Manchester, NH - It's fair to say that at the New Hampshire Republican Party's First-in-the-Nation Primary Kick-Off Dinner Sunday night, Elizabeth Dole was saved by a jeer. Leaving the stage and podium to speak to the crowd with a clip-on microphone, the former Labor and Transportation Secretary broke from party dogma to announce her support for bans on assault rifles and cop-killer bullets, and to advocate that guns be equipped with safety locks to protect children.
Had it not been for the gun section of her speech and the boos by no more than a handful of attendees, the story about Dole's performance would have been that she fell flat, despite receiving an unusually enthusiastic greeting when introduced. The media have given her high marks for creating the only drama of the evening. Some have likened her position on guns to then-Gov. Bill Clinton's attack on Sister Souljah during the 1992 campaign, or to Dianne Feinstein's advocacy of the death penalty in a speech to the state party convention in 1990. If the truth be told, Dole actually received widespread
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.