New Hampshire: John Sununu

We're number one! We're number one! On Cillizza's line, anyway:
1. New Hampshire (R): The Granite State has been the epicenter of Republicans' decline in the Northeast over the las few elections. In 2006, both GOP House members were defeated and in 2008 Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D) beat incumbent John Sununu (R). That trend spells trouble for Republicans' chances in the open seat being left behind by Sen. Judd Gregg (R) in 2010. Rep. Paul Hodes is already in the race on the Democratic side and wins strong reviews from national Democrats although Rep. Carol Shea-Porter continues to leave open the possibility of a primary challenge.

The Sprintin' Sununu Board Game, 1st Edition.

The Sprintin' Sununu Board Game 2nd Edition:

NEW YORK, Feb. 25 PRNewswire-FirstCall -- BNY ConvergEx Group, LLC, a leading provider of global agency brokerage and investment technology solutions, today announced that former United States Senator John Edward Sununu has been appointed to the Board of Managers of ConvergEx Holdings, LLC, the holding company of BNY ConvergEx Group.

...He currently is a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the expenditure of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds and to provide recommendations on regulatory reform.

The Sprintin' Sununu Board Game, 2nd Edition (recalled):
John Sununu, who serves on the Congressional Oversight Panel monitoring the government's bailout progam, has joined the board of a subsidiary to Bank of New York Mellon -- a firm that, in addition to receiving bailout funds, has been hired by the Treasury Department to administer the program.

Lauren Dorgan (resident expert at eliminating potential senate candidates):
In yesterday's interview, Gregg also clarified his intentions regarding 2010: On Thursday, he'd been quoted as saying either he's not running or that he doesn't intend to run for re-election, two categories that are miles apart in politics, as the latter leaves an opening.

"I'm not running," Gregg said simply yesterday. Gregg said he had actually reached that decision with his wife, Kathy, before the Commerce back-and-forth.

Gregg said that he had not talked to former senator John Sununu, who lost re-election last November, about his intentions. But, he said, he'd "be a great candidate. .

Well that was fast.  Kleefield at TPM catches a PPP poll (.pdf) just out on the Senate race, with Paul and Carol matched up against a hypothetical BassMaster and the Sprinter:Public Policy Polling (D) has close results in all four trial runs. Democratic Congressman Paul Hodes leads former Congressman Charlie Bass 40%-37%, and edges edges former Senator John Sununu 46%-44%. The Republicans have statistically insignificant leads over Dem Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter: Bass leads 43%-42%, and Sununu is up 46%-45%. The margin of error is ?2.7%.According to the .pdf, PPP polled 1,326 "New Hampshire voters" from 2/6 to 2/8.

Adding: on a personal note, I'd just like to say how both dizzying and oddly familiar it is for me to see these four names tossed around in the context of the same race.  It's like PPP just spat out onto one poll my entire blogging life.