New Hampshire: Kathy Sullivan

Interesting UL piece on Gregg's refusal to do his job while waiting to be confirmed.

While we've been running hard with the AWOL Gregg meme for over a week now, the piece is interesting in that it shows figures from the left and the right, as polar opposite as Kathy Sullivan and Grover Norquist, united in their disappointment over Gregg's inability to cast votes that represent New Hampshire during this critical time.

But the most telling of all: who are the only two people defending Gregg?  Warren Rudman, and the person who declared Gregg's relection all but a shoo-in:Andrew Smith, an associate political science professor at UNH, said Gregg was in a "damned-if-you-do-or-damned-if-you-don't situation."Isn't it fascinating how Judd Gregg has managed this entire adventure to his and Mitch's benefit?

MANCHESTER--A collection of state and local officials gathered to dedicate a major city bridge to the state's senior United States senator.

The naming of the Granite State Bridge after U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-Rye) became the center of focus last week when the Manchester Board of Alderman voted 13-1 in favor of renaming the bridge after Gregg. The bridge will now serve as the new gateway into downtown Manchester and the project will be completely finished in the spring of 2009.

Kathy Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes (D-Concord) are praising President-elect Barack Obama for naming U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) his nominee for secretary of state.

"It is a great appointment," Sullivan, Clinton's former New Hampshire co-chair, said Monday in an e-mail to PolitickerNH.com. "Hillary Clinton is smart, experienced and well liked and respected around the world.  It is a tough job, especially given the number of crises facing us today, but she certainly is up to the challenge."

A lot has changed since Jeanne Shaheen (D-Madbury) and John Sununu (R-Waterville Valley) first ran against one another for the U.S. Senate seat in 2002.

Sununu is now the incumbent Republican Senator, while Shaheen comes to the race having spent the last couple of years working at Harvard and chairing John Kerry's presidential campaign.

In 2002, the day before Election Day, a UNH poll had Sununu with a one percent lead over Shaheen. Now that same poll shows Shaheen with a six-point lead over Sununu.