Rep. Charles Bass (R) Elected 1994, 5th term
Born:	Jan. 8, 1952, Boston, MA
Home:	Peterborough
Education:	Dartmouth Col., A.B. 1974
Religion:	Episcopalian
Marital Status:	married (Lisa)
Elected  Office:	NH House of Reps., 1982-88; NH Senate, 1988-92.
Professional Career:	Field worker, U.S. Rep. William Cohen, 1974; Legis. Asst., U.S. Rep. David Emery, 1975-76, Chief of Staff, 1976-79; Vice Pres., High Standard Inc., 1980-93; Chmn., Columbia Architectural Products, 1980-93.
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Political reporters covering New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation political primary usually stay in Manchester, the state's largest city and within an hour or so of driving time from the rest of the state except for the North Country. Yet there are other noteworthy cities and towns in New Hampshire. Concord, north of Manchester, is the state capital; on one side of Main Street is the handsome, small, granite state Capitol and on the other you can usually find the headquarters of the two political parties and many statewide candidates. Nashua, south of Manchester and on the Massachusetts line, is the state's second largest city, a high-tech and financial services center that has been booming for two decades. To the east is Salem, the largest of the border suburbs on the Massachusetts line, prosperous and growing. To the west of Nashua, past the pleasant country around Mount Monadnock, is Keene, the hub of southwest New Hampshire and home of Keene State College. To the north are the towns along the Connecticut River, some mill towns and others once vacation home territory; New Hampshire prosperity has spread to most of these, just across the river from Vermont. Hanover, home of Dartmouth College, is an unbearably picturesque tiny town amid the mountains. And every political reporter's itinerary has to include a trip, usually by plane, to the little lumber mill city of Berlin in the midst of the North Country and perhaps also to Dixville Notch, where the town's 29 voters cast their votes a minute past midnight and provide the first reported returns in every presidential election. (Hint for election analysts: if Dixville Notch doesn't go heavily Republican, the Republicans are in trouble.)

The 2d Congressional District includes Concord, Nashua, Salem, Keene, the Connecticut River counties, Hanover, Berlin and Dixville Notch. It also includes Mount Washington, with its spectacularly violent weather, with winds measured up to 231 miles per hour, and the Bretton Woods resort where the world monetary system was established at a conference in 1944. Politically this is mixed country. Nashua is more Democratic than Manchester, Salem more Republican. The area between Mount Monadnock and Keene and roundabout is one of the most liberal parts of New Hampshire, almost as if people here would rather be in Vermont. Hanover and Berlin are Democratic strongholds in the heavily Republican North Country. Overall, this is the less Republican of New Hampshire's two districts; it was carried narrowly by Al Gore in 2000.

The congressman from the 2d District is Charles Bass, a Republican first elected in 1994. He has a long political pedigree: His grandfather Robert Bass was elected governor in 1910 and his father Perkins Bass served in the House from 1955 to 1963. Charles Bass, after graduating from Dartmouth, worked for Maine Congressmen William Cohen and David Emery, then returned to New Hampshire to run for Congress in 1980, at age 28; he finished third in the primary, with 22%, to 34% for now-Senator Judd Gregg and 25% for liberal Susan McLane. With his two brothers he ran a factory making architectural products and served in the state legislature for a decade, where he wrote the state's voluntary campaign spending law, which called on U.S. House candidates to observe a $500,000 total limit for both primary and general elections.

In 1994 Bass won the Republican nomination to oppose two-term Democratic Congressman Dick Swett. Campaigning as pro-choice on abortion and as a fiscal conservative, a supporter of welfare cuts and tougher sentencing, Bass attacked Swett for voting with Bill Clinton 90% of the time and for raising most of his money out of state, much of it generated by his father-in-law, California Congressman Tom Lantos. Swett spent over $1 million, while Bass adhered to the voluntary spending limits and spent $448,000; Bass won 51%-46%.

In the House, Bass emphasized that he is an "independent voice" as he trended toward the center on economic and cultural issues, while he maintained a more conservative record on foreign policy. He has focused on environmental issues. He opposed the Bush administration, by coming out early against oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and criticizing Bush for abandoning his one-sentence campaign promise to vastly reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the air. He was one of only three Republicans to vote against the budget resolution in May 2001 and was an early supporter of the Shays-Meehan campaign finance bill. Responding to high local property taxes, he has made funding for special education a high priority. On the Energy and Commerce Committee since 2001, Bass has worked on high-tech issues and lower prescription-drug costs. In February 2003, he won House passage of his American Spirit Fraud Prevention Act, to increase Federal Trade Commission penalties for schemes in which scam artists exploit natural disasters or national emergencies on behalf of alleged charities. He has pushed persistently, but with little impact, to move toward biennial budgeting, which he said would add more stability to government programs.

Most incumbent congressmen cruise to reelection without much more than a murmur of opposition; Bass has regularly faced spirited opposition. Barney Brannen ran a lively campaign in 2000, with ads distinguishing him from Barney Rubble and the purple Barney and attacking Bass on prescription drugs for seniors. Bass attacked him for his support from trial lawyers and labor unions, and ran ads with an endorsement from John McCain. Bass ran 9% ahead of George W. Bush, and won 56%-41%.

In 2002, Bass faced his most lavishly funded challenger and won by his largest margin. Katrina Swett, wife of the incumbent whom Bass initially defeated and the daughter of California Congressman Tom Lantos, received extensive national party attention. Dick Gephardt joined to open her campaign office. Other potential presidential candidates were generous with contributions and campaign appearances. "I'll be here a lot," Lantos told New Hampshire reporters on a campaign visit. He helped her to raise an impressive $149,000 from congressional leadership PACs, plus money from California contributors such as Steven Spielberg and San Francisco financiers; altogether, she raised and spent $1.4 million. As in 1994, Bass ran ads contending that Swett's out-of-state and labor union contributions showed that she was out of touch with local voters. She attacked his contributions from big business and called Bass "the wealthy, privileged inheritor of an incredibly easy path." The NRCC kept a close eye on Bass until the closing days of the campaign. He spent $876,000, well over his former limit, but well below Swett's spending, and won by a solid 57%-41% margin. Swett carried clusters of towns around Keene, Hanover and Berlin and one small town in the south; she lost every other city and town. After the election Swett said that she might run again in 2004.

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DC Office
2421 RHOB 20515, 202-225-5206; Fax: 202-225-2946; Web site: www.house.gov/bass

State Offices
Concord, 603-226-0249; Keene, 603-358-4094; Littleton, 603-444-1271; Nashua, 603-889-8772.

Committees

• Energy & Commerce (22d of 31 R): Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection; Environment & Hazardous Materials; Oversight & Investigations; Telecommunications & the Internet.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	15	33	0	25	90	100	60	90	80	81	42
2001	25	--	10	57	--	--	61	91	60	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	43%	--	56%		45%	--	54%
Social	58%	--	42%		55%	--	44%
Foreign	21%	--	74%		24%	--	72%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform Y 4. Ban ANWR Development Y 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority Y 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Charles Bass (R)	125,804	57%	$886,765
	Katrina Swett (D)	90,479	41%	$1,457,913
	Other	7,568	2%
2002 primary	Charles Bass (R)	61,473	87%
	Gene Douglass (R)	9,486	13%
2000 general	Charles Bass (R)	152,581	56%	$812,727
	Barney Brannen (D)	110,367	41%	$872,115
	Other	8,392	3%
Prior winning percentages: 1998 (53%); 1996 (51%); 1994 (51%)

2000 presidential
	Gore (D)	134,343	48%
	Bush (R)	132,336	47%
	Other	12,801	5%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Second District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D + 0
• District Size: 6,662 square miles
• Population in 2000: 618,211; 51.7% urban; 48.3% rural
• Median Household Income: $48,762; 6.4% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 24.7% blue collar; 62.1% white collar; 13.2% gray collar; 15.0% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 95.1% White, 0.6% Black, 1.3% Asian, 0.2% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.9% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 1.7% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 13.0% Irish, 12.9% English, 10.3% French
• Click here for statewide demographic data.