Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, Senator Maggie Hassan and General Don Bolduc were to debate in Nashua. That is, until Hassan refused to show up until the format was changed so that only one candidate was on stage at a time. The General was a gentleman and played ball.
Strange. As polls remain close, you would presume Hassan – who is averaging only one campaign event a week – would want to be more visible to voters.
According to longtime radio host Jack Heath, who has hosted Hassan on his show multiple times, she has lost the “New Hampshire Way”.
Hassan Has Lost Her ‘New Hampshire Way’
By: Jack Heath
I can’t believe what I’m seeing in New Hampshire politics.
The Nashua Chamber of Commerce is a respected organization. It had a debate scheduled Wednesday for a pretty important race in New Hampshire — the U.S. Senate seat.
And by the way, that seat does not belong to any one person. It belongs to the voters. It belongs to you and me. It is the people’s seat. So, whenever they talk about a senator spending tens of millions of dollars to hold on to his or her seat — it is not their seat.
Anyway, they had a debate scheduled between Sen. Maggie Hassan and her opponent, Gen. Don Bolduc. But according to multiple media reports, Sen. Hassan’s campaign told the Chamber it wanted to break the format and change it, that she would not stand with Bolduc on the stage.
So, this is what they do: The two candidates both show up and when they’re ready to ask the senator a set of questions, they ask her Republican challenger to leave the area — leave the room — while they ask their questions. Then she will leave the building and Bolduc will come up and answer questions.
That’s not a debate. That’s like trying to have a boxing match and telling one person to go into the ring while the other person stays in the locker room. I don’t get it.
In all due respect, this isn’t the same Sen. Maggie Hassan that I knew when she was governor, or first became a senator. Or first-term senator.
I remember when I first met Sen. Hassan. She came into where I was doing my morning radio show as the newly-elected governor. She had one state trooper. Just one person. We talked about veterans’ issues. We talked about veterans’ advocacy, and she was very genuine.
And I think back to the debates I moderated when she ran for governor and then the U.S. Senate. The debate in my studio between Maggie Hassan and Sen. Kelly Ayotte is somewhat famous, in fact.
The point is, we had debates. It’s not that debates necessarily change anything, it’s the New Hampshire tradition. What’s wrong with that?
Today, it seems — in my opinion — Sen. Maggie Hassan has lost her New Hampshire way. Based on what I’m observing now, this isn’t the same Sen. or Gov. Hassan I knew. That Hassan would be debating her opponents in all sorts of media outlets.
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