We’ve always known that it takes a while for Kelly Ayotte to make up her mind on pretty much any political position, but none more obviously than the “Jim DeMint question”.

Pressed several months ago to answer the question of whether she identifies more with Republican Olympia Snowe (who is what passes for a moderate in today’s GOP) and extremist right-wing radical Jim DeMint, Ayotte had absolutely nothing to say:

After a 10-minute speech at the Shang Hai Restaurant, she fielded a number of questions from some of the 30 people who attended, but balked at providing many direct answers from a variety of questions that varied from her stand on states' rights, to whether her political philosophy was closer to that of Maine Republican Olympia Snowe or South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint.

"I can't identify with one person, but I would listen to the people of New Hampshire," Ayotte said, saying she had dealt with "tough cases and tough situations" and has never turned away from a fight.

Well, it seems Ayotte has finally picked which extreme of the Republican Party she stands with…and the radicals have won!

And in a sign of his growing influence, several of the party’s more moderate candidates are looking for DeMint’s support to give them some conservative street cred, like Rob Simmons of Connecticut and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, who have begun to reach out to the junior senator from South Carolina.

We are skeptical that DeMint-style politics (he is the man who called health insurance reform “Obama’s Waterloo”) will play well in the increasingly Democratic state of New Hampshire, but she is welcome to try it!