Report: Shaheen To Run Against GOP Senator Sununu In New Hampshire
Big news out of New Hampshire: A new report says that former governor Jeanne Shaheen has decided to seek a rematch against vulnerable incumbent GOP Senator John Sununu. This morning's Union Leader says it has the story:
Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen will be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008, the New Hampshire Union Leader has learned.The Democratic former three-term chief executive is expected to issue a statement today addressing her political plans. While it's unclear exactly how the statement will be phrased, sources say Shaheen has decided to seek the seat held by Republican John E. Sununu, who defeated her in a bitter 2002 contest...
Shaheen, who served as governor from 1997 to 2003, lost to Sununu by a 51 to 47 percent margin five years ago after polls had shown her with a narrow lead heading into the final weekend of the campaign.
Polls show that Shaheen is already leading by landslide margins against Sununu, who's been badly weakened by his support for the Iraq War. Her entry into the race, should this report be true, adds greatly to the considerable woes facing the GOP as they ponder the Senate map for 2008.
Republicans are already dealing with the retirement of Senator John Warner, whose seat is now being targeted by popular former governor Mark Warner, as well as the near-certain resignation of Senator Larry Craig and the mounting vulnerability of multiple GOP incumbents due to Iraq. Making matters worse for the GOP, they are being forced to defend many more Senate seats than Dems are, meaning Dems will have more resources to pour into top tier races. Shaheen's presumed entry adds one more such race to the list.
Comments (21)
anns wrote on September 14, 2007 8:29 AM:What wonderful news. I hope she wins the primary and whips that puppy Sununu.
CB wrote on September 14, 2007 8:35 AM:This is great news. I live in Michigan and will gladly give to Shaheen.
The number of votes in Congress do count and anyone who is paying attention knows why we are stalled to stop Bush.
osage wrote on September 14, 2007 8:42 AM:The 2008 elections are going to be Democratic landslides! The GOP will be completely impotent and more Bush Republicans are going to go to jail than Pirahna bites on the ass of a missionary skinny-dipping in the Amazon.
Eric Sibley wrote on September 14, 2007 8:47 AM:Remember, Sununu (what a weird name, huh?) also must contend with the shadow cast by the phone jamming scandal; something I'm sure NH voters don't view favorably.
linda wrote on September 14, 2007 8:50 AM:most excellent news. who coulda thought that turdblossom's plan of a permanent republican majority would result in the democrats' revival....
bwahahahaha..
Daniel wrote on September 14, 2007 9:46 AM:Huge news for Democrats indeed. Though the big question now is whether the other candidates withdraw from the race, or stay in and fight it out with Shaheen.
anns wrote on September 14, 2007 10:08 AM:Democrats believe in fair play. Primary competition is good, and Jeanne Shaheen had it once as a sitting governor I believe. However, for anyone interested in a future race, Judd Gregg is up soon. That would be sweet seat to take.
oldtree wrote on September 14, 2007 11:13 AM:The people of NH are a strange brew. They have elected two sununununu's. Funny that they would elect the first criminal's son. Look back in history at what the former did. real low life there.
We in the west don't think much of who you all elect. Seems like you go for fluff and no substance?
but then again, we have the idiot arnold in kalifoornia, so we are not above derision ourselves.
eric wrote on September 14, 2007 11:15 AM:It is so telling to see this happen to all of the republicans in the Northeast.
The republican party really is now just the southern party.
Mafalda Hopkirk wrote on September 14, 2007 11:19 AM:I'll be happy to see her win. A relative in NH will not be pleased. good!
NH Dem wrote on September 14, 2007 11:44 AM:It'll be interesting to see which of her primary opponents get out of the race. Apparently, one or both of Katrina Swett (Tom Lantos's daughter, former congressional candidate, wife of former congressman, recovering Liebermanite) and Steve Marchand (Portsmouth mayor, young, smart, well-liked) will get out. Jay Buckey (Dartmouth professor, M.D., former astronaut and Air Force reservist) has announced that he's staying in.
http://www.swettforsenate.com/
http://www.stevemarchand.com/
http://www.buckey08.com/
I remembe a comic saying, years ago when Sununu Sr. was Poppy's Chief of Staff that Sununu was an old Indian word that means "jerk with many chins." Well, sonny may not score quite so heavily in the chin dept, but he's got the "jerk" demographic all sewn up.
Shaheen's gonna clobber him!
Peggy wrote on September 14, 2007 11:51 AM:Blue Massachusetts will be able to send lots of volunteers to her campaign and also to the anti-Sen. Susan campaign in Maine,
moondancer wrote on September 14, 2007 12:28 PM:Sununu will get to join the Santorum "I guess I really am a fringe wacko thrown out of office" club very soon.
sam_bolini wrote on September 14, 2007 1:08 PM:Thank God, she's finally in!
Eric Sibley, please don't make fun of his name. I believe he's of Lebanese extraction. However you can make fun of his name IF you're referring to his family. I.e. his dad was a former governor up here and then Bush I's Chief of Staff. Total scumbag as a governor. He was forced to resign from the Bush I administration after he was caught having the Air Force shuttle him cross country for ski trips.
Sununu fils is dead meat and has been for over a year. Shaheen makes it a lock. She is incredibly popular accross the political spectrum, and righfully so - she was an excellent governor, getting re-elected twice and would have gone on had she not decided to run against JS. To twist the phrase, the only way Jean can lose is to get caught with a live girl or a dead boy.
sam_bolini wrote on September 14, 2007 1:11 PM:Peggy wrote on September 14, 2007 11:51 AM:
Blue Massachusetts will be able to send lots of volunteers to her campaign..
God I hope not. We kinda don't like out of staters gettin' involved in our politics. That will lose her votes. If not to Sununu it will at least keep them home.
AndyS wrote on September 14, 2007 1:17 PM:For the record the Sunnunus are of Palestinian Christian descent, not Lebanese. As for making fun of the name, like many NH voters I've learned that "no Sunnunus is good news".
bob wrote on September 14, 2007 1:35 PM:Shaheen isn't going to need any help, and assuming she wins the primary, she may actually be the one to help the Dem presidential nominee in New Hampshire, which is still a close swing state.
inedal wrote on September 15, 2007 7:18 AM:if sununu is so bad, and shaheen is so popular, then can someone please explain how sununu won this seat last time with a 51-47 lead?
thanks!
It was 2002.
We kinda don't like out of staters gettin' involved in our politics.
That's a big anti-Democrats talking point in NH, ignoring the fact that NH Republicans count on out-of-state involvement in a big way.
Republicans don't make the connection to, for example, DC lobbyist Darrell Henry "on assignment" to NH for the 2002 election season helping Sununu.
Republicans don't make the connection to, for example, the thousands of dollars they collected from Jack Abramoff's many Indian tribes. (And while dinging Democrats non-stop about Chu's donations, Republicans have no plans to give back Abramoff's dollars.)
Republicans don't make the connection to the NH phone-jamming which was farmed out to GOP Marketplace in Virginia and carried out by telephone bankers in Idaho.
In 2006, I drove up from Massachusetts on election day and held a sign in Nashua for Paul Hodes. (I grew up in Manchester, but Nashua is closer to Cambridge.) Yes, some other Massachusetts folks were there but by far the majority were people from Nashua.
Outside the polling place, only one person was holding a sign for Congressman Charlie Bass (R-NH). She had been flown in from Virginia to do so.
