Jon Huntsman apparently goes into the books as the last Republican Presidential primary contender to stump Keene. 
Huntsman appeared in a packed Mabel Brown Room at Keene State College on Sunday evening, and referred to the lack of voter trust in government as this country's "other deficit." Despite his more moderate reputation, which theoretically would appeal to moderate Republicans, polls show him tied with Rick Santorum in third place. Neither he nor any of Mitt Romney's other challengers are ceding anything publicly, despite Romney's near-landslide poll support in the state where he maintains a summer residence on Lake Winnipesaukee.
Tuesday is New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary. While there has been no lack of campaigning, Keene's historically Democratic bent has added to one of the least local overall candidate primary presences in memory. New Gingrich and Ron Paul were virtual no-shows beyond a candidate forum series at Keene State College. A couple of lesser candidates ... Buddy Roemer and Fred Karger ... have been more frequent visitors than any of the major campaigners. Front-runner Mitt Romney has been to Keene more often than most people know, for private conferences with a brain trust of local Republican backers.
Mitt Romney is continuing to hold a dominating lead in the latest poll in the New Hampshire Primary. Forty-one-percent of those surveyed for the WMUR-University of New Hampshire poll prefer the former Massachusetts governor. However, the race for second and third place is very tight. Ron Paul is in second place with 17-percent, and Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum are tied for third with eleven-percent.
The glut of campaign ads in Sunday's edition of the state's largest newspaper was no surprise. But some of the candidates who bought them were. Beside the ones you have heard of, there are plenty of presidential candidates, and some of them seem to be in it beyond ego-trips ... and willing to pay big money to state their cases. Another surprise: these are democrats, with beefs with President Obama. John Haywood has been most prominent, with several full-page ads, including one Sunday, taking Obama to task for everything from compromising on tax breaks for the wealthy, to not fighting for Palestinian statehood. One other democrat took out two full pages in the UL's Sunday News edition, promising no more Mr Nice Guy ... and below it saying, quote, "I'm Bob Ely, and I can't believe I endorsed this ad," unquote.
Authorities in Arizona are trying to determine if the killings of a man and woman from New Hampshire are related to the shooting death of a deputy sheriff. The 63-year-old victims are James Johnson of Jaffrey, and Carol Raynsford of Nelson. Their bodies were found Friday in a car at a scenic overlook in Sedona. Authorities say they were killed with a high-powered rifle. It's similar to the weapon used yesterday to kill a deputy sheriff in a neighboring county. Other deputies shot and killed the gunman, who has not yet been identified. More information is expected later today.
One all-day school budget meeting down, one more to go. And as often as not, this Saturday's session will run shorter than did the one this past weekend. Members of the school board Finance Committee will amend the proposed 62-million-dollar package as they see fit, and then report their finished product out to a special full board meeting the same day. What comnes out of that session then gets the obligsatory public hearing a week from tomorrow night. Of course, the big story this year is the expected more-than four percent tax increase, to fill the gap which was filled last year by a surprisingly biog revenue surplus and the sale of the former middle school.
IN VERMONT:
A state fire investigator does not know yet what sparked a one-million-dollar fire at a Middlesex construction company. However, detectives say the fire which destroyed DuBois Construction, owned by Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott and his cousin Don DuBois, is not considered suspicious. The building which housed the maintenance shop and offices was destroyed, as were dump trucks, loaders, all the company's tools and stock, along with office equipment and software. Scott says they have insurance, and are determined to re-build.
A two-alarm fire has destroyed a home, and shut down a southern Vermont highway for hours. Route 103 in Chester closed Sunday night when the fire started at a home on Colburn which is right off of the highway. No one was hurt, but it took crews from as far away as Weathersfield to put out the flames.
The longest continuously running ski area in the country is lacking a basic ingredient: snow. Northeast Slopes opened in 1936 off of Route 25 in Corinth and does not rely on man-made snow. That leaves the slopes with a season as short as seven days, or more than 40, depending on the weather. Right now it's headed toward the shorter side, as they need a storm dumping at least six-inches to get rolling.
