Peter King Could Be Factor In NH Primary, Say Experts

Although he has received relatively little mention in national press as a Republican presidential hopeful and is not usually listed as one of the dozen-or-so GOP candidates seeking the presidential nomination in 2016, New York Rep. Peter King is nonetheless considered a political force to be reckoned with in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary, Republicans in and outside the Granite State told Newsmax Friday.

"Pete King would definitely be a factor in a [GOP] primary because he's Irish Catholic in a state where there are a lot of Irish Catholics and because of his expertise in national security," one veteran New Hampshire consultant told Newsmax, "and folks here like his straight-talking style. That resonates in New Hampshire."

A presidential bid by King — who will turn 71 in April and is a past chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee — was first reported by Newsmax in 2013. The New Yorker most recently fueled speculation he would enter the race by appearing in New Hampshire Friday with other presidential prospects at the National Republican Leadership Summit.

King also participated in a panel discussion on national security at Franklin Pierce College and had lunch with former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who narrowly lost a comeback bid in New Hampshire as the Republican nominee against Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

"How Pete does all depends on how much visibility he gets," former Rep. Charles Bass, R-NH, who served with King in the House in the 1990's, "And that means he's got to start working now.'

As to whether King's national security expertise will help him in the primary, Bass replied: "Possibly, but remember that quite a few of the Republican candidates have good national security backgrounds. Jeb Bush, for example, appears to know the world situation well and Marco Rubio serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The only Republican with whom grass-roots conservatives are likely to have issues with on national security is Rand Paul."

Another onetime House colleague of King's, former Rep. Phil English , R.-PA, spoke to Newsmax while attending the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

"Pete King is a Republican with an instinct for how to market a message to a blue collar constituency," said English, who came to Congress two years after King first arrived there in 1992, "I've known him a long time and found him to have superb political instincts. And to those who dismiss Pete outright, I remind them that he has a long record of surprising people."

While not certain whether King will actually pull the trigger and make the race, English told Newsmax: "If he does and demonstrates that skill I know he has, he has the potential to shake the race up in a big way."

Bass agreed. He recalled to us how New Hampshire Republicans have a history of being unpredictable and proving the experts wrong.

"Hey, in 1964, the winner was Henry Cabot Lodge, who won the primary as a write-in candidate while serving as the Democratic President's ambassador to South Vietnam," he said, adding that his late father, former Rep. Perkins Bass, R.-NH, was a strong supporter of New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller for president that year.

"Anything can happen in the New Hampshire primary."