CONCORD - Thousands of Granite Staters are scrambling to see President-elect Barack Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration, facing stiff odds for tickets and struggling to find hotels, often at astronomical rates.
New Hampshire's congressmen and senators, who will distribute free tickets to watch the Democratic senator from Illinois become the next president, were barraged with ticket requests this week. Staffers in Rep. Paul Hodes's office expect to receive 2,000 requests by the end of the week. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter's office and Sen. Judd Gregg's office both have taken the names of hundreds of New Hampshire folks requesting tickets, staffers say.
The tickets to the swearing-in ceremony aren't yet technically scarce, because not one has been distributed yet. The tickets - 240,000 in all - remain locked up in an undisclosed location. ….continue reading
Jon Arsenault (right), President of the Plymouth State University Democrats, seen greeting Senator Obama at Laconia's airport, is one of the thousand of Granite Staters hoping to secure inaugural tickets.
Palin Shares The Stage With Her GOP Peers
By Robert Barnes
MIAMI, Oct. 13 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's star-turn news conference here at the Republican Governors Association meeting quickly got very crowded, as 12 of her colleagues joined her onstage.
It sent an unmistakable message: that if the nation's GOP governors are going to take the lead in their dispirited party, there is going to be more than one voice at the head of the pack.
Palin seemed unperturbed about sharing the wealth, although what had been billed as roughly 20 minutes of questions for the 2008 vice presidential nominee dwindled to four queries, each of which she answered with a version of expressing her happiness to simply be a team player.
"The media likes to focus on us as individuals, but the Republican Governors Association is a group," Palin said. "I'm proud to be a part of this team."
It's a team with an abundance of people volunteering to serve as captain, particularly with no clear front-runner to become the GOP's presidential nominee in 2012. ….continue reading
Sign Pickups Irk Republican Town Official In Hollis
By Hattie Bernstein
HOLLIS - You could call it an argument over whether the glass was half-full or half-empty.
That's the nutshell version of what appears to have been a misunderstanding last week between the town's Republicans and Democrats.
Some Republicans are miffed at the Democrats for picking up political signs of both parties after last week's election.
The Democratic Town Committee chairwoman, on the other hand, says the mass pickup was unintentional, adding that volunteers inadvertently picked up all signs rather than just those of their party members and that some GOP candidates were glad for the help.
Republican Town Committee member Gerald Leach, who placed signs around town promoting his party's candidates, was outraged. ….continue reading
Paulson Credibility Takes Hit With Rescue-Plan Shift
By Rebecca Christie and Matthew Benjamin
NEW YORK - Henry Paulson became Treasury secretary 28 months ago, when he was at the top of the financial world: Wall Street's best-paid chief executive officer, capping his career with a high-profile sojourn in public service.
Today, two months before he leaves office, some say Paulson is a reduced figure, damaged by the financial-market meltdown that happened on his watch and by the government's struggles to respond to it.
Like many others who have served in President George W. Bush's administration -- among them former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Treasury chief Paul O'Neill -- Paulson, 62, will leave office casting a smaller shadow than when he arrived. ….continue reading
Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson
Chances Dwindle On Bailout Plan For Automakers
By David Herszenhorn
WASHINGTON -- The prospects of a government rescue for the foundering American automakers dwindled Thursday as Democratic Congressional leaders conceded that they would face potentially insurmountable Republican opposition during a lame-duck session next week.
At the same time, hope among many Democrats on Capitol Hill for an aggressive economic stimulus measure all but evaporated. Democratic leaders have been calling for a package that would include help for the auto companies as well as new spending on public works projects, an extension of jobless benefits, increased food stamps and aid to states for rising Medicaid expenses. ….continue reading
Unsold pickups and SUVs - a symbol of what ails Detroit automakers - crowd the lot of this Chevrolet dealer.
No Communion For Obama Supporters In S.C. Parish
By Meg Kinnard
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."
The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.
"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein. ….continue reading
