UPDATE -- Shaheen ad: 'If you're in a hole, stop digging"

U.S. Senate candidate and former Governor Jeanne Shaheen (D-Madbury) released a new ad on Tuesday saying that U.S. Sen. John Sununu (R-Waterville Valley) would be a continuation of President Bush's economic and energy policies.

"There's an old saying: when you're in a hole stop digging," begins the ad. "George Bush put our economy in the hole.  So why is John Sununu still digging in the same failed direction?"

The ad continues: "We've got to stop spending billions on giveaways to big oil and drug companies.  No more no-bid contracts to Iraq or runaway deficits. We need commonsense ideas like clean, alternative energy, tax breaks for the middle class."

“Jeanne Shaheen should be very familiar with digging holes," responded New Hampshire Republican party chairman Fergus Cullen in a statement. "Her failed attempt to solve the education crisis and her reckless spending plunged New Hampshire into a ditch that we are struggling to climb out of today.  The ongoing school funding dilemma, oppressive statewide property tax and severe fiscal challenges we face are a direct result of the failed leadership and devastating policies that marked her six years in office.”

“As governor, Shaheen’s signature proposals included a capital gains tax and 2.5% sales tax that would have ruined New Hampshire’s economy," continued Cullen. "As a Senate candidate, she has opposed more domestic drilling and advocated the same tired, failed energy policies of the 1970s that made our country more dependent on foreign oil. The only direction that Jeanne Shaheen will take us is toward higher taxes, more spending, bigger government and an energy plan that will do nothing to lower fuel prices for New Hampshire families.”

Click here to view the ad.