District by district – New Hampshire

NEW HAMPSHIRE-02

Former GOP member has small lead in battle to retake his seat

{mosads}Ex-Rep. Charlie Bass (R-N.H.) wants his old seat back, but an unlikely Democrat might stand in his way.

Ann
McLane Kuster, who ran to the left in the Democratic primary in order
to win the nomination, is now just three points behind Bass, trailing
45 percent to 42 with 9 percent of likely voters undecided, according
to The Hill’s 2010 Midterm Election Poll.

Kuster has received
significant support and fundraising assistance from liberal activists
across the country and currently leads Bass among independents in the
district, 43 percent to 40.

Approval of President Obama in
this district is split evenly, with 49 approving of his job performance
and 49 disapproving, but independents rate him slightly better, at 52
percent.

Bass is also cutting into Kuster’s base, taking the
vote of 12 percent of Democrats in the poll. While Kuster trails big
with male voters — Bass gets 52 percent to her 36 — she leads by 10
percentage points among females. Kuster’s strength is with younger
voters, while Bass does well with older ones.

The
current seat holder, Rep. Paul Hodes (D), is running for Senate. Hodes
defeated Bass by six points to take the seat in 2006.

The NRCC has spent around $165,000 in this district, while the DCCC has spent about $105,000.

The
Hill’s poll was conducted Oct. 5-7, surveyed 407 likely voters via the
telephone and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.