Opening Seen for Shaheen In ’08

Jeanne Shaheen, who stepped down as director of the Institute of Politics on Friday to run for the U.S. Senate from New Hampshire, lost by 4 percent the last time she sought the seat in 2002. But changes in the state’s political dynamics suggest that she might face an easier time in the upcoming race.

Shaheen—who served as governor of the state from 1997 to 2003—is heading for a rematch of her 2002 Senate race, which she lost by just 4 percent to Republican Sen. John E. Sununu, the scion of one of the state’s most prominent political families.

But while any candidate faces challenges in running against a well-financed incumbent, a recent poll by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center shows Shaheen topping Sununu, a 1991 graduate of the Business School, by a 54 to 38 percent margin.