Jeanne and Bill Shaheen have been telling people there's a 70 percent chance she'll jump in the race for U.S. Senate against John Sununu, according to last week's Evans-Novak Political Report.

Bill Shaheen said the numbers are not coming from him.

"I'm not saying any of that! I'd get in trouble if I said that!" Shaheen said. "I'm not even allowed to dream that way!"

Shaheen said that his wife doesn't tell him about her decision-making process, "because she knows I'd tell you!"

He's not even supposed to speculate about his wife's intentions, he said. "I got in trouble when I said September," he said.

He proceeded to reiterate his theory that she'll decide in September. "I think she'll make her mind up in September because I think she feels there's an obligation to the people already in the race. It's not fair to these people who are working very hard to let them go down the rope and then jump in."

For now, he said, his wife - who is director of Harvard's Institute of Politics - has a lot of beginning-of-school-year work ahead of her. She wants to get the incoming fellows settled in and all the freshmen signed up to vote, he said.

Many Democrats are itching to have Shaheen in the race in 2008, especially since

three recent polls showed her trouncing Sununu. The same polls show Sununu prevailing over announced Democratic candidates Katrina Swett of Bow, Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand and Dartmouth medical professor Jay Buckey.

A Draft Shaheen movement founded by former Democratic Party chairwoman Kathy Sullivan last week announced it had signed on 1,000 supporters. Sullivan said she hasn't talked to Jeanne Shaheen since she started the effort.

But she cast doubt on the 70 percent source. "He's in Washington - who knows where he gets his information from?" she said. "I would be really surprised if Jeanne Shaheen was having conversations with Robert Novak."

Very Kos-y

Two of the three announced Democrats vying for Sununu's Senate seat planned to be at YearlyKos, a convention of liberal bloggers in Chicago this weekend.

Buckey, who got a prominent shout-out from liberal internet guru Joe Trippi last week - and Marchand planned to be there. Swett, who's been knocked on DailyKos as a "LieberDem" for her prominent role in former Democrat Joe Lieberman's 2004 presidential bid, was staying away. "There's no particular reason," said campaign manager Bob Quinn.

Is never a promise?

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