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Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz were among several potential Republican White House contenders to gather in New Hampshire on Saturday, for a conference seen by some observers as marking the unofficial beginning of the state's 2016 presidential selection process.
New Hampshire is known as the “first in the nation” state, due to the timing of the staging of its four-yearly presidential primary.
Paul, Cruz and the former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who ran for the Republican nomination in 2008, were among the scheduled speakers at the Manchester event, which is hosted by the conservative groups Citizens United and Americans for Prosperity.
Other speakers at the "Freedom Summit" included the real estate mogul Donald Trump, the former House speaker Newt Gingrich (a 2012 candidate) and the New Hampshire senator Kelly Ayotte.
Paul – who last month said he was “definitely” considering a run in 2016, used his speech to say conservatives needed a bold message to "hit those who haven't been listening" and to keep their political movement growing.
The senator from Kentucky said the GOP could not be "the party of fat cats, rich guys and Wall Street” and said conservatives must carry messages of justice, concern for unemployed workers and against government surveillance if they want to attract new people to the movement, including young people, Hispanics and blacks.
He added that the conservative movement had never been about rich people or privilege, and said: "We are the middle class.”
Americans for Prosperity, which is affiliated with the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, has spent millions of dollars on healthcare-related attack ads aimed at Democratic senators in New Hampshire, North Carolina, Alaska, Colorado, Iowa and elsewhere. Healthcare duly provided a key theme of the New Hampshire event.
"It's the unofficial kick-off of the 2016 process," said a Republican operative, Mike Biundo, who managed the former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum's 2012 presidential campaign. Santorum is touring South Carolina this weekend.
In Manchester, the early speakers attacked the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement which Republicans are making a central issue in their midterm election strategy – despite reports this week of strong enrolment figures.
Some noted this week's resignation of the health and human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, who presided over the law's implementation.
Ayotte asked, "What took so long?"
"I have heard from the people of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire want us to work to repeal this law and replace it with commonsense reforms," she said.
Sebelius resigned on Friday, days after the Obama administration announced that enrolment for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act had grown to 7.5 million, a figure that exceeded expectations and gave Democrats a surprise success after a disastrous rollout.
It was welcome news for Democrats, who have been forced to defend their support for the unpopular law.
As potential presidential candidates jockey for position, the stakes are high for the November midterm elections, where Republicans are fighting to claim the Senate majority. The shift could block Obama's legislative priorities in the final two years of his presidency.
A Democratic National Committee spokesman, Mike Czin, noted that Republican opposition to the healthcare law was the foundation of an unsuccessful political strategy in 2012. He said that the debate had changed now the law had been implemented and millions of people were enjoying its benefits.
"That's a debate that we're going to have, and we're eager to have," Czin said.
Representative Chris Van Hollen, who leads House Democrats' campaign efforts, called for Republicans to defend their support for a GOP budget plan introduced this week that would repeal the healthcare law, transform Medicare, reintroduce the "doughnut hole" for prescription drug costs and enact deep cuts in education.
"Republicans in Iowa and New Hampshire are supporting an agenda that hurts middle-class families, hurts women and will benefit billionaires like the Koch brothers," Van Hollen said.
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