Rep. Charles Bass (R) Elected 1994, 6th 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.
DC Office	2421 RHOB20515, 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.
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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 Capitol, and on the other you can usually find the headquarters of the two political parties and many candidates: an entire state's politics within 100 yards. 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, prosperous and growing. To the west of Nashua, past the pleasant country around Mount Monadnock, is Keene, the hub of southwest New Hampshire. To the north are the towns along the Connecticut River, some mill towns and others in 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 roughly two dozen voters cast their votes a minute past midnight and provide the first reported returns in every presidential election; Neil Tillotson, the town moderator in every election from 1960 to 2000, was unhappily not there in 2004; he died in 2002 at 102. (Hint for election analysts: if Dixville Notch doesn't go heavily Republican, the Republicans are in trouble.)

The 2d Congressional District of New Hampshire 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. Long-time residents grieved when the jagged, granite face of the Old Man of the Mountain eroded from Franconia Notch in 2003. Politically this is mixed country, but much of it has been trending Democratic. Nashua is more Democratic than Manchester, Salem more Republican. The area between Mount Monadnock and Keene and the territory running north along the Connecticut River to Hanover and Dartmouth has become very Democratic: much like Vermont across the river. Overall, this is the more Democratic of New Hampshire's two districts, and it got more so in 2004, after heavy campaigning for a year by backers of Howard Dean: it voted 48%-47% for Al Gore in 2000 and 52%-47% for John Kerry in 2004.

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. In 1994, he won the nomination to oppose two-term 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. Bass won 51%-46%.

In the House, Bass emphasized that he is an "independent voice" as he trended toward the center on many issues. He has focused on the environment, coming out early against the Bush administration plan for 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. He later joined several Democrats in filing an alternative to the administration's "clear skies" proposal, including tighter controls on power plant emissions. With Democrat Maurice Hinchey, he called for protection of the bison at Yellowstone National Park. He was an early supporter of the Shays-Meehan campaign finance bill. On the Energy and Commerce Committee, Bass has worked on high-tech issues and lower prescription-drug costs. In 2003, he quit Roy Blunt's whip team, after objecting to the leadership's handling of an education bill. In 2005, with a call for "pragmatic" policies, he joined Mark Kirk as co-leader of the moderate Republicans' Tuesday Group. Bass has pushed persistently, but with little impact, for biennial budgeting, which he said would add stability to government programs. At home, he has been a supporter of commuter rail service from Nashua into the Boston area.

Bass has regularly faced spirited opposition. In 2002, he faced his most lavishly funded challenger. Katrina Swett, wife of the incumbent whom Bass initially defeated and the daughter of California's Tom Lantos, received extensive national party support. Dick Gephardt showed up to open her campaign office. "I'll be here a lot," Lantos told New Hampshire reporters on a campaign visit. He helped her to raise $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, when he ran against her husband, Bass ran ads contending that his opponent'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." He spent $876,000, well over his former limit, but well below Swett's spending, and won by a solid 57%-41% margin. In 2004, against Concord attorney Paul Hodes, Bass won 58%-38%.

Committees

• Energy & Commerce (19th of 31 R): Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection; Environment & Hazardous Materials; Oversight & Investigations; Telecommunications & the Internet.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	45	20	13	27	50	59	86	56	81	69	--
2003	20	--	0	45	--	59	87	68	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	39%	--	60%		46%	--	53%
Social	48%	--	52%		53%	--	47%
Foreign	46%	--	52%		47%	--	51%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR N 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. N 5. DC School Vouchers Y 6. Ban Human Cloning N		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage N 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Charles Bass (R)	191,187	58%	$717,749
	Paul Hodes (D)	124,275	38%	$625,062
	Other	11,726	4%
2004 primary	Charles Bass (R)	25,414	71%
	Mark Brady (R)	10,167	29%
2002 general	Charles Bass (R)	125,804	57%	$886,765
	Katrina Swett (D)	90,479	41%	$1,457,913
	Other	7,568	2%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (56%); 1998 (53%); 1996 (51%); 1994 (51%)

2004 Presidential Vote Kerry (D) 177,320 (52%) Bush (R) 160,224 (47%)

2000 Presidential Vote Gore (D) 134,343 (48%) Bush (R) 132,336 (47%)

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 + 3
• 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.