The man leading the Democratic effort to take Congress said yesterday that his party is serious about beating six-term Rep. Charlie Bass.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the fact that this was a priority,"said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat from Illinois. The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spoke at an event with Bass's opponent, Paul Hodes, yesterday at the state Legislative Office Building in Concord.

Emanuel said Democrats can win both of New Hampshire's seats, which he said Democrats have targeted along with nearly 50 others. Democrats need to gain 15 seats to become the majority party. Republicans have held all four New Hampshire congressional seats since 1994. New Hampshire's House representatives, Bass and Jeb Bradley, have both won their past two elections by double digits. Bass defeated Hodes in 2004, 59 percent to 38 percent.

Emanuel touted a college tax credit that he said would benefit middle-class families. During his two-day New England visit, Emanuel attended a fundraiser for Hodes in Boston on Tuesday and had lunch with him and supporters in Concord yesterday, said Jen Psaki, a DCCC spokeswoman. Emanuel, the former senior adviser to president Bill Clinton, also attended a fundraiser in Boston yesterday for Jim Craig, the former state Legislature minority leader now running for Bradley's seat, Psaki said.

Hodes has nearly matched Bass's fundraising; Bass has $453,449 in cash on hand, about $11,000 more than Hodes, according to federal campaign finance reports. But Bass has led Hodes by 18 points in the July Granite State Poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire.

Emanuel said yesterday that voters want change after six years of GOP leadership in both the White House and in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Every midterm election that's been nationalized around whether you stay the course or there's rejection of the course you're on, big things happen," said Emanuel, who also served as Clinton's finance director on his 1992 presidential campaign. He said that the Bush administration has failed the country in its response to Hurricane Katrina and that the administration and Congress have failed to give tax relief to middle-class families and provide an increase in the minimum wage.

Hodes, a Concord attorney, said he supported the plan, sponsored by Emanuel, to give a $3,000 tax credit each year to students for four years of college and two years of graduate school. Hodes said the credit would help middle-class families afford college. He also said it would replace five existing forms of federal college aid, simplifying the process for applicants.

Hodes, when asked why this race will be different, said voters are tired of the current leadership in Washington.

"People in New Hampshire are waking up. They see what this administration has done," he said. "We've got an imperial president. They see what this Republican Congress has done. We've got a rubber-stamp Congress."

Bass, at a separate event in Concord yesterday, discounted Emanuel's visit.

"These Democrats have said that both districts in New Hampshire have been high priorities for years, for years now," he said. "And he can say whatever he wants, the fact is . . . I win elections because I persuade voters that my record deserves re-election and that's what I'm going to continue to do."

Bass appeared with Bradley at a press conference at the Radio Shack on Fort Eddy Road to announce that all satellite-dish owners in New Hampshire can receive WMUR, the state's only network-affiliated television station. Before the passage of legislation, supported by all of New Hampshire's congressional delegation, North Country subscribers of the Dish Network would receive ABC affiliates in Maine or Vermont. Federal broadcasting laws required them to receive the affiliate in their market, regardless of their state. For instance, Ossipee subscribers received the ABC affiliate in Portland, Maine, instead of WMUR. (next page »)