Will Palin’s plug boost Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire?

Bedford, N.H. — Kelly Ayotte meets me at Panera Bread, which, a campaign aide confides, is one of her favorite spots. Lodged in the corner of a concrete strip mall south of Manchester, Panera — a corporate chain — is part café, part “artisan” bakery, with plush chairs and gourmet grinds. When I arrive, I spot Ayotte in the back, smartly dressed with coffee in hand, milling about, a star among the soccer-mom set that crowds the booths. Ayotte, 42, a former state attorney general, is in the midst of a tight primary campaign. With Sen. Judd Gregg retiring after three terms, a spot in the upper chamber is open, and Ayotte — along with businessmen Bill Binnie and Jim Bender, and Ovide Lamontagne, a former chairman of the state education board — is gunning to win the GOP nod on September 14. With the latest Rasmussen poll showing all four hopefuls beating congressman Paul Hodes, the Democrats’ presumptive nominee, the race for the Republican nomination has livened up an otherwise slow summer.

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