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We haven't started making Red Spotted Newt for President 2004 buttons yet, but we've got plenty of Newt for Governor 2002 buttons left! The Newt believes in recycling.
Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
The Newt 2004
c/o New Hampshire Magazine
150 Dow Street
Manchester, N.H. 03101
The Newt wasn't the only contender in the 2002 governor's race. Who else ran?
Other candidates for New Hampshire governor were:
Republican (winner)
Craig Benson
Democrat
Mark Fernald
Libertarian
John Babiarz
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So far only one Granite Stater, Franklin Pierce, has ever become president of the United States.
LET'S MAKE IT TWO!
VOTE AMPHIBIAN
The Red Spotted Newt renews his pledge to get workin' on what needs to be fixed in government. |
Who is The Newt?
Many of you have long known notophthalmus viridescens as an amphibian, an
inspiration, and mentor of the deepest sagacity; as an honorable and decent
newt, whose character is unassailable and whose significance and stature in
this state indubitable. But most of all, you have known The Newt as a
friend - a friend to you, a friend to New Hampshire, and a friend to the United State of America.
Plus, he's so darn cute.
What qualifies the Newt to be president?
Well ... the Red Spotted Newt
ran for governor of the great State of New Hampshire in the Fall 2002 election.
He's also a heck of an orator. Here's the text of the famous speech in which he declared his candidacy for governor of New Hampshire back in 2002:
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Four score and seventy thousand ago, my ancestors crawled up out of a pond and buried themselves in the leaf litter of the forest. After a while, they crawled back to the pond. Then back to the leaf litter. Then back to the pond.
Then back to the leaf litter.
Then back to the pond.
This went on for quite a while.
The point is, in all the history of New Hampshire, The Newt has been here… watching… waiting… eating midge larvae…
In that time, The Newt has grown ripe with the wisdom of the forest. In 1984, Goffstown High School biology teacher Phil Browne and his students helped the great Granite State recognize the importance of the wisdom of The Newt. Phil and his students knew that if The Newt was healthy, New Hampshire was healthy. I live in our beautiful vernal pools; I am the bellwether of the state's environmental health. Too much acid rain and I end up with three legs or an extra eye or something. And so the state's leaders designated me the official amphibian of New Hampshire.
I say, that was a start. A squiggle in the right direction. But now the time has come to do more. The time has come to look to your leaders for more than the ability to walk upright, use drive-through ATMs and play pinball. Sure they can do all that, but how many of them can breathe underwater?
The time has come to put a terrarium in the Statehouse. To fill it up with some nice decaying vegetation, a bowl of water and some sweet, sweet bugs.
The time has come to let the state know that you care so much about New Hampshire that you just can't make up your mind for whom to vote! That's why you're going to vote AMPHIBIAN!
The Newt is your education candidate. Who's helped more schoolchildren understand the natural wonders and cycles of our state than me? The Newt is your environment candidate! Who cares more deeply about - and is more dependent on - a healthy environment than me?
What, you ask, will happen when there's a Newt in the Corner Office? What won't happen! To your question, I can only say:
Ask Newt what New Hampshire can do for you, and ask Newt what you can do for New Hampshire!
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The Wisdom of Newt
From the outside, a forest is a single thing. From within, it is many.
For those unwilling to plunge into its depths, the surface of a pool shows them only themselves.
Each creature depends on others for its living, and so there must be many habitats in the forest.
Learn more about:
How The Newt became NH's state symbol.
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