Two Democratic presidential candidates who are struggling to gain attention and traction with voters are headed to Cornish this weekend.
Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro will speak at a meet-and-greet house party hosted by former state Sen. Peter Burling and former New Hampshire Superior Court Judge Jean Burling on Friday evening at 6:30 at their Lang Road home in Cornish. Castro scored some points in the Democrats’ first debate last month, but didn’t register any support in a new CNN 2020 New Hampshire Primary Poll released on Tuesday by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.
On Saturday, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., will attend a 2 p.m. house party at the Burlings’ farm. Klobuchar also garnered less than 1% support in the UNH poll.
The survey of 386 likely Democratic primary voters had good news for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. She was tied with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., with 19% support, just a few ticks below former Vice President Joe Biden, at 24%. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg pulled 10%, while U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris had 9% support.
Biden and Sanders this week have been pressing competing visions on health care. Biden unveiled a plan to expand and protect the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s landmark health care legislation. Biden would increase the value of tax credits to lower premiums and extend coverage to more working Americans, and also broaden choice in coverage by offering a public health insurance option akin to Medicare, according to his campaign.
Sanders on Wednesday again spoke in defense of his Medicare for All proposal, saying scrapping private insurance will be less expensive and provide broader coverage for Americans.
“Under this legislation, every family in America would receive comprehensive coverage, and middle-class families would save thousands of dollars a year by eliminating their private insurance costs as we move to a publicly funded program,” said Sanders, whose program likely would be paid for by higher taxes on many Americans, especially the wealthy.
Local endorsements The 76-year-old Biden recently picked up the endorsement of state Rep. Denny Ruprecht, a 20-year-old Landaff Democrat whose district includes Haverhill.
“As New Hampshire’s youngest lawmaker, I am concerned about the future of our country and keenly interested in supporting a presidential candidate who I believe can move our country past the current corruption of values we see from the White House,” Ruprecht wrote in an op ed backing Biden.
State Rep. Linda Tanner, D-Georges Mills, a retired teacher at Kearsarge Regional High School, is supporting Harris, saying the former California attorney general can be pragmatic while also remaining true to “core progressive values.”
Meanwhile, Sanders got a shout-out on Twitter from Bronx-born rapper Cardi B. “I been reading about Bernie Sanders and I’m really sad how we let him down in 2016. This man been fighting for equal rights, human rights for such a long time. Seeing this country become a better place been really his passion for a long time not a new front for a campaign,” she wrote.
Sanders has opened a campaign office at 3 Atwood Ave. in West Lebanon, and former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner will be there at 4 p.m. on Saturday as part of a weekend of campaigning for him. The office is near the Kilton Public Library.
The Trump statements U.S. Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas, D-N.H., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., all voted for the House resolution Tuesday night condemning President Donald Trump for racist comments in telling four congresswomen of color to “go back” to other countries, though three were born in the United States and the fourth is a naturalized citizen.
Nashua Republican Steve Negron, who is again challenging Kuster and whose grandfather was from Mexico and grandmother from Puerto Rico, said he didn’t consider the president’s tweets to be racist and also said he would not have supported the resolution.
“While I do not share the same political philosophy and views on the role of government with the four congresswomen about whom the President has tweeted, I do not think anyone, including our elected officials, should be criticized or denounced because of their faith, religious beliefs or the color of their skin,” Negron said via email.
Another Republican, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who is running against Trump, made clear he found the statements offensive and racist.
“I know the vast majority of Republicans in the House, in their hearts, condemn @realDonaldTrump’s racist tweets and words of recent days,” Weld said on Twitter. “It saddens me that Mr. Trump’s insistence on partisan warfare prevents them from voting their hearts and, more importantly, their conscience.”
Weld is also struggling to get attention from the GOP base. The UNH poll of 289 likely Republican voters found 86% would vote for Trump, just 7% for Weld.
Among Republican voters in New Hampshire, 39% said immigration was the most important issue, far outpacing the economy (15%) and health care (6%). Only 1% of the GOP voters said climate change was the most important issue.
Among Democrats, health care was the top issue, at 20%, followed by climate change (14%), immigration (13%) and beating Trump (9%).
John P. Gregg can be reached
at jgregg@vnews.com.