New Hampshire Pro-Life Senate Candidate Kelly Ayotte Still Leading in Polls
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 9, 2010
Concord, NH (LifeNews.com) — Former state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, who has the endorsement of a national pro-life women’s group, continues to hold a double-digit lead over Democratic congressman Paul Hodes in the race for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the Granite State shows Ayotte, a Republican, earning 51% support, her best showing to date, while Hodes picks up 38% of the vote.
Another four percent of voters in New Hampshire favor some other candidate in the race and six percent of state voters are undecided.
"A month ago, Ayotte posted a similar 49% to 37% lead over Hodes. In five previous surveys stretching back to February, Hodes’ support has remained in the narrow range of 35% to 39%, while Ayotte has captured 46% to 50% of the vote," pollster Scott Rasmussen noted.
Ayotte’s GOP primary election challenger, businessman Bill Binnie, also remains ahead of Hodes but by a smaller margin than Ayotte, at 46 to 40 percent.
Rasmussen also noted that Ayotte appears to have the edge in the Republican primary race.
"Prior to the latest survey, Ayotte and Binnie, who has poured millions of his own money into extensive television advertising, have been running neck-and-neck. But over the past month, Ayotte has been endorsed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, and Binnie has been put on the defensive about his conservative credentials," he said. "Ayotte runs slightly stronger than Binnie among the state’s GOP voters."
New Hampshire Republicans will pick their Senate nominee from a seven-person field in a September 14 primary while Hodes is unchallenged for the Democratic nomination.
The candidates are running for the seat now held by retiring GOP Senator Judd Gregg, who is pro-life but upset pro-life advocates by voting for pro-abortion Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.
In July, the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life women’s group, endorsed Ayotte.
"New Hampshire families deserve the pro-life feminine leadership Kelly Ayotte has already demonstrated in her position as New Hampshire’s first female Attorney General," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the organization.
"Kelly is committed to rescinding taxpayer funding of abortion in health care. She has expressed her strong determination to be a vocal advocate for women and unborn children in abortion debates on the floor of the U.S. Senate," Dannenfelser confirmed.
Dannenfelser says Ayotte is part of a new women’s movement which affirms its original pro-life roots is making its way to the U.S. Senate. She is one of a throng of pro-life women seeking Senate seats and seats in the House.
Kelly Ayotte is one of its brightest new stars in a Senate that is devoid of pro-life women, Dannenfelser said.
"Ayotte will give new life to the pro-life perspective inherent in the early suffragist approach to women’s rights," she said.
Ayotte has served the state of New Hampshire for five years as its first female Attorney General.
In 2004, she fought an attempt by Planned Parenthood to challenge the New Hampshire Parental Notification Prior to Abortion Act "requiring parental notification before abortions may be performed on unemancipated minors."
The First Circuit court ruled the law unconstitutional but she appealed the case to the Supreme Court, over the objections of the governor, in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. Following her aggressive litigation in defense of the law, the Court remanded the earlier ruling, saying that "States have the right to require parental involvement when a minor considers terminating her pregnancy."
Prior to that, Ayotte served as Deputy Attorney General and helped her husband Joe, an Iraqi war veteran, to create and run a small business.
Related web sites:
Susan B. Anthony List – https://www.sba-list.org
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