Horn tops 3 foes in Republican race

Horn tops 3 foes in Republican race

By SCOTT BROOKS
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2008

In her first bid for public office, Nashua radio personality Jennifer Horn pulled ahead of a crowded field last night to claim the Republican nomination for the U.S. House seat in the 2nd District.

Horn, 44, was roughly 1,700 votes ahead of her nearest rival, state Sen. Bob Clegg, with 86 percent of precincts reporting.

Clegg conceded in a phone call to Horn shortly after 11 p.m.

"Obviously, we"re very excited," Horn said, adding, "I would never have gotten into this to begin with if I didn"t think we could do it."

Her victory gives Horn, a former radio host and newspaper columnist, a shot at unseating first-term U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, a Democrat, in November. Hodes, who was unopposed on the Democratic ballot yesterday, congratulated Horn in a statement and said he looked forward to a "spirited campaign and a substantive debate over the issues."

For her part, Horn promised to take an aggressive tack in the two months ahead.

"My sights have been set on Paul Hodes from the beginning," she said. "That"s what this is about. He has failed the families of New Hampshire. It"s time to fire him and send him home."

Unofficial results showed Horn at the top of the GOP heap with 40 percent of the vote, having walloped Clegg in her hometown of Nashua, the largest city in the district. Clegg was behind with 34 percent.

"The people chose Jennifer Horn," Clegg spokesman Alicia Preston said, "and we"re going to work hard to make sure Paul Hodes doesn"t win in November."

Third place belonged to Jim Steiner, a Concord attorney and former Green Beret, who was polling at 14 percent toward the end of the night. Taking up the rear were former U.S. Sen. John Sununu aide Grant Bosse (9 percent) and retired engineer Alfred L"Eplattenier (2 percent).

Early results showed a tight race between Horn and Clegg, leaving both camps on pins and needles for much of the night. Carol Griffin, a Horn supporter who watched the results roll in on a screen at the Nashua Marriott hotel, said the crowd there was holding its breath until the Nashua results were posted.

"She really kicked butt in Nashua," Griffin said, "and that put her ahead by like 1,000 votes. We sort of all knew, at that point, that she had won."

As a campaigner, Horn was among the most aggressive in the field. Right out of the gate, she declared herself the only candidate who could beat Hodes in a general election. In March, she chastised Clegg for accepting political contributions from lobbyists.

Horn, however, struck a different tone in her speeches, in which she branded herself a Washington outsider and made frequent note of her role as a mother of five. Her Web site draws attention to her charity work, from her participation in walks for breast cancer research to her years as New Hampshire coordinator of the Chernobyl Children"s Project.

"The whole premise of Jennifer running is she"s not a career politician," Griffin said. "She doesn"t want to go in there and just do things the way they"ve been done. She wants to go in there and get things done."

Several supporters were quick to compare Horn to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP nominee for vice president. Both women are young, both have large families, and both have thin resumes when compared to their opponents.

"Sarah Palin made a big splash," said Ken Capone, a Horn supporter from Nashua. "Everybody"s really excited about her. And when you look at her background and you look at Jennifer Horn, there"s a lot of similarities."

The case against political experience didn"t sit well with some Clegg supporters. State Rep. Lynne Ober, who hails from Clegg"s hometown of Hudson, said last night she was not sure whether she could support Horn in the general election.

"I think she"s a very bright, articulate young lady, but I"m not sure she"s qualified to run for Congress right now," Ober said.

She added, "I didn"t think she was very good at the debate, and I don"t know how hard she"s willing to work."

Clegg stood out as the most politically seasoned of the bunch. His resume is extensive, including 16 years in the state Legislature. A former leader in the House, he made the jump to the state Senate in 2003 and at one point served as majority leader.

In Hudson, he has served on virtually every board and committee for which he was eligible, including the Board of Selectmen, Budget Committee and Building Board of Appeals.

Clegg was the biggest spender as of Aug. 20, when the last campaign finance reports were filed. The state senator had spent $305,000 up to that point, more than double the $150,000 Horn spent.

Steiner, who had spent just $10,000, said he believes money made the difference in the race.

"It appears that the late push with the loan (Horn) made to her campaign provided her with the kind of TV media time that gave her a chance to be in front of more voters," Steiner said last night. "I think that probably proved to be the bottom line."

Clegg"s spokesman noted the turnout was particularly low, saying, "I think on many levels we would have liked to see more people come out."

Horn was dominant in her hometown, where she pulled close to 60 percent of the vote. She was creaming Clegg in Cheshire County, too, claiming a major victory in Keene.

Early results also seemed to favor Horn in smaller cities throughout the district, such as Berlin, where she bested Clegg by a 3-vote margin.

Steiner said he was proud to win his hometown of Concord, where he took 35 percent of the vote.