[KootenayFlamesFan]

I certainly wouldn't call him a role model, but to each their own, I guess?

New Hampshire GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte said during a debate on Monday that she would "absolutely" point to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as a role model for a child.

The first-term senator was asked by a moderator during the NECN debate: "Would you tell them to be like Donald Trump? Would you point to him as a role model?"

"I think that certainly there are many role models that we have, and I believe he can serve as president and so, absolutely. I would do that," she said at the New England College hosted debate in Henniker, New Hampshire.

During Monday's debate, someone off-screen asked Ayotte: "If you think he can serve as president, why won't you endorse him?"

"Because I've had some disagreements with him," she said. "And I've been quite clear about those disagreements. And this is an area where Gov. Hassan has been lockstep with Secretary Clinton. I haven't heard major disagreements that she's had with Secretary Clinton so who's going to step up for the people of New Hampshire?"

When Trump was asked about Ayotte in an August Washington Post interview, he criticized her lack of support and implied she was weak.

"You have a Kelly Ayotte, who doesn't want to talk about Trump, but I'm beating her in the polls by a lot. You tell me. Are these people that should be representing us?" he said. "We need loyal people in this country. We need fighters in this country. We don't need weak people. We have enough of them."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/03/politi...ate/index.html