(Part of UPI's Special Report on Election 2002)
CONCORD, N.H. (UPI) -- With the balance of power in the U.S. Senate at stake, the tight race in New Hampshire is one of the most closely watched in the nation.
The rivals are Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and Republican U.S. Rep. John E. Sununu.
Shaheen, 55, the first women elected governor in the state, was elected in 1996 and re-elected in 1998 and 2000.
Sununu, 38, was also elected in 1996 to the first of three terms representing the state's 1st Congressional District. He is the son of John H. Sununu, who spent three terms as governor of New Hampshire and later served as chief of staff in the first Bush administration.
While most recent polls have the two in a statistical dead heat, a new GOP poll gives Shaheen a slight edge, but within the poll's margin of error. An earlier Republican poll had Sununu with an 8-point lead.
Independent voters could be the deciding factor in the race, but so too could conservative backers of the Republican incumbent Sununu defeated in the primary, Sen. Bob Smith.
Primary voters apparently decided against Smith because he left the party briefly in 1999 in a failed bid for president.
Bitter that their candidate lost, some of Smith's backers reportedly plan to write his name in on the November general election ballot and others may vote for Shaheen.
While some in the party have urged Smith to repudiate the write-in effort, Smith has not done so.
The Union Leader of Manchester editorialized that Republicans writing in Smith's name would hurt Sununu and help send Shaheen to the Senate, "Which could make the difference in the Democrats keeping control of that chamber."
During the campaign Sununu has painted Shaheen as just another tax-and-spend Democrat who would support Democratic leaders instead of doing what's best for New Hampshire.
In her campaign ads, Shaheen has criticized Sununu for refusing to vote for legislation to close the so-called Bermuda tax loophole. That loophole allows American companies to move their corporate headquarters to offshore tax havens to avoid certain taxes, while keeping their manufacturing or other operations in the United States.
Sununu accused Shaheen of misrepresented his record on corporate accountability, "knowing full well I voted for bipartisan legislation tough on corporate criminals and punishing companies taking advantage of tax loopholes by moving offshore."
Both candidates support the Bush administration on the need to deal with Iraq.
Shaheen spokesman, Colin Van Ostern, said she "agrees with the president on Iraq and his tax cut, but also recognizes that we do need a check on some Republican domestic policies, like the environmental rollback and patent extensions for drug companies. That's where she differs from John Sununu."
While Shaheen supports the Democratic Party on most current issues, Sununu does not describe himself as a party loyalist.
"I take each issue as it comes," Sununu says. "On broad principle, I do believe in limited but effective government, low taxes, local control and personal responsibility, and those are the principles that generally lead someone to join the Republican Party."
(Reported by David D. Haskell in Boston)
