Democratic Governor John Lynch, the
second governor to sign a gay marriage law, on Tuesday won an
historic fourth consecutive term as New Hampshire's governor, the AP
reported.
Lynch overcame an anti-incumbent,
anti-Democrat sentiment to beat his Republican rival, John Stephen.
Stephen was supported by high-profile
Republicans, including Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Haley Barbour.
The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM), the nation's most vociferous opponent of gay marriage, also
came to Stephen's aid.
The group criticized Lynch for raising
taxes and signing last year's gay marriage law in a $425,000
television and radio campaign titled He's Changed.
The ad featured video footage of Lynch
saying, “I do not support gay marriage.”
“Lynch signed gay marriage into law,”
a male announcer says in the ad. “And now he's raising thousands
from out of state gay marriage activists.”
The ad ends with the tag line: “John
Lynch has changed. But not for the better.”
NOM, which earlier worked to repeal gay
marriage laws in Maine and California, also spent $200,000 on a
similarly themed ad buy in April. The Lynch Lied campaign,
which combined television ads with
a website, claimed that the governor lied about not increasing
taxes, cutting spending, balancing New Hampshire's budget and his
position on gay marriage.
Stephen, who opposes gay marriage, has
twice failed to win his party's nomination in the first Congressional
District.