New Hampshire Senate Race

Incumbent	John E. Sununu
Party	Republican
Seeking Re-election?	Yes
Candidate Website	Senate Website Campaign Website
Other Resources	Congresspedia profile on John Sununu

Victorious Challenger	Jeanne Shaheen, former NH Governor (1997-2003)
Party	Democratic
Source of Information	Announcement on 9/14/07, CQ Politics
Candidate Website	Campaign Website
Fundraising Link	ActBlue
Other Resources	Congresspedia profile on Jeanne Shaheen

Background Information

Republican Senator John Sununu is up for re-election in 2008. Sununu, originally elected in 2002, is expected to seek a second term as Senator. Although some early speculation suggested that Democratic Governor John Lynch (also up for re-election in 2008) would challenge the Senator for his seat, Lynch's spokespeople have denied this talk, saying the Governor has "no plans" to run against Sununu.

Media speculation and pundits have suggested more recently that former Democratic NH Governor Jeanne Shaheen may challenge Sununu for his Senate seat in 2008. Shaheen ran for Senate against Sununu in 2002, however the latter won by less than 10,000 votes.

It was later discovered that Republican operatives working on behalf of the New Hamsphire State Republican Party had hired an Ohio-based telemarketing firm to flood Democratic Get Out The Vote hotlines (as well as those of NH firefighters unions), in an attempt to jam them, thereby stopping legitimate Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters from getting rides to the polls on election-day. This resulted in a large scandal, and several State Republican officials have been convicted and are serving/have served prison time. Some believe that had this illegal plot to suppress votes not occurred, Shaheen would have won against Sununu.

Many political analysts (such as Chuck Todd and John Mercurio of the National Journal) consider Sununu one of the top endangered Senate incumbents up for re-election in 2008. Senator Chuck Schumer, who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has already announced that he intends to target Sununu aggressively when he comes up for re-election.

NH State Demoratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan began talking up City of Portsmouth Major Steve Marchand in late 2006. Marchand says he is concentrating on the present and being as good a Mayor as possible (he isn't giving a thought to 2008, he claims). Also, note that if Democratic Governor John Lynch ran for Senate against Republican incumbent Sununu, Marchand might run for the Governor's mansion instead of Senate. Keep in mind however that Lynch maintains he is not interested in running for Senate.

Steve Marchand announced on June 8th that he would bow out of the race if former governor Jeanne Shaheen entered it, which she may do. However, on August 13th, blogger Matt Stoller wrote "I met Steve at YearlyKos, and he told me that he may not drop out even if Shaheen jumps in. That's a change. "

Sununu has been called "the most vulnerable senator heading into the 2008 election" by The Politico's Josh Kraushaar.

According to Evans-Novak on August 1st, Shaheen and her husband are "telling supporters that she there is about a 70 percent chance that she will run for Senate against Sen. John Sununu (R)."


Note: John E. Sununu happens to share a very similar name with John H. Sununu (a former New Hampshire Governor who just happens to be his father). So don't get the two confused when looking for information on Google.

Polling

UNH poll, 7/9-17/07. All adults. MoE 4.3% (No trend lines), comparing possible Sununu-D matchups:

Sununu (R) 38
Shaheen (D) 54
Sununu (R) 42
Marchand (D) 38
Sununu (R) 43
Swett (D) 39
Sununu (R) 44
Buckey (D) 28

Issues

Democrats are planning to use Sununu's vote against stem-cell research in the 2008 campaign. Being against stem-cell research is code for being outside of the mainstream.

Resources

Below you will find links to further information about the 2008 New Hampshire Senate race.

Political Environment

• CQ 1/18/07 on "new political environment" in NH
  

Sununu (Republican incumbent)

Wikipedia: John E. Sununu
Official Senate website
On The Issues: John Sununu

Shaheen (possible Democratic challenger)

Wikipedia: Jeanne Shaheen

Local blogs

Blue Hampshire (NH politics group blog)
Lost Nation