Lynch is out

[Brittain33]

This seat is pretty much Safe Republican now.

Hahahahaha.

Anyway, no one here in NH has ever expected Lynch to run for Senate. I don't think he has any interest in Washington politics, he likes living in New Hampshire with his family.

Hodes would be a much more effective Senator anyway.

Effective senator and electability and very, very different.  Judd Gregg was not going to lose this race to anyone unless Gov. Lynch jumped in

Gregg's approval rating and recent polls indicate he is vulnerable. He's only got a few more points of strength than Sununu had. I didn't expect it until the polls showed it.

[Brittain33]

New Hampshire is not like rest of New England, as much as you would want it to be.

If New Hampshire were like the rest of New England, the seat wouldn't be competitive for the R's in the first place.

Gregg's approval ratings and ballot tests are low. He's not an institution and hasn't had to run a competitive race since his first one, in 1992, in which he underperformed. The state has swung bigtime to the Democrats. You can't spin those facts. Gregg is certainly not a dead man walking, but unless 2010 is a good year for Republicans, he's going to have a battle.

[Brittain33]

No offense, but what do you think this contributes to this thread?

Gregg will be pretty safe in November

Yikes, you still haven't learned. Democrats have won everything in NH the past two elections, no Republican is safe here and definitely not Gregg.

2006 and 2008 were great years for Democrats; 2010 will not be so great, Gregg is a three term incumbent and former Governor, and now the only real challenger has dropped out.  Gregg is safe.

[Brittain33]

One of the few bits of good news for the GOP.  I wouldn't call Gregg safe, but he's pretty close to it.  He's solid. 

LOL.

It seems that the wishful thinking (on either side) is going to persist until we see either Hodes, Shea-Porter, or a state senator declare and the polling start in earnest. Until then, people need something to believe in.

[Brittain33]

It sounds as if he could be scared into retirement by a strong Democratic challenger. Instinctively I would give Gregg an advantage as an incumbent, but if I were him, I would not want to spend the next year defending Tom Coburn's and Mitch McConnell's ideologies against Barack Obama's in New Hampshire and running on a platform of obstructing Obama's initiatives.

Gregg has had a relatively easy political career up until now. Why sign up for a grueling contest which may not even be worth winning for him? Maybe he could decide to go back and run for governor instead when Lynch moves on. It's much easier to be a NH Republican in NH than Washington these days, given the changes in the national party.

[Brittain33]

This sucks. I wanted to take out the last major Republican in that state.

Daily Kos had a front page story celebrating this achievement. Lynch was a false hope and not a good one.

I've never bought into the cult of Lynch. He's like Freudenthal. He's not aligned with the Democratic party, which is why he's been so successful and popular a governor. He never showed any interest in the Senate or federal Democratic politics.

I am neither surprised nor disappointed, and given our advantages in the Senate, I'd rather see us elect good and effective senators than pin our hopes on messiah candidates to take out the Republican without us considering what kind of Senator they'd turn out to be.