Republicans

Denise Bowdidge would like it to be known that she is a big fan of President Donald Trump.

“He’s not afraid, he’s a man of strength and encouragement and hope for people for the future,” she told an NHPR reporter one August afternoon.

Those same feelings propelled her to drive across the 1st Congressional District, from her home in Bedford, to Portsmouth, where Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was in town to endorse Republican Eddie Edwards.

At the time, Edwards was locked in a heated primary battle with opponent Andy Sanborn, and he was courting Trump supporters hard.

“The president is doing one hell of a job in Washington,” Edwards said. “One hell of a job.”

One of President Trump’s top advisors, Kellyanne Conway drew a crowd at the New Hampshire Republican party’s spring fundraiser in Nashua Thursday evening.

Such party fundraisers tend to be feel-good, social affairs – a little music, some cocktails and appetizers, a chance to catch up with friends. Thursday’s closed-door gala in Nashua had an added angle going for it: It fell in the middle of a rollercoaster week of news  for the Trump administration.

While many Trump supporters made the pilgrimage to Washington D.C. for the inauguration, some chose to celebrate a little closer to home. Joe and Pat Hagen hosted a viewing party at their bed and breakfast in Chester, New Hampshire, where guests shared their hopes for the next four years and toasted to the new president. 

We take a moment, fewer than 30 days from the election, to evaluate the recent turn of events in the Presidential race.  An 11-year old video, in which Republican nominee Donald Trump talked crudely about groping women, prompts N.H.'s Senator Kelly Ayotte to join a growing wave of Republican lawmakers unwilling to vote for the Republican nominee, or even calling for him to step down. We review the second presidential debate featuring questions from undecided voters as well as the two moderators.  And we consider whether the Republican party can hang on to control in Congress, and how the GOP, seemingly in crisis, can rebound.

Republicans drafting the party's platform in Cleveland this week rejected appeals to soften language opposing same-sex marriage.

According to NPR, delegates supported language in this year's platform that says children "deserve a married mom and dad," and refers to "natural marriage" as between a man and a woman. 

The 2016 Presidential Race just finished one of the most tumultuous weeks of campaigning in recent memory. As Donald Trump continues to roll toward the Republican nomination, clashes at his campaign events continue, with some of the most heated occurring this weekend in Chicago. Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, a tightening race in Illinois is giving the Sanders campaign hope for another come-from-behind victory over Hillary Clinton. 

GUESTS: 

In a new book, political scholar Dante Scala and his co-author Henry Olsen look at the four factions that have defined the GOP presidential nomination process, which Scala says is misunderstood and misinterpreted by the media and the so-called conventional wisdom.

This program was originally broadcast on 12/8/15.

GUEST:

New dynamics have entered the GOP race, with terrorism and national security topping voters' concerns. And the race itself is shaking up, with a slightly smaller group of contenders and the party's establishment openly worried about the staying power of Donald Trump. We'll recap the debate highlights and dig into the issues. 

GUESTS:   

Fox News took plenty of criticism for how it chose the ten candidates for Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate. But for actual voters faced with paring the list down to just one candidate, the challenge is perhaps even more daunting.

The head of the state Republican Party was elected to her second term over the weekend.

Jennifer Horn first won the party’s chairmanship in 2013, and now with division among Republicans in the House and a big presidential primary looming, she’s taking on the role for another two years.

Jennifer Horn joins Morning Edition to talk about her re-election.

So you’ll be at the helm of the state Republican Party for another two years. What do you see as the biggest challenge heading into your second term?

Ever feel like the only way things get done in Washington is if there's a crisis? You're not alone. Bipartisanism is driving moderates out of the Senate according to a recent editorial from the Star Tribune.  Charles Wheelan is senior lecturer at Dartmouth, and the author of several books including Naked Economics. His newest is called The Centrist Manifesto and it’s the basis for a new centrist party designed to break congressional gridlock, find consensus, and restore faith in American politics.