The ease with which U.S. Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen adopts and then abandons one position for another whenever it becomes politically expedient is breathtaking, even for a career politician like Shaheen, now in her fourth decade in politics.

I'm not talking about the usual backtracking and hedging lots of old school politicians do on minor issues every day. I'm talking about Olympic-caliber flip-flops on major issues that suggest Shaheen lacks core beliefs beyond an extraordinary willingness to say anything so long as it helps her politically today.

Let's start with The Pledge against broad-based taxes. Back in 1996, Shaheen got elected governor by taking The Pledge against a sales or income tax. The Pledge is a fundamental, bedrock issue in New Hampshire, a solemn vow made by a candidate to the voters. But in 2001, Shaheen abandoned The Pledge and proposed a 2.5 percent sales tax. Thanks to a Republican legislature at the time, Shaheen failed to enact her sales tax plan, but – to borrow a phrase popularized by Senator John Kerry, whose campaign Shaheen directed in 2004 – you'd have to say Shaheen was for The Pledge before she was against it.

Then there are the federal tax cuts of 2001. Just days before the 2002 election, candidate Shaheen told the Associated Press, "I would have voted for the Bush tax cut had I been in the Senate." Today, when it's politically expedient to bash the president, she's done a total reverse and now Shaheen opposes the tax cuts. You'd have to say Shaheen was for the tax cut before she was against it.

Next is foreign policy. Back in 2002, just a year after 9/11 when a muscular American presence overseas was more popular than it is today, candidate Shaheen supported the Bush administration's aggressive approach to the war on terror. Just weeks before the election, she appeared on CNN to say, "We need to be prepared to stay [in Iraq] as long as it takes" and reiterated that "we need to consider a long-term commitment there." Shaheen's position today is the total opposite. You'd have to say Shaheen was for the war before she was against it.

I can't help but notice that Shaheen's position on Iraq is essentially the same as Senator Hillary Clinton's was, and just as carefully calculated to maintain her political viability. In the presidential primaries, the left wing of the Democratic Party was all over Clinton for her seeming lack of principle on this key issue – yet the same left wing gives Shaheen a pass. There's plenty of expedient hypocrisy in Democratic circles these days.

The Pledge, tax cuts, foreign policy – these are not minor issues. Shaheen is anti-tax when that position is expedient, pro-tax when it's less politically risky. She was for military intervention overseas right up until that position started losing popularity. Shaheen's pattern of behavior begs the question: How can voters be confident the position Shaheen claims to have today will be the position she holds tomorrow? Does Shaheen really believe in anything other than doing and saying whatever it takes to win an election?

Observing Shaheen's career, it's clear she is a gifted, national-class campaign tactician and strategist. Shaheen learned the craft helping liberals Jimmy Carter, Gary Hart, Paul McEachern and others seek office before winning six elections in a row as a candidate herself until John Sununu stopped her. In between her campaigns for Senate, Shaheen chaired Kerry's presidential campaign and taught politics at Harvard. Shaheen's career has been politics for the sake of politics.

But Shaheen's mediocre record in office reminds me of the golden retriever that likes to chase cars. Shaheen knows how to run and loves the pursuit of office, but should she catch up with the car at a stop sign, she has no idea what to do with it.

Fergus Cullen is Chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. He can be reached at fergusnhgop.org.