Fairfield Weighs in on GOP Presidential Candidates

[The article has been updated to include an interview with State Rep. Brenda Kupchick.]

The Iowa Caucus has wrapped up; the New Hampshire Primary is underway today. The race to become the next president of the United States is heating up.

Readers can catch up on the caucus coverage on any Iowa Patch site (here’s a look at ) or follow the as our Granite State editors cover the New Hampshire Primary (check out Windham Patch).

But today, Fairfield Patch takes a step back and surveys how Fairfield feels about a major component of the 2012 presidential election -- the slate of Republican candidates vying for their party’s nomination.

Here’s how some residents answered the questions: “What do you think of the remaining Republican candidates, their campaigns? Who should get the GOP’s nomination?”

• State Rep. Brenda Kupchick, R-132: "I personally lean toward Mitt Romney, but I see how people are supporting Newt and Paul. Newt is smart and an articulate person who has a clear message that resonates.  Ron Paul has a loyal following of supporters. I like Mitt because he's incredibly smart and has had success in turning failing companies around. Mitt is being attacked for being a moderate, but to me the majority of Americans don't want a hardcore partisan for their president. It seems during both parties' caucus and primaries partisanship is typical to win their party's nod, then all the candidates move back toward the middle to appeal to more voters. Many people I talk with are frustrated with the path the country has been on, myself included. I think Mitt Romney is an honest good man and I believe he will be a good president for the country."
• Paul Anderson: “The one telling the least harmful lies.”
• Bill Domeika, RTM member, R-9: Domeika said he did not have a clear-cut choice for who he feels should take the Republican Party’s nomination and, like many people, has been going through the Romney–Gingrich–Huntsman cycle. He said he knows he wants to see “someone who is electable. It sure seems like Romney will be that choice -- but I am still up in the air.”
• Ellery Plotkin, Democratic Town Committee Chair: “The multitude of Republican candidates cannot seem to produce a frontrunner. It's been a revolving door of each one getting their 15 minutes of fame, except Romney who isn't going anywhere -- he seemingly has hit his glass ceiling.  The slate consists of mediocrity as a whole, each one pounding on a small spectrum of Republican best hits, yet all missing the comprehensive target.  There's only one candidate speaking to the American people, not just the Republican Party, and that's Huntsman.  Unfortunately for the Republicans, they'll never give him the ticket this year, because he appears, at least, balanced. The Republicans always shoot themselves in the foot, as they will this year, by picking a candidate that appeals to someone's unbalanced definition of a Republican, rather than appealing to a diverse population.  I further applaud the candidates' ignoring Reagan's 11th commandment. Fun to watch.”
• Jim Baldwin, Republican Town Committee Chair: "We're happy to see the diversity of candidates," Baldwin said. "People are vetted; the system is showing it works. [The candidates] rise and fall based on the vetting process. It's a good competitive system...we'll see when the time comes what happens. Hopefully whoever comes out on top will be the right person."
• Robert Clark: "Ron Paul is an extremist (fun to listen to though). And, as we are not Libertarians by design or nature, he becomes just another populist candidate sucking up votes on the right. Rick Santorum is the religious right. Not electable. Newt Gingrich has done more to disrupt the office of the speaker and create a divisive environment in Washington then any politician in recent memory and I will include George Wallace in there. Newt is morally, ethically, and politically bankrupt and everyone who served with him back in the day knows this. He is a disgrace. C'mon RNC, you folks can do better than Newt. Romney is a haircut posing as a politician. I have worked in business for thirty-five years and I can assure you he is just another corporate suit (see Oliver Stone's “Wall Street”). Does America really want a chief executive running the country? Does America not understand that Romney is the embodiment of the type and culture that caused the crash that got us into this mess in the first place? Oh please! Now that leaves the only candidate on that stage I would cast a vote for. Jon Huntsman is a very intelligent, calm, poised, experienced and elegant Washington politico with diplomatic insider street cred; and every time he opens his mouth shows the kind of class both on a world and domestic stage that we as Americans -- right or left, blue or red -- can be proud of. He is indeed a class act and an Obama-Huntsman debate would be very interesting from a political P.O.V. These two men are high-end thinkers and have our best interest at heart. Jon Huntsman would be the answer to your question.”

What do you think?