New Hampshire

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

why'd Benson go down? I didn't hear much about this race, it was a real sleeper. He won by a fair amount in 2002. Also, the results are almost an exact mirror of the presidential ones. Looks like a super partisan election in NH this year.

[rbt48]

Well, not totally partisan.  Senator Gregg won reelection convincingly as did both US Representatives.  Also, the NH State House and Senate remained Republican, though by reduced margins.

[zachman]

Benson wasn't much of a prescense in the race. Lynch ran positive biography ads early which got him close. He also created a group called 'Republicans for Lynch' which included many powerful old school Republicans in the state. Other than that he just hung on to Kerry's coattails and pulled it off.

[rbt48]

Benson wasn't much of a prescense in the race. Lynch ran positive biography ads early which got him close. He also created a group called 'Republicans for Lynch' which included many powerful old school Republicans in the state. Other than that he just hung on to Kerry's coattails and pulled it off.

Lynch's margin (~13,000) was bigger than Kerry's (~9,200), so maybe Lynch provided the coattails.

[badnarikin04]

Yeah, Lynch ran a very strong campaign. People just don't understand the power of positive politics. Benson's whole campaign was based on reminding people that Lynch won't be able to pay for all his spending. Therefore we heard what Lynch had to offer while Benson failed to reassure us that he was the man for the job.

A lesson for future politicians.