Many of those votes, such as increasing the minimum wage and opposing troop increases in Iraq, align with promises Hodes and Shea-Porter made on the campaign trail in 2006. But Republicans say they intend to use those voting records to paint the pair as out-of-touch.

Fergus Cullen, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, criticized Hodes and Shea-Porter for opposing an extension of President Bush's tax cuts and voting in favor of the most recent farm bill, which provides government subsidies of agriculture, among other votes.

"They have both voted lockstep with the Democratic leadership, showing no independence, and that surprises me," Cullen said. "I thought they would at least pick some symbolic issue and publicly disagree with (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi. They haven't done that."

Both Hodes and Shea-Porter have voted more consistently with their party's leadership than the men they ousted in the 2006 election. Hodes's predecessor, Charlie Bass, voted with Republican leadership 88 percent of the time in his final term in office. Shea-Porter's predecessor, Jeb Bradley, also voted with the Republican leaders 88 percent of the time. (Bradley is a candidate in this year's GOP primary for Shea-Porter's seat.)

Democrats made Bass and Bradley's voting records a centerpiece of the 2006 campaigns. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee labeled Bass a "GOP Rubber Stamp of the Week" that year for voting with President Bush and Republican leaders more than 75 percent of the time - a fact Hodes underscored at nearly every campaign stop.

"When I go to Washington, I'm bringing my backbone with me," Hodes said in 2006 campaign ads.

Shea-Porter also used Bradley's voting record to try to link him to the Bush administration.

But Republican attempts to criticize Shea-Porter and Hodes through their voting records may not be as effective this year, said Wayne Lesperance, associate professor of political science at New England College.

"The Republican brand is in such tough shape these days, and New Hampshire is certainly tilting more Democratic, so the cost of lining up with Democrats is not going to be particularly high here," Lesperance said.

Lesperance added that first-term members of Congress often vote more closely with their party's leadership simply because they are still learning their way around Capitol Hill.

"Independence is not something you're encouraged to exhibit as a freshman member of Congress," he said. "There's an understanding that you have to pay your dues."

Still, Hodes and Shea-Porter said they disagreed with their party's leadership on several issues. Both pointed to foreign trade as an example; they each voted against a trade agreement with Peru, a deal supported by House Democratic leaders.

"I'm not against trade, I'm just for fair trade," Shea-Porter said. "And I don't always gel with leadership on that."

Asked for other issues where he's differed with Democratic leaders, Hodes mentioned his support for a bill that calls for stronger enforcement of immigration laws; his opposition to "further restrictions on the Second Amendment;" and his opposition to a patent reform bill, which he said would hurt high-tech entrepreneurs and universities in the state.

"What's paramount for me are the interests of the people of New Hampshire," Hodes said.

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