Shea Porter Rises in Poll with Volunteer Help

If elections were won with enthusiastic volunteers, Carol Shea Porter would be the next Representative from the 1st District.

At a recent debate in Conway, her supporters easily outnumbered Represenative Bradley's people.

And as traffic passed by them, the dozens of Shea Porter troops were quite vocal.

SX UP: Whooping

One of the woman on the street for Shea Porter was Kelly DeFeo, a democrat from Center Conway.

She's running for State Representative in her piece of Carroll county.

Defeo came out to hold signs for Shea Porter because she has two teenagers, and she likes what Shea Porter says about Iraq.

i do. i agree that we need to get the heck out of there, we need to get a diplomatic solution, start looking at the problems over there and dealing with the problems and not just staying the course.....

For Shea Porter's volunteers, the war was just one of many issues they said Bradley has fumbled.

They don't like his support of tax cuts for the wealthy.

And they do like Shea Porter's plan for universal health care.

Independent Linda Jenkins of Eaton Centre said she had decided to demonstrate for the Democrat because she had been disappointed by Congressman Bradley and his party.

i mean republicans have historically talked about how they're for small government and fiscal restraint and under these Republican administrations, the deficit has just been blown out of sight.

The Bradley forces were much smaller in number, but they got energized when the Congressman drove up.

SX UP: arrival SX UP: chanting

18 year old Wolfboro resident Elizabeth Brodeur came to show Bradley she supports his position on the war in Iraq.

i don't like it. i don't like the idea. i have a lot of people i know in the military and i don't like the idea of them going over there and being on the front line but I think if we get out, its going to hurt us more, if we pull straight out.....

Other supporters came because they thought Bradley had done an excellent job during his two terms in Congress.

But those who volunteered to come out for the Congressman were a fraction of the numbers of Shea-Porter's backers.

And the candidate herself gives a lot of credit for her surging popularity to her army of volunteers.

And she says she has no idea how big her army is.

i really don't know. hundreds. hundreds and hundreds. oh, about 3 weeks ago i ran into somebody at an event and the person introduced herself introduced herself as a coordinator in some town and you know i'm very humbled by that. i didn't know who she was, but i know that they're working very hard......

If the recent UNH poll shows any weak spots in Shea Porter's surge, it's in areas of the state where Democrats typically don't do very well.

Those include the vote rich part of the district along the Massachusetts border.

But they also include Carroll County, where the Conway debate was held.

Despite the showing of strength by Democrats at the debate, the Secretary of State's office says Republicans and Independents outnumber Demcrats in that county by a wide margin.

While that's true, voter dissatisfaction over US policy in Iraq, the economy, and health care could be great enough to get Shea Porter peaking at just the right time.

And if that poll is right, both candidates can expect a long day on Tuesday.

For NHPR news, I'm DD