New Hampshire Primaries Tomorrow Night

Jillian Bandes | September 13, 2010 8:41 AM

Keep your eyes glued to the Republican Senate primary in New Hampshire tomorrow night, as Ovide Lamontagne puts the heat on Kelly Ayotte for the chance to take on incumbent Democrat

Paul Hodes (currently a Congressman from New Hampshire). As I blogged last week, there's been respectable challenges from Bill Binnie and Jim Bender as well, and it's worth watching the margins there as Binne and Bender's strong business backgrounds butt up against Lamontagne's comparably less impressive professional background and Ayotte's wealth of political experience. It's also worth watching my use of alliteration as primary season comes to a close.

All of the candidates have been going at each others' throats, and Hodes isn't suffering from a lack of affection from New Hampshire voters. Combine that with mixed endorsements from establishment conservatives in the primary, and there's really no way to tell which party will pick this seat up in the general.

There are hot contests in New Hampshire's first and second Congressional districts as well; my favorite race is Rep. Carol Shea-Porter. I've got a soft spot for underdog challenger Robert Bestani, but he's got long odds, and of course Rep. Paul Hodes current House seat is up for grabs by a number of GOP and Democratic challengers.