U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., will make her first presidential campaign visit to the heart of the Upper Valley this week.
The second-term senator, who held a rally in Claremont in January, will speak at a house party in Lebanon on Saturday morning and then hold a mid-day “meet and greet” targeting the general public and Dartmouth College community at the Hanover Inn, with doors opening at 12:45 p.m.
Warren trailed some of her top-tier Democratic opponents in fundraising, reporting more than $6 million in donations for the first quarter of the campaign, and some $11 million cash on hand.
“We’re in good shape, and we’re excited to be able to keep up the fight,” her campaign manager, Roger Lau, said in an email on Wednesday to supporters.
The Washington Post noted that while Warren’s haul was larger than that of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn, it was below the $9.4 million raised by former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, and the $18.2 million scooped up by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
In terms of grassroots donors, Sanders reported donations from 525,000 people, Warren some 135,000.
Meanwhile, Marianne Williamson, the self-help author who is also running as a Democrat, will hold a roundtable at Headrest next Wednesday, followed by a 6 p.m. “conversation with the candidate” open to the general public at the Hopkins Center faculty lounge at Dartmouth.
Williamson has a new book coming out — A Politics of Love: A Handbook for a New American Revolution — and can count former U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., as her New Hampshire state director and senior campaign adviser.
Hodes, an attorney who also worked as a musician and is active in the arts, said Williamson is an “important voice” and he wants to help spread her message in New Hampshire.
“I’ve followed her work. There’s always been an undertone to her work about truth and being moral and following the right spirit,” Hodes said.
Also on the Democratic front, former U.S. Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., who is running as a pragmatic former business executive, came out hard against Sanders’ proposal released on Wednesday for a Medicare-for-All plan (see page A3).
“Eliminating private health insurance will decrease access and quality in health care and doom any chance of creating a universal health care system, yet it remains the type of talking point that may sound good but is bad policy,” Delaney said in a news release. The former CEO has a plan that would create a public health care plan but also enable Americans to continue to buy private insurance.
On the Republican front, James Peppe, an investment advisor from Texas who says he is running as a centrist Republican against President Donald Trump, may be swinging by the Dartmouth campus on Friday as part of a campaign visit to New Hampshire. Peppe grew up in Minnesota and worked for U.S. Rep. Bill Frenzel, R-Minn., early in his career, according to his campaign website.
Vermont lawmakers are mourning the death of state Rep. Bob Forguites, D-Springfield, who died in his sleep earlier this week.
House Speaker Mitzi Johnson said Forguites, who was first elected in 2014, was a “much-loved member” of the Legislature and known for his quiet, thoughtful approach.
“He did not speak often, but when he did, it was to bridge divides and people listened. Bob brought great integrity and thoughtfulness to his work,” she said.
Forguites, who was 80, served as the town manager in Springfield for 16 years.
■Conservative groups are lining up against the proposed Democratic budget in the New Hampshire House, claiming it would raise almost $418 million in new taxes and fees, including $150 million in capital gains taxes. And Americans for Prosperity, the Koch Brothers-funded group that is savvy with digital targeting, has launched a web tool to enable supporters to write lawmakers with the predictable message to “protect the New Hampshire Advantage.”
■The Pentagon this week identified the three Marines killed during combat operations on Monday in Parwan province, Afghanistan. They were Cpl. Robert A. Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, N.Y.; Sgt. Benjamin S. Hines, 31, of York, Pa.; and Staff Sgt. Christopher K.A. Slutman, 43, of Newark, Del.
The war in Afghanistan has now dragged on for almost 18 years, since October 2001. U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, was 20 when it started, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg just 19. Now they are old enough to run for president …
John P. Gregg can be reached at jgregg@vnews.com.