High-profile state leaders back Gardner, while Van Ostern pushes modernization agenda at forums
Click here to view this article at the source publication 
With state lawmakers set to vote this week on who should be New Hampshire’s Secretary of State for the next two years, incumbent William Gardner was backed Monday by two former governors, a bipartisan coalition of legislators, the state firefighters union, a retired military general and three town clerks.
Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, and Stephen Merrill, a Republican, led off a news conference at the Legislative Office Building by calling for nonpartisanship at the Secretary of State’s Office.