Hodes Leads Bass in 2nd Congressional District

New Hampshire Democratic candidate for Congress Paul Hodes talks with Dorothy Keyes of Nashua at the Nashua Senior Activity Center.(Cheryl Senter, NHPR)

The race for Congressional District 2 started out as a seemingly easy re-election bid for Republican Congressman Charlie Bass.
He had a ten point lead over Democratic challenger Paul Hodes in late September, but now the race is too close to call.
That’s welcome news to Paul Hodes, who recently tried to earn votes of older Nashua residents while visiting the senior citizen center.
1479 2:32 hello I’m Paul Hodes I’m running for U-S Congress I just came to meet people and say hi…

Hodes talked about his ideas to fix Medicare’s prescription drug plan – a program that many seniors complained about during his visit.

:34 the elderly are suppose to save money with this program? Forget it, Medicare D, it’s not well working for you..no

This is the same ground that Republican Charlie Bass covered just a few weeks ago…and some of Hodes’s ideas for making health care more affordable also drew some criticism from long-time Republican Lucy Bosowski.

Paul Hodes wave to seniors doing aerobics at the Nashua SeniorActivity Center.(Cheryl Senter, NHPR)

“We need a national system of health care – who’s going to pay for it? – we can pay for it without – who’s going to pay for it ?– we can pay for it this way – we can give everybody access to the same federal health care that the Congressman have”

But Bosowski says she doesn’t trust Hodes’s plan.
Congressman Bass helped secure nearly 700-thousand dollars in federal money to expand the senior center.
Still, self-described liberal Democrat Clair Born says constituent services go only so far.
She says neither Bass – nor any other Republican - will get her vote.

1484 :27 no, because they’ll take it back one way or another…

But one volunteer at the senior center, Bob Eichel, says he’s not as concerned about health care as he is about the economy.
Eichel, an independent who voted for Hodes two years ago, says just because wall street is doing well, doesn’t mean the middle class is doing well.

Charlie Bass gets a tour of Nanocomp in Concord by the company's President and CEO Peter Antoinette.(Cheryl Senter, NHPR)

"I know how much it costs me now as opposed to five years ago...the average middle class person is getting less and less."

Eichel says he plans to vote for Hodes again.

On the same day in Concord, Congressman Charlie Bass made a campaign stop at NanoComp Technologies.
He praised the latest news on the economy.

"wages and benefits rose in the third quarter at the fastest pace in two years, and real wages, that’s low and middle income working Americans, that’s the barometer of that, and its rising."

Bass sited a Labor Department report that shows pay and benefits rising three point eight percent under the Bush administration.
Bass also touted how tax cuts have helped small businesses.

“This is a state where entrepreneurs do well and we as a state have done better as a result of the tax relief provisions passed by Congress than most other states in the country.”

He also criticized Hodes desire to roll back tax cuts for the top two percent of income earners.
Bass says 130 thousand small businesses in New Hampshire file as individuals, which would be directly affected by that repeal.

Congressman Charlie Bass Campaigning at Nanocomp in Concord.(Cheryl Senter, NHPR)

“Small businesses in this state are well over 95-percent of all the employment base for the state..”

But Hodes contends that most small businesses in the state aren’t in the top one or two percent of income earners.
Congressman Bass was flanked by other small business owners as well as representatives from New Hampshire’s National Federation of Independent Businesses –who endorse Bass.
Nanocomp Technologies CEO Peter Antoinette says being able to more quickly deduct the cost of equipment and earn research and development tax credits has helped his business expand.

"we’re now 12 people, we want to go to 20, we need to have the money to do that and we need to have the business environment, tax environment, …and I know Congressman Bass has been highly supportive of those types of policies and those are things we need."

Both candidates are scheduled to travel all over the state in the next few days campaigning.
They’ll both hit Salem and Nashua in the south – and Bass plans to hit Littleton and Berlin in the north.
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.