The American Spectator

AmSpecBlog

Mayors

By John Tabin on 11.8.05 @ 10:10PM

Kwame Kilpatrick is projected to lose in Detroit, as expected (and welcomed). And occassional TAS contributor Andrew Cline, editorial page editor of the Union Leader, posts this to a different website (where he's also an occassional contributor):

The three-term Democratic mayor of Manchester, N.H. lost to a weak Republican challenger tonight, just three days after John Kerry made a stop in town expressly to campaign for the incumbent. The difference -- 536 votes. Mayor Bob Baines was a key Kerry supporter during last year's New Hampshire Primary, and Kerry returned the favor on Saturday, stumping for Baines at a well-publicized event. Joe Biden and Evan Bayh also campaigned for Baines in Manchester, a Democratic stronghold in New Hampshire. Baines lost to alderman Frank Guinta, a former staffer for U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley. Guinta ran almost entirely on a platform of cutting taxes. Baines has been cavalier about tax increases, and after six years apparently Manchester residents have had enough. The Guinta victory gives Manchester a Republican mayor for the first time in six years and is another indicator that southern New Hampshire, where all those Massachusetts ex-pats live, is trending more solidly Republican and anti-tax.

topics:
Taxes, Joe Biden