Time to talk about the upcoming elections, take care of some old business.

Date:   This Thursday, 6:30pm
Time:   6:30pm

Where:   DGF Industrial, GIlford
             25 Waterford Place, Gilford, NH
                                                  03249
             (603) 528-6591

From PolitickerNH:

Mike Hamilton named new NH GOP Executive Director

Mike Hamilton has been hired has the new Executive Director for the New Hampshire Republican party.

Hamilton is a former field representative for Mitt Romney's campaign and a graduate of Dartmouth College. He replaces Steve DeMaura who left the position to take a job in Washington D.C.

"Mike has practical campaign experience in
New Hampshire and has deep roots in the state," Republican Chairman Fergus Cullen told PolitickerNH.com.

A New Hampshire political strategist said, "Mike is a highly organized individual and will be great for the party."

The Executive Director is responsible for day-to-day operations of the state party.

We wish him good luck!

(Bumped and Updated):

Well, it WAS a nice article in the Citizen that let others know about this website - the publicity and recognition is much appreciated!  However......

This Thursday the Gilford Republicans will hold a meeting at the Gilford Town Hall. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. and feature guest speaker Fergus Cullen, chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party.

Er, that was a couple of weeks ago (I am away on business, so I'm just hearing about the article now); click here to see the meeting notes.

Our next meeting is not this Thursday but a WEEK from Thursday
_______________________________________________________________
Good evening!  As I said in this Post, I'd be letting you know the "whens" - here they are!

• Feb 21       3rd Thursday of the month     DGF Industrial

                                                     25 Waterford Place, Gilford, NH
                                                                                   03249
                                                     (603) 528-6591

• March 27   4th Thursday of the month      Town Hall, Conference Room A
  

• April 17      3rd Thursday of the month     Town Hall, Conference Room A

• May 22      4th Thursday of the month     Town Hall, Conference Room A

If you do not know where DGF is, Think Pepi Hermann's near the airport.  After the jump is a map!

And yes, he did speak about his 10 reasons to be optimistic!  I just got the chance to read The Gilford Steamer's and saw the media's take on the meeting, and on Fergus Cullen himself:

Some might think it is odd that the chairman of the Republican Party in New Hampshire would come to a little town like Gilford to speak to a crowd of very few, but for Fergus Cullen that is just part of his job, and, after all, Gilford is his hometown.

Cullen was raised in Gilford and graduated from its school system in 1994. He went on to Yale College and then earned a master's in public administration from Harvard Business School. Since then he has served on many political campaigns serving in such positions as political director, financial director, deputy press secretary and deputy campaign director. His current elected position allows him to use all those skills. Cullen manages an office, fund raises and speaks to crowds looking to form republican groups. He is the second youngest republican state chairman in the country at 35 and got interested in politics very young as well.

"People get into politics because they believe in policy," said Cullen, "and that the ideas or groups that win make a difference."

Read the rest!

Good evening!

Comments are now open - feel free to leave a message at any post.  All I ask is that you keep it clean - we aim to be "kid friendly" in our language even as we discuss adult topics.

After all, we'll leave the bad language to the far-left Liberal sites...and if you spot a bad one before me, email me at Skip  GraniteGrok.com and you know what goes in the middle - "@"

I think that it is fair to say that we have work to do here in Gilford.  The following charts show current registrations here in Belknap County - notice what happened in Gilford.

01/08/08	NAMES ON CHECKLIST				Reg.
Belknap County	Rep	Dem	Und	Total	at polls	Rep	Dem	Und
Alton	1,545	606	1,731	3,882	174	438	542	606
Barnstead	654	249	2,302	3,205	200	243	425	533
Belmont	1,649	1,152	1,741	4,542	323	418	524	392
Center Harbor	381	216	249	846	52	87	153	124
Gilford	2,428	1,524	2,304	6,256	199	561	812	894
Gilmanton	891	562	910	2,363	168	245	415	515
Laconia Wd 1	693	363	767	1,823	140	152	192	345
Laconia Wd 2	478	338	583	1,399	161	132	232	184
Laconia Wd 3	452	331	622	1,405	152	134	245	201
Laconia Wd 4	468	355	602	1,425	170	144	268	152
Laconia Wd 5	384	321	530	1,235	152	98	204	186
Laconia Wd 6	686	430	794	1,910	131	195	236	194
Meredith	1,616	851	2,480	4,947	316	435	723	313
New Hampton	547	384	576	1,507	95	143	274	324
Sanbornton	778	623	927	2,328	157	192	346	289
Tilton	814	777	846	2,437	156	176	365	325
Totals	14,464	9,082	17,964	41,510	2,746	3,793	5,956	5,577

Also, here's how Republicans voted in Belknap County:

“Senator Clinton said she would support our troops in Iraq, but then she voted against critical funding. Senator Clinton says she’s fiscally responsible, but she’s proposed nearly a trillion dollars in new government spending, and says she wants to quote ‘take things away from you on behalf of the common good.’ How can we trust Senator Clinton to lead America?”

To listen to Fergus, click here.

“Barack Obama was elected to the US Senate just three years ago and has had his eye on the White House ever since. Now he’s calling himself an agent of change, but what kind of change? He voted against funding our troops, he voted in favor of the largest tax increase in history, and he wants new government bureaucracies to play a greater and more expensive role in our health care system. That’s not the kind of change voters are looking for and it’s further proof that Barack Obama is not ready to be Commander-in-Chief.”               

To listen to Fergus, click here.

“It looks as if the Democrats may take weeks or months to choose their nominee, but the American people have already made their decision clear. They’re going to support principled leaders who support our troops, keep taxes low, and keep government out of their hair. Unfortunately, Senators Clinton and Barack Obama both voted for the largest tax increase in America, attempted to choke off funding for our troops, and proposed massive government spending increases. That’s not principled leadership.”                     

To listen to Fergus, click here.

As always, the Belknap County Republicans will be having their monthly meeting in couple of weeks - 2/13/08 to be exact!  From the BelknapCountyRepublicans.org site:

Date:   2/13/08
Time:   5:30 pm Buffet
           6:30 pm Meeting

Place:   Shang Hai restaurant
             331 South Main Street
             Laconia, NH  03246

Special Speaker:    Frank Guinta - Mayor of Manchester, N

While the turnout may not have been the highest, we did have some spirited discussions as Fegus Cullen, Chair of the NH GOP came to give us his outlook on the future on the Party here in NH, but also to talk about the revitalization of the grassroots of the Party, especially here in Gilford. 

Fergus's gave a talk - 10 Reasons Why Things Are Looking Up For the NH GOP - video can be seen here (note: webcam quality only).  Trust me, while this allows you to see what happened, it was better in person!  And yes, you missed the serious discussion of "the near future" - and we missed you as well.

Doug took better notes than I did and posted his thoughts over at GraniteGrok - my excerpt of that below.

I also want to thank Dave Horvath for taking over the finances for us.

Come join us next time!  And if you are planning on coming, I ask one thing - invite two others!  Those that did come out have promised to do so for our next meeting.  I've made the promise to call many more than that - as Chair, hold me accountable!

We've already lined up our next meetings:

• Feb 21       3rd Thursday of the month
• March 27   4th Thursday of the month
• April 17      3rd Thursday of the month
• May 22      4th Thursday of the month

I'll be making arrangements for "where" in the near future.

Top 10 Reasons things are looking up for the NH GOP

10) More than twice as many people voted in the recent Republican primary than did in the 2006 election.

9) The presidential campaign will be competitive. New Hampshire is an important swing state, and much attention will be paid to us.

8) John E. Sununu's polling data and approval numbers are solid and improving.

7) The party has had candidate recruitment "coups" in all of the major positions

6) Hodes approval: 35%; Shea-Porter approval: 33% (UNH survey)

5) The emerging Democrat scandal over the sale of the state voter files. Look for big news to come soon.

4) National issues are moving our way.

3) State issues are moving our way. With the looming deficit, and Democrats in charge across the board, Republicans are positioned to benefit.

2) 2008 is a "change" election.

1) The Democrat Party has been taken over by the angry left wing. They have abandoned the center, proven by their record of "nanny-state" bills that most ordinary people find overly excessive.