I am not surprised to learn that New Hampshire Governor John Lynch has finally acknowledged publicly that he will seek a record fourth term in office. The decision to go public is likely the result of the political wake-up call he received this week, combined with the knowledge that the state GOP will launch its own full-scale campaign attack against him next week. Any good politician knows that perhaps the worst move you can make as a candidate is to let your opponent define you without response. The move also gives the state Democratic Party apparatus and associated political elites a new opportunity and urgency for launching its own full-scale counteroffensive in the governor's defense.

 

One of Lynch’s biggest assets has always been that he typically speaks the language of decision-making and administration, rather than ideology and partisanship. As I wrote yesterday, he is the quintessential non-politician politician. In the past, this has kept both his job approval and favorability ratings up among voters (and they are still relatively high at around 60 percent each), which in turn has insulated him from the nastier aspects of electoral politics. So, it will be interesting to see whether the particular virulence of the current attacks will succeed in pulling him out of character.

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