October 31, 2002, PORTSMOUTH -- You can’t go anywhere in the Granite State these without bumping into a political operative -- literally. I drove into this gentrified waterfront city to break up a long ride home from Maine. I was immediately confronted with a barrage of campaign signs for Martha Fuller Clark, who’s running Congress, Mark Fernald, who’s running for governor, John Sununu and Jeanne Shaheen, who are running against each other for a US Senate seat. The most evocative carried this slogan: "The courage to raise taxes!" Both Shaheen and Fernald’s signs were covered with this -- positive -- message.

I pulled onto Congress Street by a Starbucks and several fancy restaurants and boutiques with French names -- though these places had nothing to do with the city’s French-Canadian immigrant heritage -- and asked a man where the best breakfast place was. He directed me a couple buildings down to The Friendly Toast, a retro-styled hipster hangout. Before I could take off my coat, someone yelled out my name. It was Mark Longabough, who most recently managed Bob Reich Democratic gubernatorial primary bid. It didn’t take Longabough, who managed former US Senator Bill Bradley’s presidential run in New Hampshire, long to find work. He’s signed on with the Democrat Clark in her race against Republican Jeb Bradley.

Voter interest in New Hampshire this election season is intense. Unlike in Massachusetts, where voter turnout is expected to be low -- most voters just want the ugly contest between Treasurer Shannon O’Brien and Republican Mitt Romney to be over -- New Hampshire’s races will likely generate high turnout. One reason has to do with the a rare open Senate and Congressional seat. Shaheen and Sununu are battling over a Senate seat recently vacated by Bob Smith (though it wasn’t voluntary -- Sununu knocked him off in the primary). Clark and Republican Jeb Bradley are in a race for Sununu’s old seat. Meanwhile, incumbent Republican Charles Bass is fending off a spirited challenge from Democrat Katrina Swett, the daughter of California congressman Tom Lantos. Health care is a central issue in both the Shaheen/Sununu race and the Clark/Bradley contest. The war on terror is big, as well. Contrast that with the Bay State where the issues -- to the extent they have been discussed -- have been extremely parochial. (Though with good reason given the state’s dire budget situation.)

The marquee race is the one between Sununu and Shaheen. Shaheen is likely to be helped by two things on election day: her statewide organization, a more recent vintage than Sununu’s whose dates back to his father; and a write-in effort by supporters of Republican Senator Bob Smith who despise Sununu because of the grueling primary fight. But nobody really knows. Like many other Senate races this year, the New Hampshire race will be close. And control of the Senate hangs in the balance.