It must be tough to be John Sununu, the Junior Republican Senator from New Hampshire who faces his first re-election test in 2008. As if last November’s elections were bad enough for his longevity, with Granite State voters turfing Republicans up and down the ballot last November, the AP is giving him a few more reasons to worry (emphasis added):
New Hampshire’s independent voters – those unaffiliated with either political party – have doubled in number since 1992. They make up 44 percent of registered voters, more than Republicans or Democrats, and can vote in either primary, making them a potentially powerful force in 2008.In a recent poll, 68 percent of undeclared voters likely to vote in the presidential primaries said they plan to vote for a Democrat. That’s a significant shift from 2000, the last election with contested races in both parties, when about 60 percent of the independents who turned out voted in the Republican primary.
Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, which conducted the poll, attributes the shift to three factors:
-Changing demographics have made New Hampshire more Democratic, like the rest of New England.
-Increasing opposition to the Iraq war has made voters generally more interested in Democrats as members of the party most likely to end the war.
-Candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have attracted enormous media attention on recent trips, raising the profile of the Democratic contest.
New Hampshire independents helped push Democrats Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter over the finish line in their House races last November. It’s becoming increasingly clear that these voters aren’t going anywhere, especially as the White House fails to offer any meaningful course change in Iraq.
(Hat-tip to SaucyIntruder.)
Race Tracker: NH-Sen
Even if he turned himself around now and suddenly started voting like the other endangered species of Smith and Collins.
He keeps enabling the WH line on Iraq (and even tossed out a Friedman the other day to boot).
He refuses to acknowledge the human influence of climate change.
He voted against stem cell research.
He told a group of business leaders recently: “stop complaining about health care.”
And to top it off, the CfG endorsement.
(our Sununu tag at Blue Hampshire has bunches more).
Our chances here are superb, and even better if Smith at UNH is right about the indies; he is sometimes not). And they get better when you consider Steve Marchand as the Dem nominee.
To be fair, in 2000 the only choices on the democratic ballot were gore and Bradley whereas the choices on the republican ballot were much more diverse. So maybe they weren’t more republican then, but just wanted to vote on the ballot with more choices, I know I have. While I’m not arguing that the state hasn’t moved closer to the center, I think that should be pointed out.
i just think that it should have been pointed out in the article that there were only two choices on the dem side in 2000.