TURNING RED AGAIN:

GOP’s Bass Catch Prompts New Hampshire Rating Change (Shira Toeplitz, 10/28/09, CQ-Roll Call)

Former New Hampshire Rep. Charles Bass’ now-likely bid to reclaim his old House seat has elevated the Republican Party’s hopes of capturing the open seat in New Hampshire’s 2nd District – even though voters there, who generally have been trending Democratic, rejected the GOP centrist’s bid for a seventh House term in 2006.

Bass’ prospective candidacy has prompted CQ Politics to change its rating, to Leans Democratic from Likely Democratic, on the 2nd District race to replace Democrat Paul W. Hodes , who is competing in the state’s 2010 open-seat race for the U.S. Senate after just two House terms. Hodes was the challenger who ousted Bass by a 7 percentage-point margin in 2006.