In this mornings Union Leader Fergus Cullen gives us something of a New Hampshire spin on the idea behind the Overton Window.  No, not the book by Glen Beck but the political theory on which it was based.  Joe Overton, Cullen tells us,

“..noticed that within the spectrum of policy alternatives ranging from libertarian and most freedom to statist and least freedom, there is a narrower range of politically possible ideas. He defined these as accepted widely enough that a politician can support the policy and still get reelected.

 Anything outside that window — the Overton Window — doesn’t happen.

Unless you move the window. The most meaningful political fights, Overton believed, are about shifting the boundaries of the politically possible by changing public opinion so that what starts out as heretical becomes at least conceivable.” 

Overton’s observation is correct as far as it goes, and Cullen does a fine job of sharing the details, but he fumbles the ball when it comes to his New Hampshire parallels because he fails to take the analysis far enough.