Local Democrats sizing up congressional candidates

Belknap County Democrats got a good look at three of the four people hoping to carry the party's standard against Rep. Jeb Bradley this fall when they packed the Steele Hill Resort's dining room for a fundraising event late last week. It remains to be seen if local voters will side with the state and national party establishment — which has anointed Manchester State Rep. Jim Craig as the chosen one — or take up the cause of one of the two outsiders, Carol Shea-Porter of Rochester or Gary Dodds of Rye.

Bradley, a Wolfeboro Republican, has represented the state's first district in Congress for two terms. He faces only nominal opposition in the Sept. 12 primary election.

Shea-Porter and Dodds both took the progressive (liberal) high ground during the short speeches each made Thursday night, calling for an immediate end to America's involvement in Iraq and a universal health care program — a so-called "single payer" system — administered by the federal government.

Craig, on the other hand, spent a good deal of his alloted time trumpeting his party's superior ability to govern — because, he said, it understands and appreciates people — and predicting great Democratic victories in November. "This is our year," he said. "We want our country back."

The remarks of all three candidates were greeted with enthusiasm but Shea-Porter's simple, straight-forward style seemed to charm the audience even more than her rivals.

It also remains to be seen if Democratic voters are hearing Dodds message over the unwanted publicity he received after an April 5 car crash on the Spaulding Turnpike. Dodds car was found 27 hours before he turned up in nearby woods and State Police have said parts of his story of what happened don't line up with the results their subsequent investigation into the accident.

There is a fourth Democratic candidate in the race — Londonderry engineer Dave Jarvis — but he has apparently not attempted to mount any kind of a serious campaign.

Bradley, of course, was not a very popular guy on this night at Steele Hill.

Craig might have gotten off the evening's best one-liner when he cracked, "We sent Jeb Bradley to Washington and we got Jeb Bush back." He called record high gas prices a prescription for pain and noted that the incumbent — through his stock portfolio — was one of the few people to benefit from the situation.

Dodds did not spend a lot of time talking about Bradley, but did note the Republican's position of the House Budget Committee. "He hasn't balanced a budget yet," Dodds said in reference to the the deficits the Bush administration and GOP Congressional leaders have sanctioned.

Shea-Porter knows Bradley well. She told Democrats she has followed him around the district over the past four years, attending all of the 88 informal "town meetings" he has conducted. At one such event, she said, she looked him right in the eye and told him he had not been listening to a word people had been saying to him. "Jeb has forgotten (the lower) 99-percent of us," she said.

The former nursing home administrator and politics and history teacher, however, did not engage in any level of general Republican bashing. Confessing that she grew up in a large, extended family where she was the only Democrat, she called for a spirit of bipartisan cooperation by pointing out that she had learned young "how to dance with Republicans." "We don't need to shame them," she cautioned. "They know they have been hijacked."

Shea-Porter was the only one of the three candidates to take a shot at one of her primary opponents, albeit not by name. She made a not-so-subtle reference to Craig when she noted she was happy to have Dodds join her in calling for an end to U.S. involvement in Iraq. "We have got to get out," she said. "We are babysitting a civil war."

Craig mentioned Iraq only very briefly, stating "we need a plan to get us out".

Dodds is the former publisher of a seacoast home and garden magazine and the owner of a home restoration and real estate business. In declaring that American could not afford either the high moral or high financial cost of the war effort, he said it was "time to bring them (the troops) home". He said the U.S. has already spent $347-billion in Iraq and 2,600 American men and women have paid with their lives.

In calling for a single-payer health care system, Dodds said it was "the way" to make sure quality health care was available for all.

Shea-Porter spent more time on health care, telling Democrats this was "not time to wimp out on the subject". In advocating Medicare coverage for everyone, she brushed aside criticism that a single-payer system would not be affordable. "We're already paying for it," she said. "And what have we gotten for our money?"

Craig, who has served in the NH House for four terms and as minority leader over the past two years, has been endorsed by the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — which declared the race against Bradley was too important to wait until after the Sept. 12 primary to pick a candidate to back. As of last week, the attorney had raised far more money — $261,913 than any of his primary opponents, with a lot of it coming from political action committees.

Dodds' campaign has raised $115,474, but all but $11,309 of that sum was his own money.

Shea-Porter has raised $28,805 and Jarvis has not reported any contributions

Meanwhile, enjoying the clout of incumbency, Bradley has banked $677,307 to spend on his re-election campaign.

Eaton stonemason Michael Callis will also be on the Republican primary ballot but he, like Jarvis, is not spending any money.

Craig told Belknap County Democrats that the country needs to balance its budget and he pointed to a repeal of the Bush income tax cuts as a way to do it. "We need to take all our country forward," he said, "not just the top 1-percent." He also called for an end to the "culture of corruption" in Washington.

Dodds told the gathering he believes politics is all about community, about "what we can do for one another". He called for an emphasis on the development of alternative energy sources, saying the effort would "be our job creator".

"Cars get 65 miles-per gallon in Europe," Dodds said, "but not here because the oil industry has a stranglehold on Congress.

Shea-Porter also stressed the need for a new national energy policy, calling for an all-out mission to make the county energy self-sufficient within a decade.

New Hampshire's first congressional district includes Laconia and all of the townships in Belknap County, save Sanbornton and Tilton.