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The Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire discuss whether a ban on assault weapons should exist.

The Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire discuss how they disagree with Sen. Kelly Ayotte.

Poll to Freep... anyone but Brown -D Carpet bagger from mAss. Middle of page... Smith is my choice. Thank you

New England hasn’t been fertile territory for Republican candidates of late, but the party has an opportunity to gain House seats in the region this November. (SNIP) Massachusetts’ 6th District. There are two races to watch in this district this fall. The first is the Sept. 9 Democratic primary between Rep. John Tierney and Iraq War veteran Seth Moulton, along with three others. (SNIP) In the general, Tierney would face Republican Richard Tisei in a rematch of their close 2012 contest. (SNIP) Maine’s 2nd District. (SNIP) Democratic state Sen. Emily Cain and former Republican state Treasurer Bruce Poliquin won competitive...

(CNN) – Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is heading back to New Hampshire next weekend. It will be the third visit this year by the freshman Republican senator and potential 2016 presidential contender to the state that holds the first primary in the race for the White House.According to a source close to the senator, Cruz will speak at the Hillsborough County Republican Committee Primary Dinner on September 6. Another potential 2016 contender, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, will also give remarks at the dinner. Follow @politicaltickerFollow @psteinhausercnnThe next day, Cruz will hold events in the southern part of the state.

The Democratic National Committee over the weekend set its preliminary 2016 presidential primary calender, with the four traditional carve-out states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada -- holding contests in February and everybody else after that. The calendar mimics what we've seen from Republicans, who have basically agreed on the same order of succession. Here's how that looks: Feb. 1 -- Iowa caucuses Feb. 9 -- New Hampshire primary Feb. 20 -- Nevada caucuses Feb. 27 -- South Carolina primary From there, all other states would be permitted to hold contests between March 1 and June, with party...

Scott Brown is back in the ballgame. The former Massachusetts senator had appeared to be fading in his bid to defeat incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, but a new poll shows that the race is now up for grabs. In the WMUR/UNH survey released Thursday night, Shaheen led Brown by 46 percent to 44 percent, which is within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. This latest numbers show a dramatic swing in Brown’s direction from the previous WMUR/UNH poll, which was conducted a month-and-a-half earlier and showed Shaheen leading Brown by...

Scott Brown, the Republican Senate candidate in New Hampshire who has struggled to gain traction against his opponent Jeanne Shaheen, is within two points of the incumbent Democrat in a new poll from WMUR and the University of New Hampshire. The poll shows Shaheen with 46 percent support and Brown, the former GOP senator from Massachusetts, with 44 percent. The previous WMUR-UNH poll, from June, showed Shaheen with a 12-point lead over Brown, 52 percent to 40 percent. After Hitting Shaheen on Immigration, Brown Closes Gap in New Hampshire This is the closest poll of the race since January, with...

Republican Scott Brown has closed a 12-point gap in the monthly WMUR/Granite State poll, and has pulled into a statistical dead heat with incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen for the New Hampshire US Senate seat. Shaheen leads Brown 46 percent to 44 percent...

Senate hopeful Scott Brown again got help from a former Republican presidential nominee, as Sen. John McCain spoke to a crowd of GOP faithful at a town hall meeting Monday.

It is often very hard for women who have been victims of sexual type crimes to publicly discuss what has happened to them. Last week in Washington, five women came forward to discuss how gun free zones at colleges have prevented them from defending themselves. From rape and sexual assault, to stalkers, to one woman whose stalker killed her husband, to death threats,these women bravely came forward and talked of the traumas -- all but one telling their story publicly for the first time. One woman's story made national headlines. Taylor Woolrich, a junior at Dartmouth College, has been stalked...

A 20-year-old Dartmouth student says she may have to give up her Ivy League dream and drop out of school because the prestigious college won't allow her to carry a gun—to protect herself against a predator. Taylor Woolrich, a junior, says Dartmouth administrators told her they won’t let her carry a gun on campus, even though she lives in fear of a man who has been stalking her since she was a high school student in San Diego. “It’s absolutely unfair,” Woolrich said about her attempts to have the school make an exception to its weapons ban. “It’s one of...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in a close contest against potential GOP rival, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul in a 2016 general election matchup in New Hampshire. Clinton has single-digit leads against New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. She has a wider lead over Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Texas Senator Ted Cruz. But, only against Cruz is Clinton supported by more than 50% of New Hampshire voters. Clinton does better than each of her potential opponents among independent voters. The gender gap in all of these matchups is wide....

Some time this week, 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim is expected to arrive among relatives in Manchester, New Hampshire. She made international news for being sentenced to death in Sudan for her Christian faith, but she was able to get to Rome on July 24 and will be in Manchester soon.

SIX YEARS AGO, Jeanne Shaheen was quick to attack then-Sen. John Sununu on the cost of gasoline. This was a time when New Hampshire consumers were paying around $4 a gallon. In television ads and on the stump, Shaheen argued that the senator deserved blame for not doing more to bring prices down. Her supporters even held protests at his offices to highlight her position. One of her supporters went so far as to dress up as a gas pump to follow Sen. Sununu around at events claiming he wasn’t doing enough to “help the middle-class” deal with fuel prices....

DOVER — Misinformation has surfaced this week regarding the relocation and settlement of Congolese refugees to Tri-City communities; however, one aspect of the program through the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success is true — the communities of Dover, Somersworth and Rochester will have no say in the matter. Dover Mayor Karen Weston said Friday that the notion of 3,000 refugees being resettled in the Garrison City is not accurate and also the GraniteGrok.com report by Skip Murphy that a meeting scheduled with ORIS Aug. 13 will not allow for residents to ask questions is a total fabrication. What is...

A proposal is being presented to the Dover City Council about the imminent relocation of up to 3,000 refugees from the Congo to the City of Dover NH. This would propose a 10% population growth in 6 years. The proposal is believed to have a plan to move 100 families (each containing between 3-5 members) each year to Dover from now until the community “surrenders” and requests the flow to stop (similar to Manchester, NH and Lewiston, ME) but the government decides when enough is enough NOT the local community. The federal government would support these families for only 8...

Maine’s Republican governor wants all able-bodied recipients of the federal food stamp benefit to complete work or volunteer activities. Gov. Paul LePage announced Wednesday that Maine will no longer seek a federal waiver that allows some able-bodied adults to receive food stamps without working or volunteering. “We must continue to do all that we can to eliminate generational poverty and get people back to work,” LePage said in a statement announcing the change. “We must protect our limited resources for those who are truly in need and who are doing all they can to be self-sufficient.” According to the Maine...

Despite presenting a cozy public image, Republicans Scott Brown and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) are once again at odds over key issues, as Brown campaigns to unseat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Ayotte, who officiated at the wedding of Brown's daughter on Sunday, got to know Brown when he served as a Massachusetts senator before losing his seat to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). He has since relocated to New Hampshire to challenge Shaheen. Ayotte endorsed Brown, but by attacking Shaheen's positions on immigration and veterans' affairs he is effectively disparaging Ayotte's record as well.

A big local story from this weekend was centered around Market Basket and its employees’ ongoing movement to re-install former CEO Arthur T. Demoulas. ... Why are employees protesting, anyway? OK, the long answer goes back decades. In the very short-term, Market Basket employees are extremely loyal to the former CEO, Demoulas, who was fired last month and replaced with Jim Gooch and Felicia Thornton. Two other executives were fired at the time, and seven more resigned the next day. A couple weeks back, employees outright demanded Demoulas be re-instated as CEO. When they didn’t hear an answer by the...