New Hampshire Senate Election

Republican incumbent: John E. Sununu

Democratic candidate: Jeanne Shaheen

Sununu, 43, has been in the Senate since 2003. He had previously been in the House of Representatives for six years. His father, John H. Sununu, was governor of New Hampshire, and chief of George H.W. Bush's White House staff.

Shaheen, 61, was governor from 1997 to 2003, having earlier served in the state Senate. She lost the 2002 U.S. Senate election to Sununu.

Real Clear Politics shows polls giving Shaheen the lead, most with significant margins of up to 14%.

The New York Times carried this article about the Senate race, on August 4. Their assessment centers on the conclusion that Sununu is behind, not because of anything specifically negative about him, but rather because of a general trend in favor of the Democratic Party in that state.

Today, the Union-Leader newspaper, in Manchester, NH, reports on a Sununu statement on energy policy, calling for increased offshore oil drilling, and use of nuclear power. This is a point of difference between him and Shaheen; both candidates closely follow their national parties' positions on that issue.

The most recent Democrat to represent New Hampshire in the Senate was John Durkin, who left office in 1980, having lost a re-election bid to Warren Rudman. So a Shaheen victory would overturn almost three decades of Republican hegemony.