TheUnknown285 proposes ( http://www.swingstateproject.c… ) that Carol Shea-Porter, NH 1, is a good investment and I want to second that. Her campaign is going to be real hand-to-hand combat – the R’s and their 527s see her as vulnerable and have targeted her with ads that have been running for months already – but she is well armed.
First, she just tells the truth and people can see that. She inspires confidence by refusing to cop to the easy political summary of an issue. She sees it as her job to educate, unconstrained by conventional wisdom. She seems to find the underlying realities of an issue and communicate that in a way that people understand. An example is her explanation of her FISA vote in today’s Portsmouth (NH) Herald: http://www.seacoastonline.com/… .
We’ll see in November how well she’s bringing the whole district along, but anecdotal signs are good. Regular folks who don’t necessarily follow politics all that closely say, “Oh, yeah, I’m going to vote for her. She’s really working hard down there.” Or “I’m proud to have her representing me.” What they really end up saying is that, whether or not they agree on everything, they can see how serious and honest she is and they buy into that. All this is independent of their party affiliation.
Second, she’s a professional legislator and politician, in the best sense of the word. She actually attends her committee hearings, works her issues, shephards legislation through the process. Then, in Unity, NH last Friday, she reached rhythmic rhetorical heights before 4,000 people and a wall of media, improvising and creating real excitement. A few hours later, she converted a room of 40 people by telling stories from the front lines of committee work.
Finally, although she won last time on a viral campaign and no budget, she looks to be fully committed to both on-the-ground organizing and serious fundraising in this campaign. Recently, she cold-called a business person who follows the issues in a middle-of-the-road sort of way but has never been politically active. After a half hour discussion of issues, he proposed hosting a house party that, two weeks later, raised serious money.
So there’s nothing inevitable about the outcome of this race. National Republicans are going to invest in winning back this seat. We need to do the same. Carol’s had good fundraising results so far, but will need major support from every direction before it’s over.