In 2008, Granite Staters saw a presidential candidate cry on television, the defeat of an incumbent United States senator and Democrats become the majority party in a state that was once considered a bedrock of Republicanism.

All of these stories and more help make up PolitickerNH.com's top ten political stories of 2008.

10) Continuing Gary Dodds saga: In early 2008, former congressional candidate Gary Dodds was found guilty of staging his own disappearance to bring attention to his 2006 campaign. However, Dodds was able to keep himself in the news by attempting to kidnap his wife in the summer and recently got into a jailhouse fight with Leeland Eisenberg, the man guilty of taking staffers of Hillary Clinton's campaign hostage in December 2007.

9) State Sen. Peter Bragdon (R-Milford) becomes Senate Republican leader:  A week after Republicans failed to re-capture the State Senate, many insiders considered Senate Republican Leader Ted Gatsas (R-Manchester) a safe bet to keep his position as leader. However, Republicans had enough of Gatsas and selected Bragdon to lead the caucus into the next legislative session.

8) State budget: A worsening state budget deficit is leading to political finger- pointing and has resulted in various spending cuts throughout the state government. The deficit also gives gambling proponents a chance to introduce various gambling measures into the state.

7) John McCain wins presidential primary: A month before the New Hampshire presidential primary, McCain's campaign was considered dead-in-the-water. But McCain defied expectations and finished first in the primary. His showing helped his presidential campaign gain momentum and showed that New Hampshire is still the place for underdogs.

6) U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Manchester) beats former U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) a second time: In 2006, Shea-Porter shocked the New Hampshire political world by defeating Bradley and two years later Shea-Porter easily defeated Bradley a second time. Shea-Porter proved to analysts that she is no fluke and is now considering running for the United States Senate in 2010.

5) John H. Sununu returns: A year ago if you had said that New Hampshire Republicans would look to a 69-year-old former governor and White House chief-of-staff to lead the state party you probably would have been laughed at. Republicans have now suffered defeats in two consecutive elections and Sununu decided to step forward and offer Republicans a path out of the political wilderness.

4) Jennifer Horn-Jeb Bradley primary victories: The weekend before the state primaries, almost everyone predicted that John Stephen (R-Manchester) and former state Sen. Bob Clegg (R-Hudson) would win the Republican congressional primaries in the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts. However, Jennifer Horn (R-Nashua) and former U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) both staged surprise victories on a historically low turnout primary day.

3) Democrats keep State House: With the elimination of straight ticket voting, many questioned whether or not Democrats would be able to maintain control of both bodies of the state legislature. Democrats were able to maintain a 14-10 advantage in the State Senate and lost 17 seats in the House, but were still able to keep control of the lower-chamber.

2) Hillary Clinton wins presidential primary: Every poll taken after the Iowa caucuses showed Hillary Clinton losing to Barack Obama by double-digits in the New Hampshire presidential primary. However, a last minute mailer criticizing Obama's voting record on abortion, Clinton's famous crying incident and an organized field operation all helped Clinton stun national political analysts with a surprise victory over Obama.

1) U.S. Sen. - elect Jeanne Shaheen beats U.S. Sen. John Sununu: Granite Staters expected a close race between these two rivals who ran against one another for the same seat in 2002. However, Shaheen was able to manage a well-disciplined campaign and never lost her lead to Sununu. Now, Shaheen is getting ready to be sworn-in, while Sununu will be known as a campaigner who was never able to make it a competitive race.