Ayotte "Close" To Deciding About NH Senate Bid

A source close to NH AG Kelly Ayotte (R) tells On Call that the rumors about her bid are "for real" and that Ayotte "is in fact close to deciding to run for Senate."

My source says that her possible run "is generating a lot of buzz and excitement in GOP circles" and that "GOP bigwigs, both national and in NH, are already lining up to back her."

Though the state has trended solidly left over the last five years, giving Dems an advantage in filling Republican Sen. Judd Gregg's seat next year, Ayotte would turn the contest upside down. She's young, attractive, a mother of two and married to a National Guard pilot. She's cool under pressure -- evidenced from her time as legal counsel to the gaffe-prone one-term Gov. Craig Benson (R) -- and has since managed to forge a solid working relationship with the state's three-term Dem Gov. John Lynch.

A member of the NH and ME bars, Ayotte is also the first woman to serve as the Granite State's AG. In Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, she argued in '05 before the Supreme Court of the United States for the state's parental notification law.

The Dems, meanwhile, have cleared the field for Rep. Paul Hodes (D-NH). Hodes, who defeated Republican Charlie Bass in '06, holds degrees from Dartmouth and Boston College Law School. He and wife, Peggo, are also folk singers.

Ayotte, 40, is not the only possible GOP candidate, though she is the one perhaps most likely to stir fear in the hearts of NH and national Dems. Bass, a moderate who hails from scenic Peterborough, could run. And John E. Sununu, who served one term in the Senate after being felled by Dem Jeanne Shaheen in his '08 bid for re-election, remains a possibility.

The last NH AG to run for Senate successfully was Warren Rudman, a Republican.

(JENNIFER SKALKA)