Birther

UPDATED: New Hampshire Birther Bill Dies In Committee

Brian Beutler and Melissa Jeltsen | March 9, 2011, 12:59PM

Late Update: The bill was defeated in committee Wednesday.

Don't pop the champagne yet, birthers. Yes, New Hampshire Republicans have proposed legislation that would require presidential candidates competing in the New Hampshire primary to provide their long-form birth certificates. But because you've comported yourselves so poorly over the last two years, it won't impact President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.

Thanks to public scrutiny and criticism of the birther movement -- including from within the Republican Party -- the plan has been rewritten and would not go into effect until 2013, to avoid the impression that it's designed to ensnare President Obama.

As originally written, the bill "had the effective date 60 days after passage," Rep. David Bates (R) told the Union Leader. "But we recognize the potential problems. It created the appearance that it was all centered on a putting barriers in the way of President Obama," Bates said.

Bates said he changed the wording "to diffuse any perception that this was directed at President Obama."

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Topics: 2012, 2012 elections, Barack Obama, Birth Certificate, Birther, New Hampshire, New Hampshire Primary