“John and his generation saw it as their duty to uphold and represent that image of New Hampshire to the nation,” Dante Scala, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire, said in an email. Mr. DiStaso treated all candidates equally, he said, whether they were incumbent presidents or businessmen with no political experience.
Anyway, Senator Maggie Hassen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, said in a statement that she was included in the Congressional Record: “He took seriously his role in bringing political news directly to voters.”
“Politics,” she said, “was no game for him.”
John Joseph DiStaso was born on February 18, 1954 in Paterson, NJ, where he grew up. His father Joseph was a carpet layer. His mother, Helen (Walton) DiStaso, was a bank teller.
He studied English literature at Villanova University and graduated in 1975.
During his time in Villanova, he met Diane Randazza through her brother. Mr. DiStaso and Mrs. Randazza married in 1979.
He began his journalism career in New Hampshire as the Union Leader’s Coastal Correspondent. He became a staff reporter in 1980 and stayed until 2014 when the union leader faced financial difficulties. He then stunned the political world by becoming news editor at the New Hampshire Journal, a dying political website owned by Republican activists who hired him to add credibility to their company. He left a year later for WMUR.
In addition to his wife, Mr. DiStaso is survived by his sons, Dante and Nicholas, and sister, Doris DiStaso. He lived in New Boston, New Hampshire