| That's what Stu Rothenberg, in his first House rankings for the 2010 cycle, called the spot Paul Hodes will leave vacant in CD2.
Now, I know any open seat automatically increases the competitiveness of it, and I know that before Paul won the spot in 2006 it was held by the BassMaster for a good long while. And of course whoever the nominee is will have to work overtime to earn the trust and support of the western half of the Granite State.
But even a cursory glance at the voting returns of the second district in the past few cycles should elicit a sense that this is fertile territory for Democrats.
Nashua, to use one telling example, is not nearly as strongly Democratic as other cities and large towns in CD2, but it is the most populous. And added to that was the fact that the Republican House nominee's home base is there. And Paul Hodes still won there by about 5,000 votes. And furthermore, Hodes has demonstrated emphatically that a Democrat can win with a strategy aimed north of Nashua.
Sure, in 2010, no incumbent, and no presidential at the top of the ticket. But "pure toss-up"? Really? |
