 PoliticsNH No Mas
Five years and a few months into online publication and PoliticsNH.com is no more. Its longest-running editor, James W. Pindell, left six weeks ago to join the Boston Globe, and was succeeded by Steve Kornacki, who migrated to PoliticsNH from PoliticsNJ.com, both owned by the Publius Group, which also runs PoliticsPA.com.
The writing was snappy, the analysis thoughtful…so what happened? If you know, let us know.
Update...
This is interesting. The Politics NH home page states:
“PoliticsNH.com is not going away. We are simply in transition. For the past five years we have been honored to have your loyalty. We hope to earn that trust back when we return.”
They lost our trust? Oh dear. How, when, where…
Politics NH's most recent editor, Steve Kornacki hasn’t responded to my “what’s the deal?” email query, nor has its parent company, the Publius Group, mainly because there was no way to email them, call them, or even snail mail them. Which in my experience is consistent with a strong desire not to be found. So where is The Publius Group, physically? And who are they?
A simple Google revealed a couple tibits. Last year, progressive Philly-based blog MyDD poked around Politics NH’s sister publication Politics PA, because it had unceremoniously trashed so many Democratic candidates. MyDD learned that the Publius Group is a creature of the Claremont Institute of Claremont, CA – a Straussian, neo-con think tank whose distinguished scholars include the Bookie of Virtues, Bill Bennett, and Mark Helperin, a conservative, but brilliant novelist who served as Bob Dole’s sometime-speech writer in the 1996 presidential campaign. Claremont is in turn funded by some questionable Rapture Right wing-nut gazillionaires, including Howard F. Ahamson, Jr. – an anti-gay theocrat. Coincidentally, I couldn’t get the Claremont Institute’s website to open last night. Stateline.org refers to the Publius Group’s stable of state politics-oriented websites as “anonymously-run.” But not anymore.
The Publius Group keps a low profile; its flashy website gives up less than a White House press conference. And since they operate “non-partisan” political sites with major right-wing money, it’s no mystery why they’re elusive.
Campaigns and Elections magazine, the industry standard for campaign professionals and others with an unhealthy interest in all things electoral, has been sold, according to its webpage, to “Political World Communications, LLC, a newly created venture that represents a diverse group of private investors…” And the new publisher? Jordan S. Lieberman, the President and Director of Marketing for the Publius Group.
I often wondered how they made money at Politics NH, which always had better than adequate coverage, but no apparent revenue stream. Turns out maybe they didn’t need one. I read Politics NH mainly for its candidate calendar, because it’s easier than keeping track of all that stuff myself. I can’t say that I’ve ever noticed any bias in its reporting.
So what happened at Politics NH?
Send your strictly confidential inside dope my way. 
~Jack McEnany
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