Sununu expected to decide in next week

Former Sen. John Sununu’s (R-N.H.) father, the former White House chief of staff of the same name, told the Portsmouth Herald that he expects his son to decide on whether to run for Senate again in the next week.

The younger Sununu has been very quiet about his deliberations, and state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte has recently emerged as a potential alternative for the state GOP.

But the elder Sununu, who took over as state party chairman this year, seemed to suggest his son is a decent shot to run, and that he would expect Ayotte to step aside.

Asked if he will get involved as GOP chairman with who runs, Sununu said, “I will use my warmth and charm to make sure that if there is a primary, it is a constructive primary, or if a primary can be avoided, I will do that.”

He indicated that if his son decides to run – a decision the father expects within a week or so – Ayotte will step aside.

“I think, if my son runs, there will not be a primary,” he said.

The beat on this has been that the elder Sununu wants the younger Sununu to run, but the younger Sununu isn’t terribly interested after losing his seat just less than eight months ago. Because of his relative silence, though, nobody seems to know exactly what the younger Sununu will do.