From the Valley News

Reporter John Gregg takes a look at the race in today's Valley News:

All four major candidates have supported the troop surge in Iraq and expanded drilling for oil in U.S. territory, and oppose abortion rights.

But they also have sparred on some measures, led in part by an aggressive campaign by the 36-year-old Bosse to draw distinctions in the race.

A 1994 Dartmouth graduate who later served as program director for WTSL radio in Lebanon, Bosse has worked in the Statehouse in Concord and most recently as an aide to U.S. Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H, on Capitol Hill.

He has issued a “50-way” plan to cut federal spending, including ending 54-cent a gallon ethanol subsidies; criticized a state law pushed by Clegg that requires insurers to cover bariatric surgery as “big government” health care; and questioned Horn's commitment to the rights of gun owners. (Clegg, Bosse and Steiner in the debate Thursday all said they owned a gun.)

Bosse, who is single, said his detailed plans set him apart from the other candidates.

“I think it's a willingness to provide a greater level of detail to provide real plans and real solutions rather than just talking points,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “I've been a consistent champion of smaller government and more personal responsibility.”

Bosse's thorough stands earned him the primary endorsement from the Concord Monitor, and his local Republican backers include former state Rep. Terri Dudley, a Lebanon city councilor who also worked with Bosse at WTSL.

“I've always been impressed with his intellect. He thinks things through very carefully,” Dudley said.