Sen. Chuck Hagel returns to New Hampshire today on a profile-raising tour as traffic picks up in the nation’s first 2008 presidential primary state.

Hagel will speak at events in three cities, headline a Republican fund-raising dinner and answer questions on New Hampshire public radio.

The three-day visit will mark Hagel’s first trip to the Granite State since a tour last May.

“The field is still wide open” almost two years before the GOP primary, said Dante Scala, director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College in suburban Manchester.

Hagel’s independence and “more moderate tone” may prove appealing to New Hampshire Republicans if he decides to enter the state’s presidential primary campaign, Scala said. 

But two Republican prospects, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and neighboring Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, hold the early advantage in New Hampshire, Scala said.

Hagel, he said, is “very low on the radar screen right now.”

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McCain, Hagel’s Senate buddy, is the 900-pound gorilla in New Hampshire’s Republican living room.

While “everybody’s in the hunt” at this early stage, Republican National Committeeman Tom Rath of Concord said, New Hampshire has  “a love affair” with McCain.

“I call him the president of New Hampshire,” Rath said.

McCain romped past George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, in the 2000 New Hampshire GOP primary election. Hagel served as national co-chairman of McCain’s presidential bid.

Hagel has “made a very positive impression on people” during his visits to the state, Rath said. “People like his straightforward way of saying what he thinks.”

And who knows, Rath said, what will happen a couple of years from now?

“I tell everybody this is going to flip up and down and over before it’s settled. It rarely ends up the way it began. Somebody has a chance to get some traction here.”

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Hagel’s scheduled appearance tonight at the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce’s annual legislative dinner has attracted “very strong interest,” said Chris Williams, vice president of the business organization.

About 150 people are expected to attend the event in suburban Bedford.

On Tuesday morning, Hagel will speak to a breakfast gathering sponsored by the Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce in the historic seaport community where Paul Revere once rode and John Paul Jones commanded a Revolutionary War frigate.

“Hagel’s willingness to call things straight gets attention in New Hampshire,” said Dick Ingram, president of the chamber.

“People here value the independent thinker, the guy who’s willing to run counter to his party at times.”

A series of Hagel appearances in Concord, the state capital, will include an address to the Merrimack County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner on Tuesday night.  An invitation to headline that event prompted this week’s trip.

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Hagel’s independence and willingness to challenge his party and president on high-profile issues like Iraq might make him a more formidable presidential candidate in a general election than a Republican primary, said Stephen Hess, professor at George Washington University and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

But the same could be said of McCain, Hess said, as demonstrated by the lack of support for him at this month’s Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis.

“However, McCain has made a few more overtures to the Bush forces than Hagel has,” Hess said.

The problem for Hagel in 2008, if he chooses to seek the GOP nomination, is that he appears to be “a shadow of McCain, who has been a much more potent and serious candidate.”

In a sense, Hess said, McCain and Hagel are on a teeter-totter, with Hagel’s fortunes rising if McCain’s decline.

One advantage for Hagel could be Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, which precede the New Hampshire vote.

McCain didn’t actively compete in the 2000 Iowa caucuses. Hagel hails from a bordering state.

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McCain has remained enormously popular in New Hampshire since his 2000 primary victory, said Scala, the Institute of Politics director.

Romney’s backyard location —Boston lies 48 miles southeast of Manchester and Romney has a summer home in New Hampshire — gives him an advantage, Scala said.

Hagel’s independence means he’s “not a bad fit” for New Hampshire, Scala said. But both McCain and Romney also “are able to reach moderate and independent voters (and) both have more presence and star power.”

Romney, a frequent visitor, spoke in four New Hampshire communities on Saturday.

The accelerating traffic pattern of GOP prospects brings Sen. George Allen of Virginia, a conservative favorite, to the state later this week. Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee flies in four days later.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas show up occasionally.

McCain has scheduled what Rath describes as “a campaign-style swing” through the state in early April, complete with one of his patented town meetings.

Hagel has said he won’t decide on whether to seek the presidency until he has an opportunity to view the lay of the land after this November’s national elections.

In the meantime, he said, he’s concentrating more on probing potential fund-raising opportunities  than piling up campaign miles.

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.

Coming this week

Reporter Don Walton and photographer William Lauer will travel with Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel as he visits New Hampshire today through Wednesday. The state, which has the nation’s earliest primary in 2008, has become a major testing ground for presidential candidates. Look for their reports in the Journal Star this week.