The town of Meredith will be the key to victory for either of the two Republicans fighting to unseat state Sen. Deb Reynolds (D-Plymouth), according to well-known Republican consultant.

State reps. William Tobin (R-Sanbornton) and Vernon Dingman (R-Haverhill) are competing against one another in state Senate District 2.

"In the primary if you win Meredith by 300 votes you're going to win that race," said Erik Taylor, a consultant with Elevare Communications and former campaign manager for state Sen. Carl Johnson (R-Meredith). "In towns like Haverhill and Bath there's only a few hundred voters and if you look at those old Carl Johnson races he'd rack-up votes in Meredith and come out ahead."

In 2002 Johnson defeated state Rep. Richard Brothers (R-Campton) in a three-way primary by 345 votes and carried Meredith by 667 votes, eventually winning the general election by 3,014 votes. In the 2004 primary, Johnson defeated Brothers a second time by 1,245 votes, winning Meredith by 333 votes. He went on to win the general election by 2,178 votes.

However in 2006, Reynolds defeated Johnson in the general election by 1,854 votes.

Tobin says he has two reasons for running.

"Carl Johnson asked me to run," Tobin told PolitickerNH.com. "I'm running to see what can be done to cut spending. We need to decrease the size of government."

Tobin added that he is focusing on campaigning in the smaller towns in the district.

"We'll have to do well in the rural towns talking to farmers and working class people," Tobin said. "We're campaigning extensively in the northern part of the district."

To help promote his message Tobin has been sponsoring floats in town parades and will soon begin distributing campaign flyers and letters.

Dingman was not available for an interview.

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-Three-way GOP primary for 3rd state Senate district seat