John McCain

In 2008, Granite Staters saw a presidential candidate cry on television, the defeat of an incumbent United States senator and Democrats become the majority party in a state that was once considered a bedrock of Republicanism.

All of these stories and more help make up PolitickerNH.com's top ten political stories of 2008.

Jeanne Shaheen

U.S. Sen.-elect Jeanne Shaheen (D-Madbury) said that the vote to keep U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee "produced the right outcome."

"I think that Senator Reid and the Senate leadership set up a fair process and I think it produced the right outcome," Shaheen said in a statement. "We have so much work to do to get our economy moving and I am happy that this is resolved so we can get to the important work of the people."

Earlier today the Senate Democratic caucus voted 42 to 12 to keep Lieberman as chairman of the Homeland Security committee despite his support of Republican presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). However, they also voted to strip Lieberman of his seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Dixville Notch has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1968. Barack Obama received 15 votes and John McCain received 6. 

Andy Smith, director of the UNH Survey Center, is predicting that the Democratic federal candidates will win in New Hampshire.
 
"Barack Obama looks to win New Hampshire by a comfortable margin on Tuesday. In the race for U.S. Senate, Shaheen should win a narrow victory over incumbent John Sununu," Smith writes in his latest poll. "In Congressional races, incumbent Paul Hodes is predicted to win New Hampshire's 2nd District and incumbent Carol Shea-Porter looks to pull out a narrow victory in the 1st District."

With less than two days to go before Election Day, U.S. Sen. John Sununu (R-Waterville Valley) will be attending John McCain's town hall forum in Peterborough.

Political analysts agree that Sununu's appearance has more upsides than downsides, despite polls that show Sununu running better in his re-election race than McCain is in the presidential race in New Hampshire.

With terrible numbers like these dogging him in New Hampshire, is John McCain’s plan to return to the Granite State Sunday simply a sentimental journey?

Not necessarily.

MANCHESTER--Bucking polls that show John McCain with a double-digit deficit to Barack Obama, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said that he thinks the race in New Hampshire is "very, very close."

"I'm seeing other polls, of course we all rely on the polls we like best, I'm seeing polls that our done by our campaigns that show this is a very, very close race," Romney told reporters  after visiting Oven Poppers. "I don't think it's very easy for pollsters this time to judge just whose going to vote, how they're going to vote."

PolitickerNH.com

Doug Kruse, Jeb Bradley and Mitt Romney

MANCHESTER-- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigned at a local business for various Republican candidates.

The Republican presidential primary runner-up talked to workers at Oven Poppers about the importance of electing Doug Kruse (R-Manchester) to the state senate and former U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) to the U.S. House.

An Associated Press poll has good news for Barack Obama and Jeanne Shaheen (D-Madbury). The poll shows Obama with an 18 point lead over John McCain, while Shaheen has a six-point lead over U.S. Sen. John Sununu (R-Waterville Valley).

Obama leads McCain 55 percent to 37 percent and Shaheen is beating Sununu 47 percent to 41 percent.