Question: What do Michele Bachmann, Duke Cunningham, and Kelly Ayotte have in common?
Ayotte hasn't been sentenced to federal time for accepting bribes, like Cunningham. She hasn't gone on TV repeatedly doing things like accusing Barack Obama and members of Congress of being anti-American, like Michele Bachmann -- shoot, Ayotte only just came out with positions on any issues, a month after she began publicly exploring a Senate run. A candidate who takes a month to say she's against a woman's right to choose and against marriage equality is a ways from taking Bachmann-like positions. For that matter, a candidate who tries to bar video cameras from public appearances probably isn't aching to let people know just where she stands in the most inflammatory terms possible.
But Ayotte has one big thing in common with Duke Cunningham and Michele Bachmann: Brooks Kochvar. Kochvar is currently Ayotte's campaign manager, in which role he's already getting press mentions for trying to keep her from answering questions. But before he worked for Ayotte, he had a substantial career -- working for Cunningham early on and serving as chief of staff not just to Bachmann but previously to Indiana's Chris Chocola. Blue Hampshire commenter Dartmouth Dem suggests that:
Bottom line: Ayotte should be happy. With Cunningham and Bachmann on her chief aide's resume, we can assume that he knows a thing or two about damage control.
Kochvar's other relevant experience for Ayotte's campaign includes his attempt, as campaign manager, to package Oregon Republican Gordon Smith as a fake Democrat in 2008.
Ayotte may barely be willing to acknowledge she's a Republican, with actual Republican policy positions, but she's certainly staffing up to run the full Republican campaign playbook.