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NH-01, NH-02: GOP Leads Both House Races

by: Crisitunity

Thu Apr 22, 2010 at 2:32 PM EDT


PPP (4/17-18, New Hampshire voters, no trendlines):

Carol Shea-Porter (D-inc): 45
Frank Guinta (R): 46
Undecided: 10
(MoE: ±3.9%)

Katrina Swett (D): 32
Charlie Bass (R): 47
Undecided: 21
(MoE: ±3.4%)

PPP does us a big favor by throwing in both congressional districts (both of which are tossups this year) in with their statewide poll of the Senate and gubernatorial races. We've already gotten a sense that these races are potential trouble thanks to a UNH poll from February; the generally more trustworthy PPP finds Dems in better shape in the 1st (where UNH saw Rep. Carol Shea-Porter losing 43-33 to former Manchester mayor Frank Guinta... although bear in mind that UNH saw Shea-Porter losing through most of her first re-election in 2008) but Dems faring even worse in the 2nd.

There's not too much falloff in Democratic enthusiasm in these districts; their samples went 48-45 for Obama in the 1st and 52-46 for Obama in the 2nd. Instead, there seems to be some antipathy to the Democratic candidates in these districts; Shea-Porter's approval is 41/50, and Swett fares even worse, somehow managing to be unknown and unpopular among those who know her: 19/29 (including, tellingly, 35/16 among liberals and 35/18 among Democrats). Shea-Porter is pretty much locked-in; her survival will be all about turnout and the Dems' overall standing come November. But it'd be interesting to see whether Ann McLane Kuster (who's probably even less known than Swett, but likely in better standing with the Democratic base) fares any better against Charlie Bass, who benefits from being fairly well-known, having held the seat from 1994-2006. Alas, there were no head-to-heads involving Kuster (or, in the 1st, involving the lesser GOPers).

Crisitunity :: NH-01, NH-02: GOP Leads Both House Races
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I doubt Kuster would poll better, and probably a little worse...
...than Swett, frankly.

Kuster is anonymous to voters, more than Swett I'm sure since Swett is a more prominent figure within the party.

I imagine if PPP tested Kuster in the same sample, there would be more undecideds, but Bass would still be in the low/mid-40s, and Kuster in the 20s with only the hard-core Democratic base picking her (assuming the poll question identifies her as a Democrat).

Bass was the man for a dozen years in this seat, and one thing he did right that Jeb Bradley didn't do was to skip 2008.  If Bass ran and lost then, he'd be done now, the state Republicans would insist on new blood, and we'd be better shape at the outset.  Bradley wouldn't be in bad shape now had he skipped 2008 himself, but now he's damaged goods (despite having returned to office in the state Senate).

43, male, Indian-American, Democrat, VA-10


However...
Kuster would have a better chance at mobilizing the Democratic base since they're generally not big fans of Katrina Swett or her husband, despite his hilarious name.

You're dead on about Bass skipping 2008, though Bass also has the benefit of an open seat as well as a GOP-leaning cycle.  

36, M, Democrat, MD-03


[ Parent ]
Kuster
would be in worse shape in this poll only because of name recognition.  However, given Swett's numbers with liberals and Democrats, Kuster is probably in a slightly better strategic position to win in November.  She is pretty well-funded, although Swett is much better funded. Swett starting off behind the eight ball with the base is not a good sign for her in the primary or the general.

I'm convinced by all of the available evidence that Bass will probably win either way if he survives the primary.  I suspect it will be Kuster v. Bass, with Bass winning by single digits.

34, WM, Democrat, FL-11


[ Parent ]
You very well maybe right
I could easily see Hodes being the GOP's answer to Nick Lampson: a vanquished congressman sweeping back into an open seat for a term in the midst of a favorable cycle, only to lose again two years later when the environment turns more neutral.

Male, 23, DC-At Large

[ Parent ]
You mean Bass?
NH-02 isn't anywhere near TX-14 in terms of extreme skew in one direction or the other.

It is, though, the (slightly) more liberal and more Democratic of the two NH districts, mostly because the hardcore anti-tax commuter burbs along I-93 are mostly in NH-01 while NH-02 has more down-at-the-heels mill towns to go with Nashua, Concord, and the Upper Valley/Dartmouth region.


36, M, Democrat, MD-03


[ Parent ]
Nashua:
I wouldn't call Nashua a down-at-the-heels town. Some very good friends of mine live in a rather upscale section of the city and frankly, I think Nashua is a pretty nice community - for New Hampshire, that is.

[ Parent ]
Agree
I was thinking of smaller towns like Claremont and Berlin and Franklin when I was talking about permanently depressed towns. Nashua is both larger and more urban than that and is close enough to Boston to be in the commuter belt.    

36, M, Democrat, MD-03

[ Parent ]
NH-2
also has the liberal Monadnock Valley and the Dartmouth area, which are more politically similar to Vermont than the rest of New Hampshire. Nashua is fairly conservative by New England standards, and is sort of a Boston exurb.

In addition to the anti-tax commuter towns along the southern border, NH-1 also has Belknap County, which is up in the middle of nowhere and is one of the last bastions of the "Live Free or Die" conservatism that kept NH red for so many years. It gave 55% of the vote to Bush in '04.

20, CD MA-03/NH-01/MA-08


[ Parent ]
Obama carried every county in NH.
As a political data geek, I saw that both Belknap (Lakes region) and Carroll (east-central) were colored blue on the 2008 map and my eyes popped out of their sockets. Carroll, which is either mostly or wholly in NH-01, has long been the most GOP-leaning county in the state, even more than Belknap. (Luckily for Dems, neither one has much population; the biggest town in Belknap is Laconia and the biggest town in Carroll is Conway.)

Manchester and Nashua are maybe slightly Dem-leaning, though the former tends to elect Republican mayors. It's the towns around them - Derry, Bedford, Salem, and a few others - that usually boost the Republicans in the state.  

The Dartmouth/Upper Valley area does have a lot in common with Vermont as does, to a lesser extent, the Monadnock area.  

In 2004 the state was really close and for some reason Hanover, Lebanon, and Keene were three of the later towns to report, so Bush had the statewide lead most of the night.



36, M, Democrat, MD-03


[ Parent ]
Answer Guy:
Do you know where Merrimack is? My friend's father was a schoolteacher there for over three decades and he'd always tell me stories on how conservative the town was. When I was last in NH two years ago, I decided to take a look for myself - in just about every Merrimack neighborhood I drove through, there were way more McCain/Palin signs than Obama/Biden literature.

[ Parent ]
Merrimack, NH
It's between Manchester and Nashua on US-3. It's of a piece with Bedford or Derry in terms of leaning Republican.  

36, M, Democrat, MD-03

[ Parent ]
TX-22
14 is Ron Paul.

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/


[ Parent ]
pleasently surprised about porter
it's going to be close in this climate, the fact that she's only down a point means it's still anyone's game.

Top ten signs you're an SSPer #1: your favorite song is "Panic At Tedisco" and no one understands what you mean.

Holy moly NH-2!
Not to go Tekzilla on everybody, but I in no way expected a result that poor from a district with a democratic lean.  Especially not because I had always considered Katrina Swett to be a top-tier candidate.  Yikes.  

Come my May Ratings Update NH-2 is going to move to Republican takeover status unless another poll comes out between now and then with different results.

23, Male, Democrat, OH-13


I don't think its that bad
Obviously name recognition more than anything else.

[ Parent ]
Plus
she is keeping him under 50. I would give team red the upper hand here, but I wouldn't write it off either.  

Proud member of the Indiana Democratic Party from IN-9.  

[ Parent ]
I wonder if Bass would have beat Hodes here
I would have liked to see a poll done.  I think Hodes probably would have a better shot at a career if he dropped out of the Senate race and ran here again.  I suspect even Hodes might be trailing Bass in this district as he is likely losing to the lessor known Ayotte here.  

I wish that Hodes never ran for Senate.  In that case, Bass may not have run in this district and Democrats would have held this seat.

All of this giving up House seat to try and get over 60 in that we seemed to be doing last year was not a good idea.  Especially since we have a good shot at losing the House, but have almost no chance of losing the Senate.

A lot of these runs(ie Melancon in Louisiana, Ellsworth in Indiana) are equivalent to Jim Walsh running against Hillary Clinton in 2006 or Dave Reichart running against Maria Cantwell in 2006.  

The general rule of thumb is that you dont try to beat a Senate incumbent or give up your seat to run in a tough state unless it is going to be a very good year for your party(ie 1974 for Democrats, 1978 for Republicans, 1986 for Democrats, 1994 for Republicans, 2006 and 2008 for Democrats, 2010 for Republicans).  Democrats need a lesson in cutting losses.  


I agree
for Melancon but not for the other two. Hodes represents half of a state that trended blue as quickly as any other in the country over the past decade, and was considered the front-runner when he entered the race. The climate for Dems was also much better back when he got in.

Ellsworth and Melancon would be in the same boat normally, but the GOP field in Indiana is so weak that Ellsworth has a shot even in this cycle. If he loses, he can always try a comeback with Obama on the ballot in 2012.

20, CD MA-03/NH-01/MA-08


[ Parent ]
Apparently Melancon's district is going to be eliminated
Which is an argument I dont buy since Democrats control the legislature and the legislature must by law produce a restricting plan before the November 2011 elections, meaning that Democrats were sure to be able to block any plan that eliminated that seat.

That said, Louisiana is a state that aint electing a Democrat to the Senate in anything but a stellar year for Democrats.  Notice how in 2008(a great year for Democrats), someone with the legendary Landrieu name could only manage 52% of the vote against a Republican who was a former liberal Democrat and raised and spent almost no money.  That is how difficult it is for a Democrat to win a Senate seat here even in good Democratic years.  

The worst thing for Democrats was that Melancon was the last bullet in the arsenal for Democrats in Louisiana.  


[ Parent ]
Eh...
Melancon's district pretty much has to be eliminated in the next round of redistricting.  The post-Katrina population loss in Louisiana was concentrated in his district and the 2nd.  The 2nd is VRA protected so that means the 3rd basically has to be the one to go.  Melancon's run for the Senate is more about seeing the writing on the wall than anything else.

26, white male, TX-24, liberal-leaning independent

[ Parent ]
Agree on LA analysis
Ive never really gotten why LA-3 will be the one to go.  Even as the comment below illustrates, with population loss and all; regardless, they can do a lot of things with redistricting.

And Landrieu's numbers showcase the utter downfall of the Democratic Party in LA; 6% is downright pitiful and I cant imagine her winning in 2014 when it'll hopefully be second mid-term election for Obama.  And I honestly really could care less about us winning there in much of a capacity.  LA is no path to a lasting, working, Democratic majority.


[ Parent ]
And I wont be entertaining counter-points to the last sentence of my comment
It's been hashed and rehashed over and over again so let me just have my opinion and lets not clog up a thread over it.  I simply see very little electoral or political value in the state of Louisiana for Democrats.  Louisiana will soon be put in the Alabama/Mississippi category and that's that.

[ Parent ]
LA might be in R hands for about a decade or two
But I suspect in about 10 years, Hispanics+African Americans in Louisiana will reach 40%.

The question then becomes one of White Catholics, a population different from the White Baptists of the deep South.

It is possible that the Catholic vote is about to go through another evolution, depending on the Church's reaction to the current --ah -- issues surrounding Pope Benedict. That might speed up the return of LA to the D fold.


[ Parent ]
If she even runs
There were rumors last summer that she was talking about retirement with her family, saying she doesn't think she can ever win again in LA. She is hated here. I think she might step aside for her Mitch to run, if he wins re-election in February 2014.  

[ Parent ]
He'll lose too
State has become too Republican, at least in federal races. Either Landrieu may have a shot at governor after Jindal though.

[ Parent ]
Why is she hated?
I mean is that really fair? Sure the state is drastically turning in a different direction politically, but is she personally disliked?  

Proud member of the Indiana Democratic Party from IN-9.  

[ Parent ]
I don't
know where I heard this, but Mary Landrieu has always been seen as a liberal down in Louisiana. She doesn't seem to have the charm that someone like John Breaux did. Plus Louisiana has become hostile since the 1990's to Democrats.  

19, Male, Independent, CA-12

[ Parent ]
Yes
From what I hear everywhere. She was never particularly popular. Over summer, she started getting less and less popular. After the LA Purchase, she became very much hated. Personally and politically. She made LA the source of many attacks nationwide for getting a special deal. We didn't like that. We are used to be a national punchline, we don't need her making it any worse.  

[ Parent ]
She, like many other conservadems
shouldve just shut their mouth and not been seen as the deal makers on health insurance reform.  All it did was tie their name to the bill and make them look bad.  She'd be a lot better off if she'd just gone along with the Democrats and kept quiet.

Although, I dont think that would have been enough for 2014; her 6% margin was downright dreadful for the cycle and the expectations most had for her race.  I definitely dont think she can win 2014.  Granted, when was the last time an incumbent Senator has been beaten in a GE in LA?  I remember the stat being quite outrageous for how elections go.


[ Parent ]
No one knows if she will even
run for re-election in 2014. And to be fair, some people thought she would lose in 2008 because there were fewer black voters than in 2002 or 1996 due to Katrina. I agree that her margins are pitiful, but technically they have been increasing each time.

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/


[ Parent ]
Couldn't
disagree more. Ellsworth has a GREAT chance of getting elected to the Senate, and we have a great chance of keeping his Congressional seat. We have only seen one non Rasmussen poll, and it shows a close race. Even if Rasmussen is correct, it is pretty much generic D vs. generic R at this point. However we have a top tier candidate and the Republicans have rather lousy second and third tier ones that come with a lot of baggage. Look, Ellsworth is a moderate to conservative with a great record, and is a perfect fit for the state. We will keep this seat! As for his house seat we have an excellent candidate lined up in a well known state representative, who represents a good chunk of the district and he is running against a pretty much unknown Doctor. Sure it has the potential to flip, but are you going to honestly tell me that Ellsworth won't even carry his own district? Of course he will, and Van Hafften will be able to ride coattails with him. Indiana is NO Louisiana! As for Louisiana I somewhat agree with you; however the seat is gone anyway in 2012 so it's kind of a moot point.          

Proud member of the Indiana Democratic Party from IN-9.  

[ Parent ]
Hodes vs Bass

In the first half of 2009, before K Ayotte enter in the race, we can see a decent number of polls Hodes vs Bass for senate.

I think if Bass run not for senate is because hi has unfavorable numbers against Hodes and because other republicans have better numbers.

I think if Hodes would continue in the House Bass would not run.


[ Parent ]
Hodes entered
LOOOOOOOOONG before this was going to be a rough cycle for us.  He was number one on absolutely everyone one's "seats to flip list" from the day he announced to the day everything turned to shit.

[ Parent ]
He was trailing Gregg back then
In two polls he was down 47-40 and 52-36. He has consistently trailed Ayotte since her entry.  

[ Parent ]
Still number one though
in the interim between the retirement and Ayotte announcing.

And how irritating of Lynch, this is why we pick our own party members for important spots like this.  He fucked us like no one like this cycle, by accident though.


[ Parent ]

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