E-Mail This Article to a Friend Who’s your granny? (continued)

As her self-deprecatory tone suggests, Haddock is not a boastful woman. Because her modesty comes across as genuine, it is endearing, and it could serve her well if she embraces the role of anti-Bush spokesperson this fall. Too many iconic figures on the left — and since her legendary trek, that is what she has become — argue with a grim earnestness that rallies the faithful but can be off-putting to undecided voters. In contrast, Haddock has a lighter touch, and an appealing willingness to consider alternate points of view.

Sometimes, though, she takes this willingness too far. While Haddock napped, I discussed her candidacy with former New Hampshire senator Warren Rudman, a Republican known for his bipartisan approach. He was not impressed. "People in New Hampshire aren’t going to look at Doris Haddock as someone who has the kind of background, either legislatively or as an executive, to hold a Senate seat," Rudman said. "The only thing this lady is known for is walking around the country on behalf of campaign-finance reform. I commend her for that, but it’s not enough to be a US Senator."

When I told Haddock of Rudman’s comments, she was surprisingly concordant. Instead of assuming her anti-special-interest stance and delivering a quick rebuttal — "Qualifications mean squat if you’ve sold your soul to corporate donors!" — Haddock accepted Rudman’s premise. "I don’t blame him in the least!" she said. "I think a lot of people will think that. A lot of people would say, ‘Why would we put in a woman when we have a substantial man who has good standing in several committees?’" (Gregg chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and sits on the Appropriations and Budget Committees.) Haddock then spent several minutes detailing her business background — noting, for example, that in two decades working at Manchester’s Bee Bee Shoe Company, she had managed employees, designed footwear, and priced the company line. Like many older persons, Haddock seemed to have difficulty escaping the pull of the past and resurfacing in the present as she spoke. But most older persons are not waging first-time Senate campaigns.

IT’S GOING TOO far to suggest that missteps like this may seriously harm Haddock, for the simple reason that — even if she were perpetually on point and aggressive — her chances of ousting Gregg are minuscule. In a recent University of New Hampshire poll, Gregg enjoyed a 65 percent to 20 percent lead over Haddock; while 19 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of her, 68 percent said they didn’t know enough about her to pass judgment. Even Haddock’s confidant, Dennis Burke — who says the Haddock campaign will paint Gregg as a dependable ally of George W. Bush — admits the Republican senator will be difficult to demonize. "He’s not a knee-jerk neocon," Burke says of Gregg. (Gregg himself did not respond to a request for comment.)

The implications of Haddock’s run go beyond her particular race, however. In 2000, Bush won New Hampshire by approximately 7000 votes; had Al Gore captured the state’s four electoral votes, he would be president today. Currently, Bush and Kerry are running close in New Hampshire. Some observers think that, when the New Hampshire Democratic Party traded Burke for Haddock, Kerry’s chances in New Hampshire may have taken a slight but significant hit. "Burt Cohen, at the time he left the campaign, had about 20 staffers signing up voters, canvassing neighborhoods, getting out a Democratic message that reinforced John Kerry’s vision," says NHPolitics.com’s Pindell. "Now you have a campaign run out of one house in a small southwestern town of New Hampshire with a few volunteers and now, finally, some paid staff.... The only argument I’ve heard that Haddock can help Kerry is that she’ll siphon off Ralph Nader supporters to vote [for Kerry]. The problem is, she’s done absolutely nothing to bring these people into the Democratic Party."

Factor in Haddock’s tepid feelings about Kerry, and the situation becomes even more worrisome for Democrats. Haddock was an enthusiastic supporter of Dennis Kucinich — whom she describes as the "wave of the future" — and Kucinich-campaign veterans have filled key positions on her staff. She is less excited by Kerry. "I think Kerry is going to be a good president," Haddock says of the Democratic nominee. "He understands the man on the street, I believe, and so I think that he will be a good interim." A glowing endorsement it is not.

Yet Joe Trippi rejects the idea that Haddock’s candidacy could hurt Kerry. "The great unifying force in the Democratic Party is George Bush," Trippi says. "From the Democratic Leadership Council to the Dean folks, we’re all united. I know Doris supports Kerry." And, for good measure, Trippi insists Haddock has a fighting chance this fall. "The only way Gregg can be beat is by somebody that’s different," he says. "Somebody who isn’t looking over her shoulder worrying about being re-elected, who isn’t going to look at every single vote in the Senate and how to reward her supporters, but is going to do what every senator should do, which is go there and change a busted and corrupted system. Granny D walked the entire country trying to do that. There’s no other motive for her than to go and effect change. She’s as real a shot as anybody’s going to get at sending somebody to Washington who’ll be dedicated to changing things."

Haddock herself doesn’t seem so sure. Sitting in her supporter’s back yard, I asked Haddock to assess her chances against Gregg. "I’m going to beat him. I’m going to beat him!" she replied. Then a hint of doubt crept in: "I’m going to work to beat him; I may not do it, but I certainly expect that I have a possibility of it, or I wouldn’t be wasting my time." Then, still more doubt: "Although I guess maybe that’s not entirely true, because I do have this chance to talk about public funding [of elections]. And I want to educate the people in New Hampshire about what it means and what it would be like."

Considering her advanced age and the novelty of what she’s experiencing, it’s understandable that Haddock would be unsure what to make of her own campaign. But time is short. For the sake of the nation’s Democrats, now would be a good time for Haddock and her inner circle to decide what, exactly, the character of her candidacy is going to be.

Adam Reilly can be reached at areilly[a]phx.com