Lynch to Ayotte: Hey, we had a deal

July 3, 1:52 PMManchester Democrat ExaminerPaul Briand

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NH Gov. Lynch to AG Ayotte: I thought we had an agreement

NHPoliticalReport.com reports that in return for renaming her attorney general, Republican Kelly Ayotte promised Gov. John Lynch she wouldn't run for political office until 2013.

If indeed there was a deal, either she's preparing to break it if talk of her running for the U.S. Senate seat is true, or if she stays on as AG the Republican field is even more wide open that we thought.

"It was the governor's expectation in reappointing Kelly Ayotte that she would serve her full term," Lynch spokesman Colin Manning said to the political web site. "At the time of her appointment she told the governor that was her intention."

Now that John E. Sununu, the former Republican U.S. senator, has taken himself out of the race, the GOP nomination seemed to be Ayotte's for the taking.

Paul Hodes, the current U.S. representative from the 2nd Congressional District, is the sole Democrat running for Gregg's seat, and it seems unlikely anyone would challenge him, at least with the sanction of the New Hampshire Democratic Committee.

Ayotte, a hold-over attorney general from the administration of Republican Craig Benson, was reappointed by Democrat Lynch earlier this year.

She is seen as a potential cross-over Republican who might have some appeal to right-leaning Democrats.

Indeed a University of New Hampshire Granite State Poll released yesterday showed her candidacy might have some legs against Hodes.

The poll shows that in a race between Hodes and Ayotte, 39 percent of likely voters would support Ayotte, 35 percent would back Hodes, 2 percent would back some other candidate, and 24 percent are undecided. The center says Ayotte leads in part because political Independents prefer her to Hodes by 33 to 26 percent.

Other potential Republican candidates are former congressman Charlie Bass and Nashua businessman Fred Tausch. In that same poll, Bass fared fairly well against Hodes, but Tausch, who is all but unknown statewide, did poorly.