John McCain

I am not exactly sure what the Deputy Permanent Co-Chair does at a national convention, but I am guessing former state Republican Chairman Steve Duprey does.  Or at least he will soon.  Duprey has been named by the John McCain campaign and the RNC as a “Deputy Permanent Co-Chair” of the Republican National Convention. 

Not sure if John McCain's ad is up yet here, but I suspect we'll see it a lot in the coming weeks. Here's the script:

ANNCR: Washington's broken. John McCain knows it. We're worse off than we were four years ago.

Only McCain has taken on big tobacco, drug companies, fought corruption in both parties. He'll reform Wall Street, battle Big Oil, make America prosper again.

He's the original maverick.

One is ready to lead -- McCain.

Populist stuff like this makes establishment Republicans a little queasy (Take on big tobacco and drug companies? Reform Wall Street? Battle Big Oil?), but this sort of ad could be a winner among independent voters.

Jim Demers talking to Obama supporters: Photo credit: PolitickerNH.com

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's "Campaign for Change" opened its Manchester headquarters with both a crowd of supporters and protestors standing outside the building.

Speaking at the event were New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley, Obama senior advisor Jim Demers, New Hampshire Democratic Party Political Director Mike Brunelle, state Sens. Lou D'Allesandro (D-Manchester) and Sylvia Larsen (D-Concord) and U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Rochester).

The National Sierra Club has begun airing a television ad that criticizes U.S. Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) energy plan. The ad buy was first reported by PolitickerNH.com earlier this week.

The Sierra Club has also been airing a radio ad that defends U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Rochester).

Continuing our look at voter volatility, Ari Richter of the Concord Monitor has a thoughtful post on the U.S. Senate race between John Sununu and Jeanne Shaheen, using the latest University of New Hampshire Survey Center data. Only one of five voters surveyed say they have definitely made a choice in this race -- a far cry from the race for president, in which half of voters say they have definitely decided.

In our last entry, we noted the slight edge for Barack Obama among the “definitely decideds.” Democrats are more likely than Republicans to have made up their minds on the presidential race, and liberals more likely than conservatives. 

After watching McCain's new ad mocking Barack Obama as a self-important celebrity along the likes of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, I was inspired by the last time Britney got involved with a politician in a commercial, back when the media was still in love with the straight-talk express.

A new wrinkle in the University of New Hampshire Survey Center's Granite State Poll is a measurement of the certainty of voter choices. David Moore, a senior fellow with the Carsey Institute at UNH, offers an explanation worth reading here.

Barack Obama's advantage in voter enthusiasm has been documented by recent polling. Of course, we've been down this road before with the U.S. senator from Illinois. In the days before the New Hampshire primary, lots of observers (including this one) thought enthusiasm was on Obama's side after his win in Iowa. But voter volatility undercut so-called "momentum" in the five days between the caucus and the first-in-the-nation primary, and Hillary Clinton emerged the surprise winner that Tuesday night in January.

Three recent polls put New Hampshire back to bellwether status in the presidential election.

Mid-July surveys by ARG, Rasmussen, and the University of New Hampshire Survey Research Center all estimated John McCain's support between 43 and 45 percent. Together, these polls lifted the Pollster.com estimate of McCain's standing here to 41.9 percent, up from 37 percent.

McCain's standing in the Granite State is now just 0.4 points below his national poll standing of 42.3 percent.