Hot off the presses! New Hampshire general election poll.

Rasmussen Reports
2/13, 500 Likely Voters, MOE +/- 4.5%

Obama   49%
McCain  36%

Clinton  43%
McCain   41%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...

(Cross-posted at Blue Hampshire)

Saw this little blurb in the last hour. A new ARG poll is being reported in tonight's online Union Leader:

Manchester - A new poll to be released tomorrow shows Republican Sen. John Sununu has taken over the lead in next year's likely U.S. Senate race against Democratic former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.

The American Research Group polled 558 likely voters Dec. 16-19 and found Sununu with 52 percent, Shaheen with 41 percent and 7 percent undecided. Earlier ARG polls showed Shaheen leading Sununu, most recently by 46 to 41 percent in September.

http://www.unionleader.com/...

Oh man, this is really horrible news. I have been sad every since I read about it this afternoon. He was schedule to get married and tour with Boston this summer. His music touched so many people.

By Associated Press Writer  |  March 14, 2007

CONCORD, N.H.  --The family of Brad Delp, the lead singer for the band Boston, said Wednesday his death was a suicide.

"He was a man who gave all he had to give to everyone around him, whether family, friends, fans or strangers," the family said in a statement relayed by police. "He gave as long as he could, as best he could, and he was very tired. We take comfort in knowing that he is now, at last, at peace."

Delp, 55, died Friday at his Atkinson home. Police have said his fiancee, Pamela Sullivan, found him.

http://www.boston.com/...

In what will be one of the most competitive Senate races of the 2008 election cycle, 33-year old Portsmouth mayor Steve Marchand has become the first Democrat to announce a run. His target will be right-wing ideologue John Sununu (who consistently polls under a 50% approval rating). With our landslide victory in the 2006 election, NH Democrats are getting primed to pick up another important seat in 2008.

This comes as no surprise to many of us, but Governor John Lynch will not for Senate in 2008 against John Lynch:

http://www.unionleader.com/...

I've heard for awhile now from his staff that he had no interest, but this seems to confirm it. This puts Democrats in a tough spot, as there are few high-profile Dems in this state. Former Governor Jeanne Shaheen is a possiblity, as are some of the State Senators, but we don't seem to have that knockout candidate that we can be confident about.

It will be interesting to see who Chuck Schumer recruits for this race, as it should be one of our top 3 or 4 targets in 2008 Senate elections.

Never too early to think about 2008!

"With the wind at their backs, Minnesota Democrats are quickly making Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman their next target.

Following Amy Klobuchar's overwhelming Senate victory last week, Democrats are expected to line up soon in hopes of winning support for a 2008 run at Coleman, a stout backer of President Bush.

"I think the list of Democratic hopefuls for the 2008 U.S. Senate race has just grown exponentially,'' said University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs. "The reality of Klobuchar's smashing victory is so enticing. It's like honey for bees.''

http://www.twincities.com/...

Potential Democratic Candidates to face Coleman:

1) RT Rybak- Minneapolis mayor
2) Al Franken- broadcaster and comedian
3) Mike Ciresi- prominent attorney, lost in the 2000 primary
4) Betty McCollum- 4th District Congresswoman
5) Mike Hatch- former AG, lost 2006 Governor's race
6) Judi Dutcher- Hatch's running mate
7) Dean Johnson- State Senate Majority Leader

Minnesotans, what do you think? Who do you like?

In this morning's Nashua Telegraph are the results of two new independent polls.

A survey of 408 2nd District residents done by Becker Institute Poll shows Hodes leading Bass 48% to 39%! An American Research Group poll shows Hodes behind by only 6%, 48% to 42%. EIther way, this is great news for the Hodes campaign and the residents of the 2nd District!

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/...

I am a resident of NH-2 2nd District, and I really, really want to see Paul Hodes beat Charlie Bass a little over a month from now. However, I think things need to change pretty quickly for that to happen. I don't think the Hodes campaign is living up to its potential.

A new UNH Survey Center poll of 249 2nd District residents shows Charlie Bass leading Paul Hodes 46%-36%, with a 6.2% MOE. This is a huge improvement over the July poll which had Bass leading by 24%:

http://hosted.ap.org/...

Hodes still has very low name recognition, which should begin to go up since both candidates have begun running television ads. He was viewed favorably by 11%, unfavorably by 6%, neutral by 17%, and unknown by 66%.  Bass is known by 90+% of the district's voters.

With 65% of precincts reporting, upstart grassroots candidate Carol Shea-Porter is leading the favorite Jim Craig by 8%:

Carol Shea-Porter   48%
Jim Craig           40%
Gary Dodds           5%
Peter Sullivan       5%
Dale Jarvis          2%

http://www.unionleader.com/...

Howard Stern and Co. spent 5 minutes trashing Joe Lieberman this morning. Baba Booey, the only CT resident on the show, said that he would be voting for Ned Lamont in the primary. Howard's radio show reaches a few million people on Sirius Satellite Radio, many of who are in NY and southern CT.

Howard attacked Lieberman for his advocacy of censorship on TV and radio, as well as his cheerleading of the war.  Anyone else hear it? Good stuff it was.

This race is getting a whole lot of attention.

Here's some good news on an otherwise gloomy day:

NH State House Minority Leader Jim Craig has announced that he will enter the NH-01 congressional race against two-term incumbent Jeb Bradley. He instantly becomes the frontrunner in a primary that will have 4 or 5 candidates. Craig is known as a pragmatic Democrat and would have appeal to independents and moderate Republicans. The state establishment will be behind him and he should raise the most money of any of the challengers.

http://www.unionleader.com/...

This really doesn't constitute a diary, but does anyone have a premium membership to Ramussen? They just released a new poll on the RI Senate race and I'm very curious about the numbers.

The only polls we've had thus far on this race are from Brown University, and I've been waiting for Rasmussen or another legit polling firm to publish results on this race. Anyone want to share?

In a race that Democrats need to win in 2006, seems like 30-something Secretary of State Matt Brown is hot. Brown is the upstart Democratic candidate battling the more experienced Sheldon Whitehouse for the Democratic nomination in the Rhode Island Senate race.

(more below)

There have recently been two Rasmussen polls that have shown Claire McCaskill leading Talent, by 2% and 3%, respectively.

Now there is a new independent poll of 800 likely voters by Research 2000 that confirms the Rasmussen results. In this new poll conducted for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, McCaskill leads Talent 47%-44%.

In other news, voters overwhelmingly favor embryonic stem cell reserch and disapprove of Gov. Blunt's Medicare cuts. Likely 2008 Democratic challenger Jay Nixon polls ahead of current governor Matt Blunt.

http://www.stltoday.com/...

We have an extremely encouraging new poll in the Montana Senate race. This new Rasmussen poll shows Jon Tester now tied with Conrad Burns and John Morrison trailing by a mere 3%.

Conrad Burns  45%
Jon Tester    45%

Conrad Burns  46%
John Morrison 43%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...

This is the first poll to show Jon Tester within 10% of Burns, but hopefully other polls will confirm these findings. Rasmussen is one of the most reliable polling outfits in business.

Anybody have any fundraising updates for Tester or Morrison? That is one area that Tester needed to improve upon.

More good news on the polling front, folks. The previous Rasmussen poll showing McCaskill leading by 2% was no fluke. The new poll released tonight shows her leading by 3%.

McCaskill     46%
Talent        43%
Not sure       7%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...

If McCaskill runs a competent campaign she can definitely take this one. By the way, we'll also be getting a poll on the Ohio race this week as well.

In the past 2-3 days, new polls in the Montana and Arizona Senate races have been released by Lee Newspapers (conducted by Mason-Dixon research) and Rasmussen. Here are the findings below:

The Good News: The Lee Newspapers poll (which appeared in the Helena Independent Record on 12/25) showed Conrad Burns leading John Morrison by a mere 6% (46%-40%, with 14% undecided). This poll sampled 625 registered Montana voters between Dec. 13-15. Morrison is better known than Tester, having won statewide office in the past.

More Good News: Despite a GOP-biased wording of the question, poll results showed that 58% were concerned with over Burns' Abramoff dealings, with 29% "very concerned" and another 29% "somewhat concerned".