Republicans in the New Hampshire legislature seemingly have ceded all control of the state to the American Legislative Exchange Council by introducing an unprecedented seven of ALEC's pieces of model legislation in the past week. ALEC legislation is basically written by corporations to protect their own interests and the organization is behind a rash of legislation across the U.S. that has assaulted working families, attacked unions and sought to unravel the American social safety net. Granite State Progress is watching the progress of the New Hampshire bills:

"This is an incredible illustration of how the current leadership of the New Hampshire House and Senate are selling our state out to the highest bidder," said Zandra Rice Hawkins, Director of Granite State Progress. "Corporations already funnel unlimited money into our political system but to hand them the pen and paper to craft legislation is just plain wrong."

ALEC model legislation heard in committees this week range from repealing new consumer protections under the Affordable Care Act to creating specialized tax credits for businesses and privatizing education to limiting voter access at the ballot box.

"Each of these pieces of legislation benefit special interests at the expense of everyday, hardworking Granite Staters," Rice Hawkins said. "We need to reject corporate-written legislation and focus on ways to ensure New Hampshire state laws benefit New Hampshire state residents."

The ALEC-inspired legislation includes:

On election night 2010, when progressives around the country were pummeled and defeated, one race kept us all up late, hoping against hope that we'd have a memorable victory among the defeats. As it turned out New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district candidate Ann McLane Kuster lost to Charlie Bass that night by only a few votes, but showed that even in a GOP tsunami she had what it took to compete as a progressive. So naturally she's challenging Bass to a rematch in 2012.

This time there's no doubt about what she's up against. Bass has turned out to be a very typical Republican by voting to end Medicare and then whining about semantics when Democratic groups called him on it. He's collecting money from all the usual suspects, notably energy and insurance companies who have business in front of the energy and commerce committee, along with practically every other lobbyist from tobacco to Walmart. It didn't take him long to put his hand out and start collecting the big bucks from the corporations and the 1 percent.

By contrast Annie has had over 11,000 individual donations, 90% of which are under a hundred dollars. (You can join the crowd, by donating to her campaign here.)

She's running a grassroots campaign with an army of progressives on the ground and around the country who are anxious to see a "frugal yankee" put these priorities to work for the people:

I believe we need to cut wasteful government spending -- like the billions in subsidies for oil companies, the corporate tax breaks for moving jobs overseas, and the billions more spent on redundant weapons systems that our military leaders have identified as wasteful and unneeded. But instead of these cuts, the US House of Representatives is cutting what we need most: education, public safety, and the clean energy research that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It makes no sense. America can do better than this -- so, it's time for all of us to do something about it.

From the beginning Annie has been a strong voice against the American empire, opposing the Iraq invasion, the Afghanistan surge and additional war funding over the past few years. In 2010 she was endorsed by NH Peace Action which said "It is Ms. Kuster's outspoken criticism of the war in Iraq and the surge in Afghanistan that brought us to this decision." She says that everywhere she goes in her district, people are tired of war and want to bring the troops home and spend the money to rebuild America --- just like many of you.

America can do better --- with the help of dedicated, energetic progressives in the House, fighting for the people instead of catering to the special interests. Blue America is very excited to once again endorse Ann McLane Kuster for the congressional seat in New Hampshire's second district and are pleased that she has accepted our invitation to join us for the first Blue America chat of the 2012 campaign.

Please join Annie and Howie, John and I for a freewheeling conversation about her campaign, the state of politics and her plans to help us all create a better country for the 99%.

And if you would like to help her with this grassroots endeavor, you can contribute to her campaign here.

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Let's get this out of the way: James O'Keefe, the wannabe gotcha journalist who can't hide his punk stupidity, is a big, fat liar. If he directs his hidden camera at you, you can be sure that what turns up will be wildly edited and quickly discredited.

O'Keefe loves to go after liberal stalwarts: ACORN, NPR, voting and democracy. You know, basically things that aren't at all threats to anything other than the mindset that we're a center-right nation. In his latest stunt, he tried to "prove" that voting fraud was rampant, with dead people actually voting in the New Hampshire primary. Except....

With his last set of videos largely seen as meaningless and pathetic, his fundraising in shambles, and his allies leaving him in disgust, O'Keefe clearly hopes to press this non-issue to revive his standing in the conservative movement. As always, the Daily Caller is happy to help out, already trumpeting the "bombshell video" that they received "exclusively" from O'Keefe.

In the service of this aim, O'Keefe and associate Spencer Meads visited a number of polling locations during the January 10 New Hampshire primaries armed with hidden cameras. At each polling location, the videographer in question would approach a poll worker who was checking in voters and ask the poll worker if a recently deceased voter's name is on the rolls. When the poll worker, assuming that the right-wing operative is presenting themselves as that person, attempts to give them a ballot, the videographer says that they don't have their ID and leaves.[..]

But O'Keefe's claim [of rampant fraud] aside, there is simply no evidence that such fraud occurs more often then, say, community organizations are asked to help set up child sex rings. In a 2007 report, the Brennan Center for Justice reported that there are a "handful" of cases when votes have actually cast in the names of the deceased, compared to thousands of such allegations that ultimately proved fruitless.

Again, this whole conservative bugaboo demanding Voter ID to prevent voter fraud is a solution to a non-existent problem, and one that has been shown to actually prevent legitimate voting from taking place. But convicted parolee O'Keefe may have reached too far:

[E]lection law experts tell TPM that O’Keefe’s allies could face criminal charges on both the federal and state level for procuring ballots under false names, and that his undercover sting doesn’t demonstrate a need for voter ID laws at all.

Federal law bans not only the casting of, but the “procurement” of ballots “that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held.”

Hamline University law professor David Schultz told TPM that there’s “no doubt” that O’Keefe’s investigators violated the law.

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[h/t Greg Sargent]

Mitt Romney was given at least two opportunities to walk back his "politics of envy" remarks from his New Hampshire speech last night, but instead chose to affirm it this morning on The Today Show. Here's what he said:

QUESTIONER: When you said that we already have a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy, I’m curious about the word envy. Did you suggest that anyone who questions the policies and practices of Wall Street and financial institutions, anyone who has questions about the distribution of wealth and power in this country, is envious? Is it about jealousy, or fairness?

ROMNEY: You know, I think it’s about envy. I think it’s about class warfare. When you have a president encouraging the idea of dividing America based on 99 percent versus one percent, and those people who have been most successful will be in the one percent, you have opened up a wave of approach in this country which is entirely inconsistent with the concept of one nation under God. The American people, I believe in the final analysis, will reject it.

QUESTIONER: Are there no fair questions about the distribution of wealth without it being seen as envy, though?

ROMNEY: I think it’s fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like. But the President has made it part of his campaign rally. Everywhere he goes we hear him talking about millionaires and billionaires and executives and Wall Street. It’s a very envy-oriented, attack-oriented approach and I think it will fail.

I realize that Mitt Romney has no clue what it might be like to have limited opportunity in this country, but the politics of envy? Really? I also realize he's trying to frame himself as the heir apparent for the nomination and run against the President now, but the fact is, people are really concerned about where we are, and the fact that the money boys control far too much wealth and opportunity in this society.

And then there are quiet rooms, where tax policy should be discussed, because clearly the common people shouldn't be concerning their precious selves over something like tax policy? Mitt Romney's problem is that he truly doesn't understand any perspective but his own.

David Axelrod responded:

Not a gaffe. It’s what he believes. Last week he said “productivity equals income.”

But the point is, it hasn’t for the typical American worker over the last three decades, and, particularly, over the last decade.

This is the central challenge of our time, and he doesn’t get it.

It appears as though the election is shaping up to contrast the messages of the 99 percent versus the 1 percent, provided, of course, we confine the tax policy to quiet rooms where the elite discuss tax policy.

And, as was noted in the clip above, by framing Barack Obama as the fomenter of envy-laden politics while also painting him as a European-style socialist, he gets to insinuate that the guy in the White House isn't a real American, like Romney is.

I somehow doubt this message will resonate with too many people as the campaign wears on. It's just difficult to imagine Mittens telling us he feels our pain while he's also telling us we envy others who have no pain.

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Reuters says so. Open thread below....

The Grey Matter: Jobs Progress Despite Republicans

Ramona's Voices: Another First for the Great State of New Hampshire: The Great Debate of the Lesser Knowns

Political Carnival: Why I'm Leaving the Republican Party... and Endorsing President Obama

Dirty Hippies: So, Who are the Welfare Junkies

Roundup by Suzette (twitter @miamiswimmer) Send tips to MBRU at Crooks and Liars dot com

Record turnout is expected for New Hampshire's GOP race. Also, just in...early exit poll data shows that nearly 7 out of 10 GOP voters in New Hampshire are very worried about the economy.

The only real questions tonight are who comes in 2nd, and then who comes in last? Results are coming in quickly this evening...

7:36 pm EST and most New Hampshire polls are now closed. As you can see in the graph, Mitt Romney is in the lead, but Ron Paul is really starting to rack up the votes. Rick Perry is barely a blip, not even hitting 100 votes yet tonight.

Also, according to an exit poll...19% of today's voters didn't decide who to cast their vote for until today.

The late great Molly Ivins famously wrote of George W. Bush, "He was born on third and thinks he hit a triple." Well, it looks like the same goes for Willard.

There was no mention of “pink slips,” but Mitt Romney on Monday was already trying to counteract the perception that he was out of touch when he said that there were times he feared getting fired.

A copy of a “pink slip” the Democratic National Committee is handing out at GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s campaign events in New Hampshire. (WSJ Photo by Danny Yadron)
On Sunday, Mr. Romney told a crowd in Rochester, N.H. , “I know what it’s like to wonder whether you’re going to get fired. A couple of times I wondered if I was going to get a pink slip.”

Speaking at a Nashua Chamber of Commerce breakfast Monday, Mr. Romney began by noting he did not always hold high-level positions. Rather, he said he started off “at the entry level.”

Ah yes.

Willard started out like every other slob -- whose father happened to be the CEO of the American Motors, governor of Michigan and held a cabinet-level position in the Nixon administration. Who grew up in one of the five wealthiest cities in the U.S. and who attended an exclusive prep school -- then went to college at Stanford and Harvard. Who, at the height of the Vietnam War, spent two and a half years running around in France.

Yep, he's a real-life Horatio Alger character, that Willard.

All this makes Willard's "equal opportunities" BS even harder to swallow.

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Credit: C&Ler flag_bible_gun

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Republican candidates for President of the United States (yeah) will debate on WMUR, New Hampshire:

The debate will take place at 9 p.m. on Jan. 7 on the campus of Saint Anselm College. It will be moderated by ABC's Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos and WMUR's Josh McElveen. The debate will be broadcast on WMUR and across the nation on ABC. WMUR.com will livestream the debate and provide live updates throughout the night.

Image above from C&L commenter flag_bible_gun. Debate open thread below...

With attention turning toward the New Hampshire primary, it seems like an opportune time to share some of the activities of New Hampshire Republican state legislators, who must be drinking something like water tainted with LSD.

In New Hampshire, Republican state legislators seem to believe education is no longer something they should require. Via ThinkProgress:

Today the GOP-controlled Senate passed HB 542, which effectively ends compulsory education for New Hampshire students. Their House colleagues approved the measure earlier last year.

No, seriously. It ends compulsory education, and it's been passed by both houses of the Legislature? Really? Really. Here's what it says.

IX-c. Require school districts to adopt a policy allowing an exception to specific course material based on a parent’s or legal guardian’s determination that the material is objectionable. Such policy shall include a provision requiring the parent or legal guardian to notify the school principal or designee in writing of the specific material to which they object and a provision requiring an alternative agreed upon by the school district and the parent, at the parent’s expense, sufficient to enable the child to meet state requirements for education in the particular subject area. The name of the parent or legal guardian and any specific reasons disclosed to school officials for the objection to the material shall not be public information and shall be excluded from access under RSA 91-A.

As worded, any parent could object to the entire curriculum and substitute whatever they wanted instead, with no measurement or assessment or accountability for that "alternative material" requirement, which means compulsory education would be dead, dead, dead.

But wait, there's more. Not content to rely on the state or United States Constitution as a guide for legislative frameworks, the New Hampshire GOP also has introduced a bill to require all legislation to be rooted in the Magna Carta. Via Concord Monitor:

As in other lines of work, lunchtime discussions among lawmakers at the State House often spur ideas. Sometimes those ideas become bills. And sometimes those bills seemed less strange over lunch.

House Bill 1580 is the product of such a brainstorming session this summer between three freshman House Republicans: Bob Kingsbury of Laconia, Tim Twombly of Nashua and Lucien Vita of Middleton. The eyebrow-raiser, set to be introduced when the Legislature reconvenes next month, requires legislation to find its origin in an English document crafted in 1215.

"All members of the general court proposing bills and resolutions addressing individual rights or liberties shall include a direct quote from the Magna Carta which sets forth the article from which the individual right or liberty is derived," is the bill's one sentence.

I imagine they could have a field day with this article:

No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than her husband.

Or this one:

No widow shall be compelled to marry, so long as she prefers to live without a husband; provided always that she gives security not to marry without our consent, if she holds of us, or without the consent of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.

Perhaps New Hampshire Republicans should quit drinking at lunch.