From New Hampshire’s Concord Monitor:
After a year of lagging behind his opponent in polls, Sen. John Sununu has closed the gap, transforming New Hampshire’s U.S. Senate race into a dead heat, according to a new poll from the University of New Hampshire. Most surveys for the past year have shown Democrat Jeanne Shaheen holding a double-digit lead over Sununu. National political analysts often rank Sununu, a Republican, as the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbent. The recent poll has Sununu, a Republican, trailing Shaheen 42 to 46 percent, a difference within the margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. The poll, which asked 475 likely voters whom they would vote for if they had to make a choice today, indicates that the race is fluid, with 72 percent of those polled saying they haven’t made a final decision.
Chris Cillizza currently rates Sununu’s seat as the 4th most likely to change hands, but assuming this poll isn’t an outlier, there’s reason to hope Sununu can pull off an upset. He defeated Shaheen in 2002 and his advantage in cash on hand will keep his campaign afloat as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee floods the Granite State with ads and campaign staffers. P.J. O’Rourke’s recent profile of Sununu can be found here.
