Former governor Jeanne Shaheen is taking a close look at a prospective rematch against first-term Republican Sen. John Sununu, as veteran New Hampshire Democrats encourage her to enter the race.

State Sen. Peter Burling, a Cornish Democrat, said last week he had called Shaheen, who served three terms as governor, to offer his political and financial support should she decide to make a second bid for the U.S. Senate.

"She said she is thinking about it hard and 'thank you' for the kind thoughts," Burling said. "The state of New Hampshire needs her to run. I think she understands how serious a proposition that is."

Another would-be supporter, state Sen. David Gottesman, a Nashua Democrat, said he has not talked to Shaheen directly since January but said he thinks she has moved closer to a run.

"I believe the odds are much stronger today than they were three or four months ago because I think that she is a person who believes in good government and that the best people ought to be stepping forward to do their public service," Gottesman said.

Manchester attorney Kathy Sullivan, whose eight-year tenure as chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party started when Shaheen was governor, has gathered 150 names for her "draft Shaheen" campaign.

"I want our absolutely best candidate to run for United States Senate, and I think that's Jeanne Shaheen," Sullivan said. "The response has just been overwhelming. It's very apparent that there is a lot of interest" in a Shaheen candidacy.

State Rep. Sharon Nordgren, a Hanover Democrat, is among the lawmakers supporting a Shaheen candidacy.

Shaheen, 60, is director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University, a nonpartisan position, and lives in undergraduate housing in Cambridge, Mass., while maintaining her full-time residence in Madbury.

"She certainly appreciates the support, but she has not made a decision yet," institute spokesman Esten Perez said.

Phone messages left for Shaheen while she was at home in Madbury were not returned.

Shaheen ran against Sununu, then a member of the U.S. House, in 2002 after he defeated incumbent Bob Smith in the Republican Senate primary. Shaheen appeared to be ahead in polls leading up to Election Day, but Sununu wound up winning with 50 percent of the vote to her 46 percent.

"She was ahead until the very end of the race, and what really sank her campaign was the enormous get-out-the-vote effort by Republicans and the drag of (Democratic gubernatorial candidate) Mark Fernald and his pledge to fight for an income tax," said Linda Fowler, a government professor at Dartmouth College.

The Republican Party has weakened considerably since then because of losses in Concord and Washington.

Although "Sununu has made some very astute moves to try to distance himself from the Bush White House" in such areas as civil liberties and in calling for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Fowler said, he also remains "very" vulnerable to a challenge. Fowler said Sununu is in a "very awkward political position." The Republican base still supports President Bush on the war in Iraq, but the sentiment of voters across the state runs counter to that, she said.

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