Kelly Ayotte’s pitch to New Hampshire conservatives is right out of
chengr the Republican playbook and exactly what many small-government Granite Staters want to hear: Deport illegal immigrants, repeal the new health care law, cut taxes.
Tweet 1 person Tweeted thisSubmit to DiggdiggsdiggYahoo! Buzz ShareThis But in a year when Tea Party movement devotees and political newcomers are threatening the electoral hopes of established candidates across the country, Ayotte — a former state attorney general who is a favorite of some party leaders — is scrambling in the GOP primary to replace retiring Senator Judd Gregg, a Republican.
On paper, Ayotte would seem to be an ideal Republican candidate for a statewide race in New Hampshire: a woman in her early 40s with law enforcement credentials, appointed to her former post by a Republican governor and reappointed by a Democrat, and the wife of an Iraqi war veteran. She’s been endorsed by such political heavyweights as Gregg and Warren Rudman, former New Hampshire senator and a prominent budget hawk.
Yet Ayotte’s strength may be her downfall, if New Hampshire voters follow national trends of punishing incumbents and candidates who have the backing of party bigwigs, political specialist said.
Already, the antiestablishment mood has helped defeat GOP candidates Sue Lowden in Nevada, Senator Bob Bennett in Utah, Trey Grayson in Kentucky, and Rob Simmons, former representative in Connecticut. Another high-profile Republican, Governor Charlie Crist of Florida, decided to run for US Senate as an independent after a more conservative candidate, Marco Rubio, threatened to swamp him in the GOP primary.
