WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Cally Crossley and this is the Cali Crossley Show in the countdown to the primaries. We're traveling from the Cape to the granite and ocean States for a final foray into what might be first is the 10th Congressional District with a look at which two candidates could duke it out for William Delahunt seat. From there it's on to the land of Live Free or Die. New Hampshire's marquee race is on the Senate side. The Republicans are in a multi-candidate scrum that's growing more interesting as the clock winds down. The races could offer an intriguing test of how the states to dish will be Republicanism reconciles with the Tea Party energy that's enveloped races around the country this year. Then we dive into the ocean state where the governor's race and two congressional districts are at stake. To top it off with our regular Monday feature local made good marking the 70th anniversary of Yankee Magazine. Up next. From politics to pragmatism. First the news from NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi Singh.

A plane carrying 47 people has crashed in eastern Venezuela. There is still no word on deaths but authorities say at least 23 people have been injured. The state airline VSO is headed to Margarita Island when it crashed near the city of Port toward the us this morning. A small section of the Capitol is evacuated while police investigate a powdery substance. It was found in the visitors gallery overlooking the House chamber. No one's been hurt. Capitol Police say they just cleared out a few people out of an abundance of caution. Congress officially returns this week. NPR's Paul Brown reports tax cuts are on lawmakers minds as the November elections draw near and Republicans now appear ready to compromise. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs tells ABC the president is fine with continuing Bush era tax cuts for households making less than a quarter million dollars a year. But he says there are an unjustifiable public expense for wealthier Americans. The president has a line that we should hold middle class tax cuts hostage to high end tax cuts. House Minority Leader John Boehner tells CBS he could vote for the White House plan but he objects about half of

all small business income. Will be taxed under the president's proposal. These are the very people that we expect to invest in the economy and to begin creating jobs Boehner says the White House proposal would punish those business people. Paul Browne NPR News Washington. A Senate panel is holding its first impeachment trial since the 1099 case to oust then President Bill Clinton. The defendant is U.S. District Judge G Thomas Porteous he's accused of corruption including accepting lavish gifts filing for bankruptcy under a false name and lying to Congress. Hundreds of residents about 50 miles north of Denver are still out of their homes after a quick moving wildfire forced evacuations yesterday. NPR's Jeff Brady says the Reservation Road fire near Loveland Colorado has burned about a square mile of land just west of the city. Evacuation notifications went out to more than 7500 phone numbers. Crews fighting another fire 35 miles away were brought in to help. That fire near Boulder likely will be contained this evening after scorching 6000 acres

and destroying 166 buildings nearly all of them homes. Fire spokesman Greg Hooley says it's unlikely the fire will spread further. But there are still unburned homes within the fire area that crews are worried about with the conditions that we are expecting today. Low to mid 80s and in single digit humidities. We want to really be on our toes about catching those hot spots. Boulder County is allowing more residents into the area to check on their homes but officials warn that some neighborhoods still don't have power or phone service. Jeff Brady NPR News Denver. At last check on Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 44 points at ten thousand five hundred eight and trading of about 2 billion shares. NASDAQ up 30 to a 20 to seventy five. This is NPR News. President Obama is hailing the contributions of historically black colleges and universities at a White House reception today the president told educational leaders that strengthening these institutions is

critical to his goal of hiking college graduation rates. We've got a lot more work to do. I just want everybody here to understand that you've got a partner in me and you've got. Partner in the Department of Education the president says he's proposing eight hundred fifty million dollars in federal spending for educational institutions over 10 years. Hurricane Igor is packing maximum sustained winds of 150 miles per hour as it spins far out in the Atlantic Ocean. Phil Assman with member station says forecasters don't expect Igor to hit the U.S. but Bermuda could be in its path although forecasters no longer think Igor will continue to strengthen. It is still the most powerful system yet of the Atlantic season as it buzz saws to the west. The National Hurricane Center forecaster John cantaloupes He says they are waiting anxiously for the powerful Igor to make a very important turn should turn more toward the northwest and then eventually more toward the north. And you know and during the next five days it be close is a landmass that appears to be in the path of yours going to be Bermuda.

Meanwhile forecasters are also watching tropical storm Julia the 10th named storm of the Atlantic season. It is far out in the distant ocean. For NPR News I'm Phil Lassman in Miami. The Nigerian man charged in a Christmas Day plot to blow up an airliner near Detroit is due to appear in federal court today the judge is expected to set a trial date. Prosecutors say Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to set off explosives on a Northwest Airlines flight with 300 people on board. This is NPR. Support for NPR comes from Citgo recognizing the difference every day heroes are making in communities nationwide. Learn more at fueling good dot com. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Cali Crossley Show today in the final push to the primaries. We're dropping in on races throughout the region. Before checking in on New Hampshire and Rhode Island we're kicking off the conversation with Paul

prone of the editor of the Cape Cod Times for his take on the tenth congressional district in Massachusetts. Paul welcome back. Thanks Kelly good to be here. By all accounts things are getting ugly in this race and everybody's gone. Negative what's your read. It's really well it's a fascinating race to watch from from a macro and a micro level I mean for one thing how often here in Massachusetts do we have a legitimately contested congressional seat I mean we send Democrats to Washington we don't send Republicans. So to think that there are not one but two legitimate GOP candidates in this race and that this could be a seat the Republicans pick up. I mean that becomes a national story. Then on the local level you have just the fascinating dynamic of these candidates. You have of course on the Republican side Joe Malone a former rising star in the Republican Party in the 90s and in the state treasure. And then Jeff Perry a

state rep from here on the Cape and rising star of this generation in the Republican Party. They've been really duking it out for some time. Then on the Democratic side in recent weeks it's really heated up between North. County district attorney William Keating and keep an eye on state senator Rob O'Leary they've really been going toe to toe over the over the primary contests. So it's been fun to watch. I think that tomorrow really could be a toss up. It really depends on a number of factors of who is going to walk away victorious. Well there are two factors I wanted to touch base with you about one the mood of the electorate and Sam and secondly the turnout which everybody is predicting it's going to be a low turnout. But first I do speak to me about the mood of the electorate. Every kind of conversation I have had with candidates they say people are angry angry angry and they want change. And that is the national mood

and frankly you have to wonder if that's something that played into Bill Delahunt decision to retire bill down hunted down a congressman here in the tent for seven terms and popular in many quarters unpopular in some. But he is a Democrat and he is part of the establishment and he's done some things that have made some people angry along the way. So would he have been re-elected. We'll never know. We do know is that he's retired in a climate where indeed there's anger. People are looking for a change. Will that translate into a change of party affiliation. We'll have to wait and see if if people want to go that far but in the tenth the numbers suggest that if if there is somewhere in Massachusetts they could go for a Republican it could be here. Bear in mind this is a place where Scott Brown did better than anywhere else in the Bay State where he was in the neighborhood of five percentage points across the state. He was 20 percent ahead in percentage points when in the in the 10th Congressional District and

especially in Plymouth County very conservative leading on to the upper Cape's a very conservative town. But we should note that very few people are more or fewer and fewer people are calling themselves either Republicans or Democrats in that area where people are saying they're independents so we don't really know which Yeah. And I think that's a great point. You know really I think a lot of what happens tomorrow will depend on what ballot people pick up are. We have so many enrolled the majority of people here and now that's a trend across the state. Across the country but here in this area especially you have the majority of voters aren't enrolled. So what they do tomorrow will say a lot about where their where their affiliations are. Now of course the big thing is getting people to the polls. And we've seen from the secretary of the Commonwealth Office that he is predicting a lower voter turnout. What do you think in the 10th there's been it seems to me from the outside a

lot of interest in this so maybe not so much in the 10th District. Right there is there is a lot of interest in in this particular race. And if anyone if there's a reason for people to come out to the polls this is going to be it here in the Cape and the islands we have very few contested primary races. We have the tenth of course we also have the cape an island state Senate seat because one of the candidates Robert Leary. Is contesting for Congress so Bill Delahunt departure set off on a series of political dominoes which included Rob stepping up to challenge the seat and set off a whole host of candidates for his seat. So but those are the only two ones down here that are contested other than statewide seats and district seats like governor's council. So if it's a if it's a good turnout at all it will be because of the buzz that we've been seeing and there has been quite a bit of buzz a lot of these candidates have been out there. They've been as I said that they they've been really taking shots at each other.

And while sometimes that turns voters off I think you see a lot of energy about this race. And I do think while it probably won't be a great turnout it's not a presidential election year turnout that we're looking at. I think you're going to see a modest turnout maybe surprising some. We're speaking with Paul Provo He's the editor of the Cape Cod Times for his take on the 10th Congressional District race in Massachusetts. One thing that came up here on my show last week a poll by a caller from your area was questioning Mr. Keating's where he lived and whether or not he was really a resident of the 10th. I had I didn't understand that that was a big issue in that area but a couple of my political contributors said yes. It's become one William Keating will he be impacted by this or not. From your vantage point you know they they are all bringing baggage into this race and that was an issue and has been an issue in the past for the sitting Norfolk County

district attorney. Some of the communities of Norfolk County sit outside the 10th Congressional District. This is a this is a really strange congressional congressional district that stretches from the north as Quincy down through the south shore down through Plymouth County and all the way across the Cape and the islands to the tip of P-town. So it's a very funny district. Separated in geography from the Norfolk County area where Bill Keating has been da and where he has lived. He has moved to Quincy. You do hear some low level rumblings about you know is that sort of being a carpetbagger. I don't know that that's going to really affect the outcome. And all of them Keating. Robert Leary Jeff Perry and Joe Malone have been dealing with accusations about their histories and they all have different colorful bits of background. We'll see if any of that matters to voters tomorrow maybe they're just going to come out on the issues and back to Scott Brown. As you said he took this district. And so

that's one thing but that's got brown. Does he have a big enough coat tail to pull Jeff Perry who he is his stated candidate. Well certainly Jeff hope so. You know Scott Brown seemed pretty popular down here when he was running. And Jeff has seen this as a major coup that he has this endorsement as he does with the endorsement of Mitt Romney. He sees him aligned with that side of the party. But Joe Malone has had some other endorsements. In fact Rudy Giuliani the country's mayor was down here the other day endorsing Joe Malone and that created a little bit of a stir in Hyannis. So will it be enough. Scott Brown the Dorismond will wait and see. It's certainly creating a splash at the time and Jeff continues to. Talk about it so I will have to see if it's a factor. And finally Brian Mooney in the globe suggested that Quincy is really the center of the the Democratic turnout that if the people

in Quincy turnout then than William Keating and or Rob O'Leary have a great shot at this. But if they don't then everything is going to a different direction. Do you agree. WRIGHT Well it's always all about numbers and Quincey being a city can turn out concentrations of very big numbers to the polls. It is a democratic hotbed it's what has helped propel Bill Delahunt to seven terms and others. And so it is definitely going to be a factor. But you really can't count out the suburbs and the effect that you have on this growing area down into Plymouth County and down into the upper cape that has increasingly become conservative. It's not going to matter on primary day the reach of each party is going to select one. But down the stretch I think that's something that's going to take a lot of watching. All right. Well Paul Pronovost editor of the Cape Cod Times thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Now it's off to the races in New Hampshire and Rhode Island. I'm joined by radio and TV

commentator Arnie Arnesen a former New Hampshire state legislator and Robert Whitcomb He's vice president and editorial page editor of The Providence Journal. Robin Arnie Welcome back. OK Ali thanks. Arnie I'm going to start with you because all across the country we're hearing from national political commentators that the Tea Party influence is the one to watch everywhere and in New Hampshire Sarah Pailin has endorsed Kelly Iowa and everybody's looking to see what that may mean. Well what's what's fascinating here is that there are only five Republican U.S. senators that are retiring Judd Gregg of New Hampshire is one of those five. So obviously everyone is watching these states and this is really one of the last ones to come up in Tuesday's primary so it's terribly important. But you have the Tea Party power. And what do I mean by that. We know that Kelly Ayotte who is the former attorney general who happened to have been appointed by both a Democratic governor and a Republican governor

so she is the definition of bipartisan Sora. It was indorsed by Sarah Palin a number of months ago only she kind of kept it quiet and we knew about it but we didn't know about it until this weekend when there were like thousands of robo call halls with Sarah Palin's voice suddenly emerging. And one of the reasons why this is suddenly happening and Kelly has decided to really unleash Sarah Pailin is that surprise surprise a fellow by the name of Ovid Lamontagne a very very conservative attorney from Manchester who is really sort of very sluggish in the polls but is suddenly surging very late and doing quite well jumping over for third and maybe now in a comfortable second place. And what happened on Friday. But I think if Congressman Dement is its senator Senator Dement. The man from South Carolina and from South Carolina tweeted on Friday and in his tweets he took an incredible risk and he included Ovid Lamontagne as the candidate to watch and the candidate to support and he really has been

operative in making a lot of the the Tea Party success has happened around the country. So everybody was surprised by this. But at the same time now we have Sarah Palin versus the mint. So that's really what this is more about than anything else it'll be interesting to see which tea party can claim victory on Tuesday and which candidate can claim being the true conservative if you will because I note that they said you can't get to the right of me. So meaning he's the guy right and he's actually that is and he is the most accurate in his self description of himself. He is if you are a true conservative you are not going to basically be led around by the nose by the National Republican Party because you will be true to your conservative values. He has a history of that when he ran for governor in 1906 and actually built be a congressman named Bill Zell of a moderate Republican. He has been chairman of the state. Education Committee as well as the Catholic Education School Board he is a true conservative that doesn't change with the

wind. Kelly Ayotte is interesting because nobody really understands or knows where she fits on the political spectrum. What we do know is she is an interesting combination of supporters the establishment Republicans have basically poured thousands of dollars into her Judd Gregg personally reached out and chose her. Johnston who we suspect probably wants her as well. But then we have Sarah Palin suddenly emerging on the scene and making her one of her mama grizzlies. So it's going to be fascinating to see what happens I think over it. If there was an extra week Ovid Lamontagne might be Kelly Ayotte because he's really come out of nowhere in the polls and really is challenging very late but very strong. Wow. OK. Robert let me just go to you and say that. Huge news there in your state. Because when Patrick Kennedy stepped down you know lots of folks jumped into the race to replace him. And now it seems that it's pretty much anybody's game at this point it's very confusing to

try to figure out well who is ahead there. I think it is in the Democratic primary race for his seat. It's very very busy there's a businessman called Kemah is pouring tons and tons of money into the mayor of Providence Davis's Leni. This is a young fellow called David Siegel's a state rep and calls himself the most progressive member of the race let me see who am I forgetting here. Yeah I mean is this businessman Anthony Gemma did you meet. Yeah yeah. And it's you know it's. It could go either way I still think it's Sisily nice phrase too to lose because this lady's got quite a bit of money stashed away. He's certainly highly visible he's got provenance which is a pretty big city especially for a state is absurdly small as Rhode Island. So I think you know I think he's going to do OK I should mention as Bill Lynch Building which is a Democrat brother of the

state attorney general around here he's the head of the state Democratic Party calls himself. They're all running to call themselves not politicians. I wrote an editorial last week saying Well everybody's appalled what's wrong with being a politician. You know we're all politicians at one time or another in our life. So anyway he's running is another non-politician. So they're going to slice up the pile I don't think the ethnic vote matters as much as it used to be used to be a lot of the Irish would vote for somebody call allegedly Italians who now and then the Jewish people vote for David Siegel but it's much looser now so I think pretty almost anybody could win but I'd still have to say Sicily it's Cicely's to lose and he's got a lot of money it's very you know presentable and sort of running as the reformist mayor of Providence. Of course if you're familiar with the province it doesn't take much to write for a short list to be the reform of there it's a fairly colorful place.

Well a couple questions that I read something on line where there were a few people throwing out the sexuality question David says Alene is gay. I assume that one of the other candidates OK sure if I'm allowed to know it's a public one of the other people up there on the stage is also gay. I don't think anybody cares anymore. Eliot it's interesting you know in some ways as a socially conservative state you and I have talked about this in the past but summaries of these elections doesn't really mean to the House speaker is good behavior is good. There are innumerable other people who are gay and it's not really a big issue. OK. And just before we go to break Republicans they got any shot at this. I think they do know this Michael Loughlin who would be the probably be the Republican candidate and I think it's plausible he could pull off a Scott Brown. I doubt it because the Democrats are ready. You know let's you know. It was a crime. She was a disastrous candidate this time of the

First Congressional District. Remember that Patrick Kennedy's district. They're ready for the Republicans. I'd be quite flat lower was Ted Kennedy's district. That's right and they did try I think the Dems are ready but you know it's really your kids are listening to you and I we watch Martha Coakley. I wish that somehow seemed to cross the border to New Hampshire because you have to. Today's New York Times there's an article entitled old New Hampshire hand looks for GOP rebound. Yeah it's a story about John Fund. You've always worked good you've got to read it it's an incredible piece in today's New York Times. And John Sununu is very angry and very powerful and it's funny the Republicans always want to get government but they love spots and it's nonsense. Chairman for the state Republican Party because he he may get his rebound and it's an incredibly interesting cocktail that has arrived in the scene in New Hampshire and a lot of it has to do with Sununu as revenge for his son having lost his you know

you know I know you're still bitter about a very very bitter and so he is really looking at the Republican Party and saying we're going to clean house and the last line in this New York Times piece I will find out right after the break. You just have to hear what he says because he says he's going to walk off the scene. But he's going to sort of make sure that the slime has been eliminated for from New Hampshire politics and I close all Democrats. Well yeah exactly. Like I said and it's definitely a wild tomorrow let me tell you. All right well we we're going to let me find that and we've got much more to talk about on the other side of the break I'm Kelly Crossley we're talking about the primaries in New Hampshire and Rhode Island with Robert Whitcomb of the Providence Journal And Arnie Arnesen a radio and TV commentator based in New Hampshire. We'll be back after this break. Don't go away. With support for WGBH comes from you and from next amp providing clean energy

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It's not just learning to order on the next FRESH AIR. The Warmth of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson documents the vast population shift of African-Americans who moved from the south to northern and western cities during the 20th century. The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist tells a story of radical shifts across the country and across the racial divide. Join us. Turn your unwanted vehicle into a tax deductible contribution to public radio. It's easy to do through the WGBH vehicle donation program to learn more call. Eight six six four hundred nine four to four that's eight six six four hundred WGBH. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. If you're just tuning in we're making a final push to the primaries in Rhode Island and New Hampshire. I'm joined by radio and TV commentator Arnie Arnesen or former New Hampshire

state legislator. And Robert welcome. He's vice president and editorial page editor of The Providence Journal. Arnie did you find the piece you want to say this is like so John Sununu I can't stand it. He starts by saying we will win everything in New Hampshire in November 2010 and then this is the last line in the article in today's New York Times. We had seven weeks of hard work after Tuesday Mr. Sununu said. I came in to clean the vermin out then and I'm done. Done so finished couplet. You know if you love the people I love. Tell your guy's colorful he's so colorful but the Republican Party I think Believe it or not I'm going to give him credit where credit is due. They did lose their compass and if anyone was had the capacity to bully them into finding the velcro to hold them together he is able to do it they they they sort of marginalize it saying you know look at all the competition. But the reason why there was so much competition for virtually every race that occurred in the state is that people

smelled the win and they wanted to be able to play in that field. And that's why it wasn't about a disarray in the Republican Party. It was about a really I think invigorated Republican Party. And don't forget that we have almost a hundred twenty thousand more undeclared. There were two hundred sixty seven thousand Democrats two hundred sixty six thousand Republicans and three hundred eighty eight thousand undeclared in this state and undeclared have no reason to pick up a Democratic primary on Tuesday primary ballot. They have every reason because there is so much good juice happening on the Republican side that they're going to make this a nail biter to the end is going to argue what is going to be commies in the Connecticut Valley. What Exeter You know there are here's here's here's our problem because the commies are watching there are no decent Massachusetts conservative left message to this and they went right across the border and they vote. Incredibly conservative. I mean that's why they left Massachusetts. Interesting about about these races is that

we really only have one statewide elected office we only elect a governor and then we have the fight for the soul of the parties with the congressional races in the US Senate races and don't forget the Republican Party nationally is focused more in New Hampshire than on almost any other state because there is going to be a Republican primary for his event and it is in New Hampshire where they want the different candidates want to claim ownership. One of the reasons why I suspect that the mint did something so quite quirky by tweeting on Friday that he wanted Ovid that if Ovid wins the Republican primary Dement can claim victory if Ovid loses the men can say well I came in so late it was you know who knew. But either way he can be almost a potential kingmaker and they're even suggesting that he is thinking about. Running for president and one of the reasons why he would you know tweet for all of it would be if he wins and he does consider running in 2012 he will be able to already have a foothold because he can use the over people tracks.

You know you got it. Well we can see that the unenrolled are being felt and not just in Massachusetts then but across the country I think we're going to sing a lot of the impact of their vote. I want to go back to you Robert and talk about the Rhode Island governor's race which is really juicy too. And again you've got a lot of folks go out running around here. My goodness the voters really have to concentrate to figure out what's happening. They do there are a lot of personal attacks now. One one is a Chafee because he's rich doesn't care about poor people and he wants to extend the sales. We have a high sales tax here but it's not an on many items. And he wants to extend it more to be like the Massachusetts sales tax and then this guy Frank Caprio from another old political family allegedly approached the Republican likely but not far from certain or want to call one of the Republican gubernatorial candidates will know and tomorrow call Joan Tron rub a

tie and offer them a job or term for getting out of the race. The theory there was that if a Republican would take conservative votes not get this would take conservative votes from Frank Caprio the Democrat because all the liberals are allegedly going to vote for Chafee. So I mean it's not bizarre. And yeah and there's a lot of. Did he really offer him that because some people say you know we didn't think it was a very this is all this sort of winking and you know the where the smoke doesn't smoke or Shana know that it's a little hard to sell but I think somebody did approach robots about well you know maybe life will make life very nice for you if you get out of the race. It's really hasn't been confirmed sort of circumstantially it makes some sense because the concern at least the social conservatives would tend to vote for Caprio. But I regret. Well Roboto Is that how you pronounce his name. Yeah. He says that Lincoln Chafee calls him link has really

abandoned all Republican principles and I've never really been a Republican led Tracie is no John Chafee the former senator governor and Navy secretary. People who know him. People who know him know that so he's competing with Caprio for the conservative leaning voter even though Chafee would say he's at least a fiscal conservative. Please pay to go he doesn't believe in big tax cuts for the sake of tax cuts. You know balanced budget so he would take issue with that. And I'm not sure Mr. Roboto I would really have liked old John Chafee to do it certainly if everybody remembers a Rockefeller Republican himself certainly to the right of Lincoln Chafee but maybe not that far to the right now. Is there any change so much. Is there any tea party involvement in the governor's race. Yeah it's very murky it's more a kind of the atmosphere is great people are angry. You know people are angry about taxes. People want their Medicare their Social Security cut but they want government government programs

cut. There's a lot of kind of anger. I don't think the Tea Party is really that big a deal around here as compared to other states. There's an independent candidate a guy called Ken Block goods and interestingly skinny who's a communications executive software company and he's running something called the moderate party which is called sort of physically conservative socially middle of the road. I think he may get some of the disaffected in the November election because a lot of people are fed up of the two major parties here which I really should say the you want to have major Parys was a Republican said so. Few competitors for most seats that it's Charlie a full party. As I've said we even have a prediction of low voter turnout. Are you facing the same thing in Rhode Island. I think so. I think so but you know turnouts are notoriously unpredictable. I mean you can even depend upon the weather.

I would guess a probie a low turnout you know the trouble is those of us in the press and the media were in this bubble of kind of bogus urgency about these races and we forget how little interest most people have in these races. It's just all sort of static now and they don't really focus on it until October. But I I think so yeah because there's no there's no real competitive there's no competitive race in the Democratic side so that's you know the biggest chunk of people right there. Everybody knows the names Caprio Chafee you know the two the two big names. So there's sort of an ambient moment going on now. OK. National issues are they going to play a part in New Hampshire and which ones New Hampshire and Rhode Island I ask the question because I wonder about unemployment very high in Rhode Island Robert 12 percent. And in New Hampshire you're right you lower than the national average five point eight percent I believe. So what kind of impact will that. And that's where everybody is going saying

it's about jobs jobs jobs. So Arnie's if you start it's not about jobs in New Hampshire because I mean New Hampshire it is about I mean people are aware of the national economy they can't not be there. They still might be irritated about TARP they may be irritated about health care reform. But when it comes to unemployment they really can't feel the pain because I think we're the fifth lowest stay for unemployment in the nation I mean where we only have a five point eight or almost half of what the national average is. So we're not hurting puppies. But what's interesting about you know the question about the Tea Party and this was pointed out in today's New York Times article is that before there was the Tea Party there was the RIP Republican New Hampshire party because the Republican Party in New Hampshire was like the Tea Party I mean they they really were the PRI Tea Party Tea Party. So we don't need to say no government no taxes and unkind Exactly. Exactly which is why. Which is why the Tea Party doesn't have to resonate here because they've been here forever. You know it's part of the grand mix. People in Rhode Island are in the kind of government

programs to Tea Party to ever get. And we don't have a government program. You know we've got this far here's the problem if you know no one's ever been on the government teat then they just assume that whoever they want to elect will actually continue that and just make sure they pull the plug on the other forty nine. I mean what's interesting about how they are right now who is running for the United States Senate on the Republican side the former attorney general is that she really hasn't talked about jobs what has she talked about cutting government cutting spending. She hasn't talked once about helping people. But if you talk to the link which when you go over there NEVER AND I NEVER a specific part of it which agency but she never has to talk about just has to make the job she has just make the cut taxes talk because that's the talk that resonates here and she doesn't have to worry about unemployment or people looking for some kind of a handout because New Hampshire has really been able to sort of isolate itself from some of the incredible pain the rest of the country is going through. It's a fascinating thing to watch. Now Robert would come with

12 percent unemployment. You've got some wealthy guys running for governor certainly but you know. In the congressional districts it will this will this topic will this issue impact. Yes. You know the unemployment it's a big big issue you don't you know see the sort of Tea Party rage you see in other places and again I think this is it's so entrenched as a liberal democratic state and there are so many people are in so many public programs around here it's really hard to see that evolving in a kind of a Tea Party anti-government thing in the in the final election even Loughlin the guy is likely to be the Republican candidate the first district. Patrick Kennedy's district as I think it should run in the general election campaign he'll run himself as sort of a Scott Brown and as we all know both from Scott Brown's campaign back then and since he took office he's been pretty much middle of the road. Yeah.

He knows Massachusetts. One of the things that Arnie said and I got a I think it must be true also in Rhode Island given the names that we've heard is that in New Hampshire there's really not much of an appetite for outsiders they really in the end will go for the predictable names. Is that going to happen in Rhode Island as well. I believe it will. KELLY Yeah I mean the nearest thing to an outsider is actually this guy called David Siegel is a progressive who came up here he's only 30 years old he came up here because a friend didn't get moved appeared so David moved up here he's a guy from affluent background but sends to Maryland and all the rest of them are you know quintessence of Rhode Island over to Rhode Island. You know as I'm listening to you talk what's so amazing about New Hampshire is here we are you know talking about the change in every every candidate that probably is going to win tomorrow is basically a retread. I mean Charlie Bass is probably going to win on the Republican side. You know this trick good old Charlie again to the former mayor of Manchester is probably going to win in the first district. I mean Kelly Ayotte although she was never

elected I mean she's been the attorney general for the Republican for the Democrat I mean in most states attorney generals are considered to be somewhat political even though we don't elect them there is that sense that they they hold an office that has the trappings of politics. So as you look across the board it is fascinating to me how many players we are very familiar with we know their names they have political history they have political family none no real outsider is going to show up and win. And in part I think that's again credit to John Sununu. He knew exactly what he wanted to do and what he wanted to accomplish he knew he needed to have strength across the board. He made sure that money came in. And he has I think really reinvigorated the Republican Party they're predicting all over maybe even 70 to 100 thousand more votes on the Republican ballot on the Democratic ballot because the Democrats have that sort of national apathy. And there is only one real contest for them. So undeclared to have you know a lot of reason to make a step and make a mark which is why tomorrow will be interesting to

watch because undeclared don't decide into the last 48 to 72 hours. Can you imagine if you were a candidate. Oh my God. Yeah. That's because you've been a candidate Arnie. What's it like at this moment if you're going into it and and some of us have been having this kind of conversation low voter turnout the same all of that stuff. And this is such a I'm so glad you asked the story going to love this you guys. I ran for governor in 1992. And if you as you remember in 1980 that was the year of Ross Perot. Oh yeah 20 and only 25 percent of the vote. Oh he well and if you came in the highest in Maine and the second highest in New Hampshire we did know what a pro voter would look like. We did know how they would operate after they check the box for Ross Perot. We didn't know anything about sort of the real demographic of the Perot voter because we weren't sure how they would operate. We knew they were angry. We knew they were rejecting the parties we knew they wanted to focus on the deficit they had learned so much in those pie charts from Ross Perot.

And if you go to this thing look at under the hood Exactly. But here's the sad thing. If it had been a traditional election between a Republican a Democrat without a Ross Perot I might have almost won the race or won it. Well the Perot the Perot factor changed the dynamic and what is unbelievable to me is if you look Bill Clinton won New Hampshire in 1902 with the with the percentage that he needed but not a majority. I actually got a higher percentage of the vote than Clinton did and I lost and he won. Bush was eventually lection without Perot. Exactly exactly. People that he can you know my skirt tails you know. But but but but that just tells you in especially now that we have same day registration in New Hampshire. Now when you allow undeclared to pick up either ballot when you have a very angry electorate that's having a tantrum. But they don't really know when which direction the tantrum is taking them. It really makes it very important to get out the vote and to know ahead of time what that voter it looks like and how

reliable that voter is going to be in the voting booth. Wow. Well we'll be keeping our eyes and ears peeled for tomorrow because I think it's going to be interesting. I mean a lot of fun. I know Robert Whitcomb And Arnie Arnesen as always great to have you two on come back again soon. Thanks for a Thanks Kelly. Great fun. Coming up it's our regular Monday feature local made good. We'll mark the seventy fifth anniversary of Yankee magazine with Jamie. RIDGE The president of Yankee publishing Incorporated will be back after this break. Stay tuned to eighty nine point seven. WGBH. With the. The the. Support for WGBH comes from you and from Yamaha music schools popular music course classes and keyboard guitar or drum set designed to meet the unique needs and developmental stages of each age group. You can learn more at y m s Boston dot com and from the New England mobile book fair in Newton for

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program. Just call 866 409 3:56. A representative will arrange a time to pick up your unwanted vehicle and take care of the paperwork and you'll support WGBH and qualify for a tax deduction. That number again is eight six six four hundred nine four to four. This is eighty nine point seven. WGBH Boston NPR station for trusted voices and a local conversation with FRESH AIR and the callee Crosley shout the new eighty nine point seven WGBH. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Cali Crossley Show. It's time for our regular Monday feature local made good where we celebrate people who bring honor to New England by way of their creativity and individuality. My guest is Jamie Trowbridge president of Yankee publishing incorporated and the grandson of the founder of Yankee magazine the magazine Prince six issues a year. The September October issue celebrates the magazine's seventy fifth anniversary. Jamie

Trowbridge welcome. Thank you thank you so much. Congratulations. Oh thanks thanks very much we appreciate that. I mean in these days of publishing that's quite an accomplishment. Yeah well we're very focused on the 76 and 77 feet of earth or Yankee but we're very proud to have made it to 75. OK so we have to start with the name of the magazine which refers to a person who is a New Englander who is certain kinds of attributes. Yes. Yeah. What do you mean by it. Well it's a funny word you know Yankee means different things to different people one of the ways we had to this question is that to a foreigner a Yankee is an American and to a Southerner a Yankee is a northerner to a northerner It's a New Englander. And then finally to a New Englander a Vermonter and then at the very end to have a moderate someone who eats pie for breakfast with a knife. Means different things to different people but but it really is less to do with geography and more to do with mindset. And we like to kind of wrap up a big embrace around the idea that

people that share certain New England values like respect for independence and for history self-reliance common sense that's what defines a Yankee. OK and did that definition change from when you put out the first issue to now. In other words is the whatever version of Yankee that you were aiming at when you first put out the publication. Is that different from the contemporary Yankee. Not really but you know what's really interesting Kelly is that when my grandfather started the magazine he really perceived that New England culture was threatened. He actually wrote about the homogenization of America and in the mission statement for the magazine and he wrote that New England was about to be swallowed into a sea of chain stores national releases and nationwide hookups. He wasn't too far off I have to say. Well he didn't come to me yesterday and say you know do you feel like New England really is still distinctive because of the Wal-Marts and so on so forth and my answer has to be yes it is that the sort of different mindset of the New

Englander persists today. Even in a way that he felt was threatened that in 1935 and so today the mindset you think is pretty much the same. I do think so I think so I think it was reflected actually in the conversation you just had with the political commentators from New Hampshire Rhode Island I mean New Hampshire politician a Rhode Island politician couldn't be more difference you know that. You know what is really Manchester New Hampshire have in common with with Providence Rhode Island it is it is this mindset and if you look actually at our congressional delegation they're the ones that are always kind of out on the fringes a little bit breaking the mold those two senators from Maine you know that's a good point. That's an excellent point. One of the things that one has to note about your magazine is success is that not only does it exist but it exists healthily. You've got three hundred and fifty thousand subscribers. There are a lot of magazines that are drooling over that number and your business model is such that you don't rely on advertising to pay for the magazine it's really those subscribers talked to us about this.

Well we do. We do have advertising and we do depend on that revenue but you know in the last 25 years the magazine publishing model has really tipped toward getting the most revenue possible from the advertiser and for us we've never been successful with that we've really been more successful at getting the reader to pay for the magazine either through the subscription price or the newsstand copy end. You know well a lot of what's changing in the media right now is not so much the change in reader habits as as it is a change in advertising support for advertising sponsored media. And we've been fortunate in that regard in this in this current climate it's really better for us to be getting the bag of money from the reader and we're seeing a lot of magazines and other media tipping that way now. Yeah but you're being a little too modest I have to say because those magazines are fighting to get those subscribers. I mean people are losing on like crazy everywhere I read. So the fact that you have a large body of sort of loyal subscribers is really quite something.

We are very fortunate that our subscribers are very loyal to the magazine. You know we we do our best obviously to keep them but we were very fortunate. All right now has content changed you brought the first replica of the first very very first issue. Tell us a little bit about what was on the cover inside and maybe we can compare and contrast that with the most recent. Yeah well the very first issue of Yankee I don't think would really like to be judged by the first issue when in fact the story goes that Rob Segador started with 613 subscribers there were 600 that he bought from a subscription service that turned out to be fraudulent. If you could say that the first magazine was read by 13 people and they were all family. So once you get past that though you know some of the same bones are there there. The idea of there's a thing in here about contra dancing and how it's kind of a native New England what you call activity

that was actually on the wane and trying to pay attention to that. So there's some feature writing like that there is some calmness there's some fiction and poetry in the issue which until recently we carried We we actually stopped publishing fiction and poetry a few years ago to concentrate more on making the magazine a little more useful for readers so I think that's one of the big differences is that in one thousand thirty five. Magazines were for entertainment and today they're more for inspiration and information. They still need to be entertaining they still need to be beautiful they still need to be something that really engages the reader. But we want a Yankee show off all the things that we that you could do to improve your experience of New England. And now what was on that. What were the what was the cover articles for. From that very first magazine Well they had a they had some cover lines here. First of all the artwork was just horrible it was this couple that were looking at a little baby on their doorstep that says Yankee I'm the baby in the end.

But I will say four issues later they had the logo that we still use today and a beautiful piece of artwork by Maxfield Parrish that I learned learned quickly. But yeah there was an article in here about by Governor bridges I actually don't know which governor that would have made him. Yeah right well now compare contrast that with today's which is a beautiful cover. Yeah well this issue of the magazine is is our seventy fifth anniversary edition and we have been getting some great feedback about the top 25 towns for foliage we rank the top 25 towns and surprised even ourselves by picking a town. Kent in Connecticut at the top town for foliage. And you can argue with us about that online if you want a Yankee Magazine dot com we're getting a lot of feedback. We have 75 things that every New Englander should do which starts off with climbing the Bunker Hill Monument. Yeah the list by the way. YEAH YEAH YEAH IT IS REALLY want to try to have some fun with it.

And there's a quiz in here about the ultimate Yankee quiz. Yeah I think it's a little too ultimate I complained to our editors afterwards that I only scored in the middle of the night. Come on it's not really hard. But I think their point was they wanted to make a point more than they wanted to actually let you rank yourself. OK. I am speaking with Jamie Trowbridge He's the president of Yankee publishing incorporated the grandson of the founder of Yankee Magazine. We're talking about the magazine seventy fifth anniversary and he is our local made good today. One of the things that I also like in the current issue of the recipes you went back through the archives and came forward I'm a sucker for a recipe. Yeah and I never make it. Yeah yeah I know what you mean. I know what you mean you know we picked out six from the archives of really old fashioned recipes. So the blueberry one I love. Yeah. At this very moment being kind of a last example right. And we're actually went on from there to publish this new

magazine called Best New Yankee Magazine's Best New England recipes a list actually don't. It's not available on newsstands until October 5th. But you can order it on the website now if you're interested and you know what I want to talk about that website because. A couple words have come up which talked about being your being online and addressing readers online and also though the term old fashion people say Yankee magazine they sort of think old fashioned but you were way out in front with web interaction. And so that doesn't make you selfish. Yeah. Well you know we're really excited about what we could do with the web a lot of the interest in new england express extends way beyond the borders of New England. We in fact most people are surprised to learn that almost half of our subscriptions are from outside of New England that was a question I wondered about yeah because people love New England and they they they might have a connect. They want to maintain their connection to it through Yankee but maybe they don't read the magazine they look at the website or people travel from all over the world to come to New England and so the web provides us a way to share our stories and information with them and so we're really excited about the Web when it

came along and very excited about using some of the new tools for readers to share the magazine to. Now I'm curious also about the demographic because. You get everybodys chasing after 18 to 34. You know when I think about Yankee Magazine that's not the age range I would necessarily come up with yet. I know about your robust cyberspace. I did of the cell. I may be wrong. Well our our our reader online is definitely younger than our reader the magazine and you know honestly for us the readership really starts in the 30s more the the 30s is the time when people are actually settling into a place and they start to feel that identity with it and you know people sometimes say oh you know Aren't you afraid that all your readers are just going to die off and we're like you know because the people still without a fight with this place they're going to come along they're going to we're always gaining readers we're always losing readers. It's and it's a constant evolution.

But you know online we were looking to pick up even younger readers than normally read the magazine now. How do you compete in the crowded market place and you obviously you do. There are city magazines now there are some other regional kinds of magazines that I would think would be competing for the same subscriber that you have. Sure you're right and the magazine marketplace especially a regional magazine things have gotten very niche. You know I mean when you started there was no New Hampshire magazine that was in a hipster magazine Well guess what there's one for the Monadnock region where we live this tiny little magazine so we we're we're competing with all media. Honestly when you get right down to it when someone says to me oh you know I love Yankee magazine but I stop reading because I just don't have enough time that they're saying is we didn't make the cut that somehow in the discretionary time that they had other things came before us whether it's Kelly Crossley Show or Mad Men or whatever it was something else made the cut and we didn't. And so that's our challenge is to really remain relevant and about New

England today so that people reading the magazine can feel like yeah this is something that I could really use something I really like 25 years from now Jamie what does Yankee magazine look like and what do you what do you think you'll be saying to your even bigger subscribers. Yeah well you know I think that it's going to be natural for people to be using electronic devices to read more at that time and that the media will be even more multimedia than what we can do on the Web now. I mean we're so excited about creating slide shows of different beautiful New England scenery where you know when we send someone down the coast of Maine they take 3000 photographs we only have room for 21 of them in the magazine. So we're really excited about being able to present all so much more information and so many new ways and I think the print form will still exist. But I think it'll be pretty expensive. Well it's a great comfort food. I would say and quite entertaining and beautiful. Congratulations on your seventy fifth anniversary. Thank you so much. My guest has been Jamie

Trowbridge She's the president of Yankee publishing incorporated and the grandson of the founder of Yankee magazine the magazine Prince six issues a year. The September October issue celebrates the magazine seventy fifth anniversary. Thanks again. This is the Calla Crossley Show a production of WGBH radio bust and NPR station 4 news and culture.