1. FITN First In Nation Republican Leadership Summit, Nashua, New Hampshire

Crowne Plaza Nashua Address: 2 Somerset Pkwy, Nashua, NH 03063

Every four years, the political world descends upon New Hampshire to take part in the “First-in-the-Nation” Presidential Primary. On April 17th and 18th that excitement will again percolate in the Granite State for the #FITN Republican Leadership Conference.

Elizabeth "Betsy" McCaughey (/məˈkɔɪ/; born Elizabeth Helen Peterken, October 20, 1948), formerly known as Betsy McCaughey Ross, is an American politician who was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1995 to 1998, during the first term of Governor George Pataki. She unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination for Governor after Pataki dropped her from his 1998 ticket, and ended up on the ballot under the Liberal party line.

A historian by training, with a Ph.D. from Columbia University, McCaughey has, over the years, provided conservative media commentary on U.S. public policy affecting healthcare-related issues. Her 1993 attack on the Clinton healthcare plan was likely a major factor in the initially-popular bill's defeat in Congress; also, it brought her to the attention of Republican Pataki, who chose her as his Lieutenant Governor nominee/running mate. In 2009, her criticisms of the Affordable Care Act -- then a bill being debated in Congress -- again gained significant media attention in TV and radio interviews, and may have specifically inspired the "death panel" claim about the act.