If the state Republican Party were a baseball team, its general manager might think of digging into the farm system to pull in some fresh faces to run for office in two years.

What about the state's first female attorney general, Kelly Ayotte?

Or Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen, who many expect to be out of a job by next October?

Or Bruce Keough, who has sat on the sidelines but soon may walk back on the political field?

"We have to develop a bench and have to encourage people to be candidates and figure out a way to support them when they decide to run," said Ed Dupont, a former state Senate president.

Democrats last Tuesday retained the governor's office, captured both congressional seats and took over both the state House and state Senate.

"I don't think Republicans can simply sit around," agreed Dante Scala, an associate professor of politics at St. Anselm College and author of a book on New Hampshire politics. "They have to look at their own bench and see who the next generation of Republicans is to step up and run for elective office."

Democratic Party chair Kathleen Sullivan said Republicans need to cast a wider net of candidates.

"Look outside the mold of the somewhat good-looking man, of a financially successful or independently wealthy man and look for some other types of people because the mold isn't working for them," Sullivan said.

The Republican team needs to work on its fundamentals as well.

"We need to get more concise on our message," said Rep. Fran Wendelboe, R-New Hampton. "We didn't have a clear voice and didn't have a clear message in the last two-year cycle."

So who's on the short roster list of potential Republican candidates?

"I think everyone still thinks Sean Mahoney (who ran for District 3 Executive Council in September's primary) has a bright future," Wendelboe said. "People keep talking about Kelly Ayotte. Speculation is going to turn to John Stephen particularly because he'll be out of a job by October at the latest."

Stephen's term ends in October, and Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, D-Manchester, said "every governor I know of wants to appoint their own commissioner of Health and Human Services. That's the key one."

Stephen said he's focusing on his department's budget, saying he wants to at least get through the budget session and stay at least through June.

Asked about running for public office, Stephen, who made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2002, said: "I have never closed the door on that issue."

Ayotte said "I don't rule anything out" in terms of her career -- including a political run -- but she is concentrating on her current post, which runs through March 2009.

"I'm humbled to be mentioned, but right now, my focus is on the important work before me as attorney general, including ensuring that the Addison prosecution is handled well," Ayotte said. She is pursuing a capital murder case against accused cop killer Michael Addison of Manchester.

Mahoney couldn't be reached (Note: Mahoney has an opinion piece on page B3) and Keough earlier this year said returning to the political ring was possible.

Other names mentioned included Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta, up for re-election in 2007, and Chuck Morse, who lost his bid Tuesday for a seat on the Executive Council.

Former Republican Party chairman Steve Duprey said finding candidates requires casting a large net.

"It's very important to do a good job with candidate recruitment and it's hard to do in New Hampshire because we have 400 House seats," he said.

His executive committee, made up of about 15 county and city chairmen, penned a list of slots that needed to be filled, then party leaders approached people to measure their interest.

"It's almost like a courtship," Duprey said.

As for last week, Duprey attributes Republican losses to a popular incumbent governor and a national backlash against GOP candidates.

"We didn't lose because we didn't have good candidates," Duprey said.

One place where Republicans could turn to search for new talent is the Manchester Young Professionals Network, a group of 25- to 40-year-olds looking to make its members successful in their careers and in the community.

"If there is any upside to what happened (Tuesday), one upside is there are new opportunities for new people to get involved in many different levels of politics," said Chris Williams, one of the group's founders who now is president of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce.

"On the Republican side, I believe Doug Kruse and Mark Laliberte are two names to watch in the near future," Williams said in an e-mail. Kruse is Manchester 's Ward 8 school board member while Laliberte ran a "respectable race" for Ward 3 alderman last year, he said.

On the Democratic side, he cited Mark Roy, the Ward 1 alderman already courted to run for state Senate, and Chris Pappas, who "has a strong family name in Manchester and a strong image as someone who is passionate about Democratic ideals."

In two years, U.S. Sen. John Sununu will be up for reelection. In 2002, he beat then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen in a close race.

"The key question for 2008 is whether this is a one-time thing in New Hampshire or is the state really trending Democrat and 2008 will give us some answers to that. If I was Sununu, I'd be looking over the results carefully and see what went wrong, especially for Jeb Bradley," Scala said.

In an e-mail, Sununu said: "As they have always been, our campaign in 2008 will be an aggressive town-to-town, person-to-person effort -- strong on grass-roots organization and focused on the issues that matter most to New Hampshire citizens."

Several Republicans said the party needs to move swiftly to better prepare itself for the next election.

"If anybody is thinking about reinvigorating the Republican Party, that starts today, tomorrow, the next day," Dupont said. "There's no question of waiting around to see what's happening."