Ex-Gov. Shaheen joins N.H. Senate race

Former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen has been leading the polls for next year's Senate race. On Friday, she announced that she's actually running.

Shaheen's long-anticipated announcement raised Democratic hopes of expanding their Senate presence and put pressure on three other Democrats to drop out of the race for Sen. John Sununu's seat. None had, as of Friday afternoon.

"We have major problems facing this country, and there is an urgent need for real change in Washington," Shaheen said in a statement.

If she wins the Democratic nod, Shaheen is expected to face Sununu, a first-term Republican who beat her out for the seat in 2002.

"We are excited that someone who represents the best of New Hampshire and American values is our candidate for the Senate," said New York Sen. Charles Schumer, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Shaheen lost to Sununu by 5 percentage points in 2002, but the political landscape has changed dramatically, mainly because of dwindling public support for the war in Iraq.

Shaheen, 60, will step down as head of Harvard's Institute of Politics to campaign. She was the subject of a public draft effort and private recruitment by national party officials.

Activist Katrina Swett, Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand and former astronaut Jay Buckey fill out the field of Democrats, though Marchand has said he would drop out if Shaheen entered the race.

National Democrats have made Sununu a top target for 2008 and have already run commercials criticizing his position on the war. His Manchester office routinely draws protesters.

Sununu wants to continue the effort in Iraq at least until Iraqi leaders get their political situation in order and has opposed any timetable for redeploying troops from Iraq. He is also a sponsor of a bipartisan bill supporting the Iraq Study Group's recommendations.

Sununu said he expected to run a town-to-town campaign, regardless of whom the Democrats pick. He said he will have the resources on hand to run against Shaheen, but "in a state like New Hampshire, money doesn't win races.

"If money were all that mattered in politics, I never would've won my first race," Sununu told The Associated Press on Friday. He said he was outspent in the 2002 general election and in his House races in 2000 and 1996.

State GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen blasted Shaheen as a "weak and ineffective governor" who proposed a sales tax, failed to resolve education funding and increased state spending.

"These were some of the reasons Shaheen was defeated for U.S. Senate last time, and they continue to be strikes against her," Cullen said.

Democrats control the 100-member Senate with 49 seats plus two independents who usually vote Democratic. Republicans must defend 22 seats next year, compared with 12 for Democrats.