New Hampshire: Swinging to the left?

Days after the New Hampshire primary, the New Hampshire Democratic Party released a statement with the headline "2008 Primary Turns NH A Deeper Shade of Blue."

The release argued that an increase in the number of Democratic primary voters, combined Democratic victories in 2006, shows that the Granite State has gone from a "purple state" to a "blue state."

On Thursday the Secretary of State announced that the latest voter registration numbers. There are currently 270,967 registered Republicans, 258,556 Democrats and 342,000 Independents. 

Fergus Cullen, Republican Party Chairman, maintains that the New Hampshire Republican party is alive-and-well.

"Turnout in the Democratic primary was up and that was expected, but we also saw energy in Republican voters that wasn't there in 2006," Cullen said in an interview with PolitickerNH. "Nothing has fundamentally changed. There continues to be more registered Republican voters than Democratic voters."

Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said independent voters are the key voter block to watch and during the primary they voted Democratic.

"When more than 40 percent of electorate is independent it doesn't matter if the Republicans have more voters," Buckley said. "If Fergus is hanging his hat onto the GOP having an advantage of a couple of thousand of voters, then poor Fergus."

Dante Scala, professor at the University of New Hampshire-Durham, believes New Hampshire could become a "blue state".

"It's a very real possibility, though I think New Hampshire voters' aversion to taxes remains a significant factor," Scala said.

With a tough presidential race expected for November, the question is whether or not the Republican National Committee will commit the money to New Hampshire it has in the past. The state is expected to have two competitive U.S. House races, a very competitive U.S. Senate race, and enters the year as a presidential swing state.

"It depends on who the nominee is, but I expect that New Hampshire will be seen has a toss-up state," Cullen said.

According to Buckley, the New Hampshire Democrats are waiting for the RNC to contribute resources to the Granite State.

"In 2004, New Hampshire is the only state that went from red to blue."

"If it means the GOP spending millions here and losing then I can't wait," he told us.

Dr. Scala agrees that whether the Granite State will be seen has a "swing state" depends on the Republican nominee.

If Huckabee becomes the nominee then Scala doesn't expect the RNC to spend a lot of money here, but if McCain or Romney end up as the nominee the RNC could.

"Either way, the Democratic nominee has the upper hand, at least for starters," Scala said.