Delegation breaks on major issues
WASHINGTON -- With signs pointing to a resurgent Democratic Party in New Hampshire, the state's all-Republican congressional delegation is becoming increasingly at odds with the national Republican Party in a state that was long a GOP bellwether, according to an analysis of votes and other actions in Congress over the past year.
Congressmen Jeb Bradley and Charles Bass voted for expanded stem cell research and opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and Bradley notably declined to endorse Bush's Social Security plan.
Senator John E. Sununu opposed Bush's plan for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, joined a filibuster to insert civil liberties protections into the USA Patriot Act, and voted against his party leadership on several major spending bills.
Even the state's senior senator, Judd Gregg, who is a member of the GOP leadership and generally backs the party's priorities, voted against the transportation bill and the massive energy bill that grew out of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.
The senators and congressmen say they are acting in the tradition of the state's libertarian brand of conservatism, even if the national GOP moves in a different direction. But Democrats and some independent observers, pointing to the fact that Senator John F. Kerry beat President Bush in New Hampshire, and that Governor John Lynch , a Democrat, is the most popular official in the state, say the Republican senators and congressmen are trying to distance themselves from an increasingly unpopular national GOP.
This is particularly true of Bass and Bradley, who were up for reelection next year in districts being targeted by the Democrats, said Andrew E. Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire's Granite State Poll.
''They've stepped up the visibility of some of the things where they differ from the national Republican Party," Smith said. ''Looking at recent elections and the demographics of the state, that makes a lot of sense for them. This is not a Republican state like it used to be."
In the House, Bass and Bradley have done more than just oppose the party leadership on environmental issues; each has been at the forefront of efforts to prevent wildlife refuge drilling, a top energy priority for national Republican leaders. Their opposition forced Republican leaders to strip drilling from the budget this year, and another attempt to tack it onto the Defense bill failed last week in the Senate.
Both House members have also publicly distanced themselves from Representative Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who is under indictment; Bass is calling for new leadership elections to replace DeLay, and Bradley returned $15,000 in campaign funds he received from DeLay's political action committee.
Bass joined Sununu last year in breaking with his party by opposing a constitutional ban to gay marriage.
Sununu, the junior senator who won a hard-fought race in 2002 with 51 percent of the vote, also voted against adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, one of the president's signature accomplishments.
Sununu said the defections from the party line result from the delegation's strong beliefs in the widely held New Hampshire convictions of limited government and fiscal responsibility. None of their votes represent a shift in position, or an attempt to run from the side of the president or GOP leaders, he said.
''Our Republican Party, and the Democratic Party, from time to time has run afoul of those principles," Sununu said. ''Members of the party who are comfortable with who they are are going to stand up for what they believe in."
Democrats have a different view.
''I think they're scared. They can read the polls," said Kathy Sullivan, the chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
By supporting Kerry by a one-point margin last year, New Hampshire was the only state in the nation that switched from red to blue in the presidential election. Democrats have now carried the state in three of the last four presidential elections, after a streak where Republicans won six straight.
Democrats have also won four of the past five governor's races -- the governor is on the ballot every two years in the state -- after Lynch edged out single-term incumbent Craig Benson last year. Last month's Granite State poll pegged Lynch's approval rating at 71 percent -- easily the highest of the state's major political figures.
Some older residents who have traditionally voted Republican are turned off by the conservative direction of the national party and are beginning to vote for Democrats, said Dante Scala, a politics professor at St. Anselm College in Manchester.
''There are a good number of Republicans in New Hampshire who wonder what happened to their party," Scala said.
Although many new residents moving from the Boston area are fleeing higher Massachusetts taxes and voting Republican, many transplants from mid-Atlantic states who are drawn by the state's booming economy bring their liberal predilections with them, said Smith.
''New Hampshire is the last New England state to not go Democratic, and I think it will soon," Smith said.
That would be a surprise for the all-Republican New Hampshire delegation in Washington. Sununu scoffed at suggestions that New Hampshire is leaning in the direction of the Democrats. He attributed Kerry's win to the fact that the Massachusetts senator was already well-known to New Hampshirites who watch Boston TV stations.
And last month, even as Democratic candidates fared well in races across the country, the Democratic mayor of Manchester -- New Hampshire's largest city -- lost to a Republican challenger.
''Has the electorate shifted significantly to the left or the right? No," Sununu said. ''New Hampshire has always been a center-right, independent-minded, and somewhat libertarian electorate. Period."
Bradley allowed that he and his colleagues have significant areas of disagreement with the national party. He said votes that buck the party line are in areas where they are reflecting the desires of their constituents, he said.
''I represent New Hampshire in Washington, and I take that the most serious of all the things that I look at," Bradley said. ''People want to see frugal government, low taxes, a 'Live Free or Die' attitude. People want to balance the need to have a growing economy while protecting our environment."
The latest Granite State poll showed that the state's members of Congress have reasonably high approval ratings. But Bass and Sununu were viewed unfavorably by a greater portion of respondents than at any point since the poll was first taken in 2001.
Bass was viewed unfavorably by 25 percent of respondents in his district, and Sununu by 29 percent statewide. That suggests that they're being harmed by their association with GOP leaders in Washington, Smith said.
Susan Milligan of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com.
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