretty much our only choice. NBC, CBS, Fox all come from Massachusetts or Maine. Translation: if a candidate wants to reach primarily NH voters, it's a no-brainer. If there's a debate to be televised on a non-cable network, it's pretty much going to be ABC.
Would it then follow that a smart candidate would cater to ABC news, especially the morning show since local news/weather cut in, and maybe even late night, etc? Makes you think, doesn't it?
