title:  Trump’s Stink Poisons GOP Race That Could Decide Whether Dems Retake The Senate
text: Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) is fighting hard to keep her seat, but now it seems that Donald Trump is busy destroying her chances. Her opponent, Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, is leading her by a full ten points now, when before the two were virtually deadlocked. Ayotte was swept to power in the disastrous Tea Party wave of 2010, but her support for Trump has now made her look like a fool.To be sure, Ayotte is no fan of Trump. She supports him in the name of  party unity,  though. Her lack of a formal endorsement doesn t seem to sway the voters, who increasingly view Trump and his supporters as, well, really horribly bad people. That includes Ayotte. As one of the pollsters involved in this particular poll says: There s a very close relationship between the votes for Kelly Ayotte and Donald Trump. Their support is sort of locked together. And with the direction that Donald Trump seems to be heading in, Kelly Ayotte s task is to somehow decouple those two. Trump s stock has plummeted in New Hampshire, where Hillary now commands a 17-point lead. She has also gained solid leads in Pennsylvania and Michigan   two other crucial battleground states. If Trump s support is locked together with Ayotte s, then as he falters, so does she.Democrats said just three days ago that Ayotte is too much of a coward to stand up to Trump, despite the fact that she defended the Khan family against Trump s childish, classless tirades. They re right, but, predictably, her campaign said that s not true. She s merely focusing her attention on keeping her seat, and Trump is irrelevant to her race.Then they dropped this gem, which isn t going to help her in the slightest: It s just not good manners to attack the nominee of your party. Oh please. When the nominee of your party is as dark and dangerous as one Donald Trump, attacking him may well be the only way some of these Republicans keep their seats.Ayotte is one of three Republicans that Trump has refused to endorse, and he bashed her over the weekend while inexplicably and laughably saying,  I m leading her in the polls. I m doing very well in New Hampshire.  Just, what? It s amazing she doesn t know how stupid her support for Trump makes her look.If Trump can t get himself under control, then there are several Republicans that are done. Alas, it s impossible to call that a heartbreaking conclusion.Featured image by Mark Wilson/Getty Images