Winners and Losers

2008 was a very good year for Democratic candidates throughout New Hampshire, while Republicans underperformed for a second straight election cycle. See who are PolitickerNH.com's 2008 Winners & Losers.

Winners

Losers

Jeanne Shaheen

Becomes the first female U.S. Senator in New Hampshire history.

John E. Sununu

The smartest man in the United States Senate proved that he might not be the smartest campaigner.

Carol Shea-Porter

Easily re-elected to a second term and is now being mentioned as a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010.

Fergus Cullen

Never gained the trust of grassroots activists and becomes a one-time state Republican Party chairman.

John H. Sununu

Comes back to become chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party and has already raised expectations for his party in 2010.

Deb Vanderbeek

Russell Prescott, Bob Clegg and Jeb Bradley were all clients of hers and all lost their races.

Peter Burling

Decides not to run for another term in the state Senate and is instead successful in becoming a DNC member.

Bud Martin

A moderate Democrat running for the state Senate, Martin seemed a shoo-in, but he was unable to ride the Democratic wave into Concord.

Peggy Gilmour

Having never run for office before, she surprises many people and defeats Paul LaFlamme for the state Senate.

Public utilities companies

After a devastating ice storm many politicians and customers are looking for ways to prevent similar prolonged power outages in the future.

Peter Bragdon/Sherman Packard

The two Republicans help usher in a new era of Republican leadership in the legislature.

Dan St. Hilaire

Everyone predicted that St. Hilaire would defeat John Shea for the Executive Council and tip the Council towards the Republicans, but St. Hilaire’s lost to Shea forces St. Hilaire to reexamine his options.

John Lynch

Handily wins a third-term and continues to have historic high approval ratings.

Jim Ryan

Ryan served as Joe Biden’s state director during the New Hampshire presidential primary and was the head of the House Democratic PAC. However, once his past with forged checks came to light he quickly fell from the top and had many wondering how did he let it get out of his control.

Peter Spaulding

Helps John McCain win the New Hampshire presidential primary and after McCain’s loss in the general election, e-mails surface in which Spaulding openly criticized McCain’s campaign strategy.

Joe Kenney

The Republican gubernatorial nominee was unable to break 30 percent against Gov. John Lynch.

Women politicians

Women now control the state senate, a congressional seat, a U.S. Senate seat, the House speakership and key House committees.