Telegraph of Nashua - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Telegraph, frequently referred to as the Nashua Telegraph, is a daily newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

in Nashua

Nashua, New Hampshire

-Climate:-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 86,494 people, 35,044 households, and 21,876 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,719.9 people per square mile . There were 37,168 housing units at an average density of 1,202.8 per square mile...

, New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

. It was founded as the Nashua Daily Telegraph in 1869, although a weekly version dates back to 1832. it is the second-largest newspaper in the state, with a circulation of about 27,000 daily, and 34,000 on Sunday.

After being family owned for a century, The Telegraph was bought in the 1980s by Independent Publications of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Bryn Mawr from Welsh for "big hill") is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...

, which owns several, smaller daily and weekly newspapers around the U.S. as well as some other businesses. http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040917/IPI/40917071

In 2005, the paper's owner bought the Cabinet Press, publisher of weekly newspapers based in nearby Milford, New Hampshire

Milford, New Hampshire

Milford is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States, on the Souhegan River. The population was 15,115 at the 2010 census. It is the retail and manufacturing center of a six-town area known informally as the Souhegan Valley....

. http://cabinet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/ABOUT/60915001/-1/about

1980 presidential primary debate

The paper received national attention during the 1980 New Hampshire presidential primary

New Hampshire primary

The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...

, when it hosted a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

debate paid for by the campaign of former California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

Governor Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

. During a discussion over which candidates should be allowed to participate, Telegraph editor Jon Breen, acting as moderator, told the soundman to turn off Reagan's microphone. Reagan's response of "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green," was wildly applauded by the audience and even his fellow Republican primary opponents.

The phrase entered the political lexicon and, some say, helped launch his successful run for the presidency. The fact that Reagan got the editor's name wrong is often forgotten.

Reagan later recounted the incident as a "brief and seemingly small event, one lasting only a few seconds," that he said he thought, "helped take me to the White House." He continues:

"When the Nashua Telegraph offered to sponsor a debate between the two of us [Reagan and George H. W. Bush] on the Saturday evening preceding the election, we both accepted. Understandably, this brought howls from the other candidates. In protest, one of them, Senator Bob Dole, complained to the Federal Elections Commission that by financing a debate between only two of the seven candidates, the newspaper was making an illegal campaign contribution to the Bush and Reagan campaigns. The commission agreed with him, so my campaign offered to pay the full cost of the debate - a few thousand dollars - and they accepted. I thought it had been unfair to exclude the other candidates from the debate."

After arriving at the debate, he found two chairs - one each for Bush and Reagan. The other candidates were confused, as was the audience.

"I decided I should explain to the crowd what the delay was all about and started to speak. As I did, an editor of the Nashua newspaper shouted to the sound man, "Turn Mr. Reagan's microphone off." Well, I didn't like that - we were paying the freight for the debate and he was acting as if his newspaper was still sponsoring it. I turned to him, with the microphone still on, and said the first thing that came to my mind: "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Breen." (sic) Well, for some reason my words hit the audience, whose emotions were already worked up, like a sledgehammer. The crowd roared and just went wild. I may have won the debate, the primary - and the nomination - right there." http://www.ronaldreagan.com/primaries.html

1980 presidential primary debate

See also