New Hampshire

Republican considered for top commerce post 3 WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama appeared yesterday to be leaning toward appointing a third Republican to his Cabinet, a move that would place the fiscally conservative Sen. Judd Gregg at the head of the Commerce Department even though a liberal Democrat was initially chosen for the post. The appointment of the New Hampshire Republican - his family has close ties to the family of former President George W. Bush - could also bring the Senate closer to the 60-vote majority Democrats need to thwart Republicans seeking to filibuster legislation.

WASHINGTON - During a long political career that includes 16 years in the U.S. Senate, Judd Gregg has been known as a tough negotiator, a deficit hawk and an independent-minded conservative. Yesterday, Gregg, 61, was nominated by President Barack Obama to be secretary of commerce, buttressing one other part of his reputation: a willingness to work across party lines. "This is not a time for partisanship. This is not a time when we should stand in our ideological corners and shout at each other," the New Hampshire Republican said after Obama announced his nomination at the White House.

LOUDON, N.H. -- Even the doughnuts on the front stretch seemingly couldn't have been more perfect. Coming into the Chase for the Nextel Cup, Clint Bowyer was the driver questioned more than any other about whether he deserved to be part of the group running for the title. He was the only driver of the 12 Chase qualifiers to not have earned a win in the first 26 races of the Nextel Cup season, and he had only two top-five finishes before the field was set for the Chase. Yesterday at New Hampshire International Speedway, Bowyer proved that he belongs in that group.

The people of New Hampshire are still concerned about the continuing war and how we're going to get out of the war. But if you don't have enough money at the end of the day to keep your family warm, that suddenly becomes a very dominant issue."

The videos arrived last Christmas, but most of the year passed before Sean Durgin could bring himself to watch them. Then finally, one day, he opened the digital files and there was his twin brother, Russell Durgin, an Army sergeant who died June 13, 2006, fighting in Afghanistan. In the videos, he is mugging for the camera, charming as ever. He is joking. He is flashing that irrepressible grin - smiling while he talks, smiling while hail falls, smiling while the wind rattles around him on an Afghan mountaintop.

Here we go again. Michigan has joined Florida and South Carolina to become the latest to muscle in on New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation turf in an effort to reduce the influence this cold, flinty state has in deciding who makes it to the Oval Office. Talk is of a Jan. 15 primary, though Michigan's Sen. Carl Levin, a Democrat, favors Jan. 8. This means Granite Staters would cast their ballots sometime between polishing off the last of the Christmas eggnog and toasting the New Year, all because the New Hampshire constitution requires the presidential primary be held a week before any others.

HANOVER, N.H -- Sticking firmly to the high road, former Sen. Bill Bradley shrugged off repeated jabs from Vice President Al Gore last night in their first joint appearance of the Democratic presidential campaign.Neither candidate managed to get off a memorable line or land a damaging blow. But the two rivals also committed no blunders as they fielded questions from a serious-minded audience of New Hampshire voters for more than an hour.Bradley seemed to get a slightly warmer reception with his responses, which even Gore praised, at one point, for their eloquence.

WOLFEBORO, N.H. -- With his avuncular smile, his shopworn homilies, his lanky first-baseman gait and his rusticated innocence, he hardly looks the part. But within a year it may be clear: For Republicans seeking the GOP's 2000 presidential nomination, Bob Smith will be the most dangerous man alive.Not because Mr. Smith, the New Hampshire senator who officially entered the nomination fight here last week, has much of a chance to be president. But because he has almost no chance to be president.

CONCORD, N.H. -- Dan Quayle served two terms in the House. He won two Senate races. He was elected vice president. He represented the nation in 47 countries, the U.S. flag flapping behind him as he spoke at airport greeting ceremonies. So why now, here in this state of great green hillsides and fast blue streams, is a man with establishment credentials railing so against the establishment?The answer reveals a lot about Mr. Quayle, about New Hampshire, about the modern Republican Party and about the character of the 2000 presidential race.

DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. -- As he ambles through a deserted hotel lobby, the man the polls say will be the next president spies a solitary hotel worker."Hi. I'm George W.," he says, grabbing the first of many hundreds of hands he will shake by nightfall.It is very early on Election Day, one year before the nation's first presidential votes -- those cast at this very hotel -- will be announced with great fanfare in one of the enduring publicity stunts of American politics.Gov. George W. Bush has come to New Hampshire, after ducking two debates, to put on a dazzling display of one-on-one politicking across the northern part of the state.

The historic 2008 presidential election is now almost a year past, but my thoughts last week at a panel on presidential primaries hosted in Washington by the Brookings Institution returned to that election and a presidential candidate who never was - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In 2007, before the presidential primary season officially got underway, a close political adviser to Mr. Bloomberg told me that Mr. Bloomberg was most likely to enter the race as a third-party alternative if the major parties nominated Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton and Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Towson coach Rob Ambrose compared playing New Hampshire in Saturday's Colonial Athletic Association opener to jumping into the deep end of a pool. The Tigers had every reason to be concerned about the undefeated Wildcats, who are ranked sixth in the Football Championship Subdivision and have the CAA's top defense by allowing 213 yards per game. Already facing an uphill battle, the Tigers didn't do themselves any favors by committing eight turnovers in a 57-7 loss before an announced 8,026 at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

New Hampshire (3-0) at Towson (1-1) Time: : 3:30 p.m. TV:: Comcast SportsNet Radio: : 1570 AM Series: : New Hampshire leads 5-0 Last meeting:: New Hampshire won, 42-14, on Oct. 25, 2008 What's at stake: : Towson president Robert Caret is a New Hampshire alumnus so, either way, he can't lose. But the Tigers can. New Hampshire, ranked No. 6 in the Football Championship Subdivision poll, should handle Towson in the Colonial Athletic Association opener for both schools. The Wildcats score 30 points a game and held Football Bowl Subdivision rival Ball State to 13 rushing yards.

RICHARD K. OVERTON, 78 Subject of high-profile murder trial Richard K. Overton, the subject of one of Orange County, Calif.'s most riveting trials who was convicted of murdering his wife, a popular school board member, by slipping her poisons in 1988, has died, the California Department of Corrections has confirmed. He was 81. Overton died Thursday at a hospice in northern California after he had been transferred from state prison in Folsom where he was serving a life sentence, said Frank McAdams, a coauthor of Final Affair, a book on the criminal investigation.

1 Slow climb: UMBC can move up one spot in the America East standings, into sixth, with a victory over New Hampshire (7 p.m., MASN). 2 'Cats up: Coming off its first Big East loss, at South Florida - where tens of fans rushed the court - Marquette heads to Villanova (7:30 p.m., ESPN2). 3 ACC double dip: Comcast SportsNet-Plus has an Atlantic Coast Conference doubleheader, with Virginia-Florida State at 7 and Clemson-Boston College at 9. 4 Dagger!: Maybe Caron Butler can repeat his end-of-game heroics when the Wizards face the Hawks (7 p.m., Comcast SportsNet)

WASHINGTON - During a long political career that includes 16 years in the U.S. Senate, Judd Gregg has been known as a tough negotiator, a deficit hawk and an independent-minded conservative. Yesterday, Gregg, 61, was nominated by President Barack Obama to be secretary of commerce, buttressing one other part of his reputation: a willingness to work across party lines. "This is not a time for partisanship. This is not a time when we should stand in our ideological corners and shout at each other," the New Hampshire Republican said after Obama announced his nomination at the White House.

WASHINGTON - New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, who has emerged as the front-runner for commerce secretary, has assured fellow Republicans that he won't take the job unless he's certain his replacement will line up with the GOP caucus, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday. President Barack Obama is expected to announce Gregg's nomination as early as today. When Obama's interest in Gregg became known Thursday, it created a little Republican angst: Democrats are tantalizingly close to gaining a filibuster-proof majority.

Republican considered for top commerce post 3 WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama appeared yesterday to be leaning toward appointing a third Republican to his Cabinet, a move that would place the fiscally conservative Sen. Judd Gregg at the head of the Commerce Department even though a liberal Democrat was initially chosen for the post. The appointment of the New Hampshire Republican - his family has close ties to the family of former President George W. Bush - could also bring the Senate closer to the 60-vote majority Democrats need to thwart Republicans seeking to filibuster legislation.

Tensions rise between North, South Korea SEOUL, South Korea: North Korea declared all military and political agreements with South Korea "dead" today, warning that it would not honor past accords if Seoul continues to push the Koreas to the brink of war. The North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea accused South Korean President Lee Myung Bak of raising tensions on the Korean peninsula with his hard-line position on Pyongyang. It warned that Lee's stance would only draw "a heavier blow and shameful destruction."

New Hampshire 65, UMBC 47 - Tyrece Gibbs, a senior guard, scored 22 points last night to match his career high and lead New Hampshire past UMBC in Durham, N.H., in an America East game. UMBC senior guard Jay Greene had 11 points and seven assists, with his final assist giving him 600 for his career. He is the school's all-time leader in assists. Darryl Proctor led the Retrievers (7-8, 1-2) with 16 points and nine rebounds and extended his school-record streak to 23 straight games of scoring in double figures.