[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/POLITICS/09/14/new.hampshire.senate.primary/story.judd.gregg.file.gi.jpg caption="Seven GOP candidates are vying to succeed retiring Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire." width=300 height=169]
Paul Steinhauser
CNN Deputy Political Director
(CNN) - It may not be grabbing the national spotlight like the Republican Senate primary in Delaware, but the GOP Senate primary in New Hampshire shares a similar storyline: A hard-charging conservative candidate threatening to upset the candidate favored by establishment Republicans.
Kelly Ayotte, the state's former attorney general, stepped down to run for the Senate nomination after being encouraged to run for the open seat by national Republicans. For months, polls suggested that Ayotte was the frontrunner in the seven-candidate contest, which also includes businessmen Bill Binnie and Jim Bender. But recent surveys in the Granite State indicate that Ovide Lamontagne, a Manchester attorney and the 1996 Republican nominee for governor, has narrowed the gap with Ayotte.
Local Tea Party groups, the conservative New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper and influential conservative Sen. Jim DeMint have all backed Lamontagne. The Union Leader, the state's largest paper, has also been critical of Ayotte.
But the biggest difference with the Delaware race is that Sarah Palin is endorsing the more conservative Christine O'Donnell there. In New Hampshire, the former Alaska governor is backing Ayotte.
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Filed under: 360° Radar • Raw Politics |
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Tea party candidates doing well is for me good for democrats as some independents won't vote that far right of center.
I think Obama needs to tell everyone how by cutting tax loopholes, individual and corporate,he can finance his latest Jobs package
The defeat of Democrats in November is grossly
overstated/exaggerated.
Give it a week for the dust to settle on candidates and start to see some changes in attitudes and who will be voted for.
Regards,
Hodgson.
Is the Tea Party think it is the year of the lord of 1775 tell this Tea Party it is 2010 pay your taxes.
What will happen to America if these Tea Party extremists get in power? They'll destroy the entire 20th century of progress.