Earlier this month I noted that New Hampshire's freshman Republican Senator, John Sununu, had a bad trend of voting against the sentiments of his constituents, backing President Bush 90 percent of the time in 2006 and voting with his Republican colleagues against sensible legislation, such as the bill that would mandate the implementation of the 9/11 Commission recommendations. And even as Sununu has garnered some positive headlines by calling for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a quick gander at some recent roll call votes indicates that he is still significantly more inclined to back the regressive positions of the far right within the Republican Party than to actually vote with the vast bulk of Americans, who want to see US policy driven not by ideological zeal but rather by at least some sense of reality.

Last week, the Senate voted on an amendment that, if enacted, would raise federal taxes on tobacco products to reauthorize and expand the extremely popular and effective SCHIP program, which helps insure children around the country. The amendment was sponsored by Republican Gordon Smith of Oregon, and when it came to a vote before the Senate it had the support of 13 Republican Senators, including conservative stalwarts like Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch of Utah and Thad Cochran of Mississippi. Yet while one of New Hampshire's Republican Senators, deficit hawk Judd Gregg, voted yea on the Smith amendment, the other, John Sununu, did not, reaffirming his fealty to the anti-tax movement instead of supporting an important children's healthcare program.

That's not all. Today, the Senate voted on language that would set a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq by the end of 2008. Polling released just yesterday from USA Today and Gallup indicates that such legislation has the strong support of the American people, with 60 percent backing such a deadline and just 38 percent opposing it. But when the bill came to a vote in the Senate, Sununu voted no.

If John Sununu seriously wants a shot at being reelected in 2008 in a state that has been trending more and more Democratic in recent election cycles, he simply cannot continue to keep up this extremely conservative voting pattern. My sentiment is that he will, in fact, continue to kowtow to the far right rather than toe the moderate line and, as a result, will find himself in about the same position as Rick Santorum in the last cycle -- way too conservative for the bluish-purple electorate in his state. Now if only the Democrats could find that one, single candidate who can actually capitalize on Sununu's continual missteps...