Democrat Paul Hodes is challenging Republican Charlie Bass for his seat in Congress.
Hodes is a newcomer to election politics in New Hampshire.
His opponent has spent ten years in Washington.
If Hodes wants to be the first Democrat to hold the second congressional district seat in a decade, he realizes he must generate some buzz around his campaign.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein reports.
Last week, Paul Hodes participated in a marathon.
Not the 26 mile kind.
The fundraising kind.
T.14
:15 Harriet? It's Paul Hodes calling....today is our marathon day. It is the last day of the first filing period. I said I am doing a marathon from 8 in the morning until midnight...tehy are going to see if my vocal chords last...so I was calling to follow up on our brief sidewalk conversation and to see if I could inspire you to send me a little money...that would be terrific.
In an effort to attract some attention Hodes announced his dialing for dollars marathon.
It worked.
A few media outlets picked up the story.
But more than getting coverage for the campy stunt, the campaign wanted to show it could bring in lots of money.
Political Science Professor Dante Scala says that approach has worked before.
2:59 it's a strategy that Howard Dean pursued all last year with considerable success. Looking back, a lot of Howard Dean's ability to generate buzz, was his incredible ability to raise money. And I think with a lack of any other way to make news, solid fundraising numbers may be a good way for a relative unknown like Hodes to get some news for himself, and to get people to take him seriously.
Earlier this year, the campaign set a $200,000 dollar goal for the second quarter.
The night before the end of the filing period, Hodes says he reached that goal.
And he reasoned, any additional funds collected would demonstrate the campaign's potency.
The trick for Hodes is to convince people that he could beat 5-term incumbent Charlie Bass.
It's something he spoke to frequently during his phone calls.
T.9
5:23 ... folks are very excited about the race, including folks down in Washington, the Hill, the periodical that all the Senators and insiders read has called this one of the only competitive races in the northeast. Yeah....I know that this race is on the national radar screen. We've had a lot of interest around the country and down in Washington, and b/c it's now heating up, and it's being looked at as a competitive race in a battleground state, I would not be surprised if there was a lot of attention by the Republican party paid.
Hodes may not be surprised, but the reporter who wrote that Hill article would be.
The Hill political editor Peter Savodnik says in the Northeast, most incumbents enjoy what he calls appallingly gapping majorities.
And while Savodnick points out Bass won his last election with only 57% of the vote, that doesn't mean he expects Hodes to win in November.
5:34 he is not entirely wrong to say well, there are some people that think this is a competitive race. I think there are certainly people in Washignton who have taken note this is a more competitive race than Bernie Sanders is going to encounter in neighboring Vt. That said, I don't think there is real excitement among Dems about knocking off Bass. When they talk about their top 5-10 races, they talk about places in Kentucky, Nebraska, maybe in Washington state, but NH, I don't think I have heard it come up in conversation ever. And Republicans don't sound all that worried about losing the seat.
Republican National Committeeman Tom Rath likes Bass's chances if only because the Congressman has won by larger margins each election.
But Rath says a key to Bass's success is that you can't cast him as some extreme conservative ideologue.
T.2
5:00 what the Democracts always try to do is try to show in some way that Bass is acting contrary to the best interests of the 2nd cd. And they say that not, b/c of what bass has done, but what national Republicans have done. And that works fine, the first half of the sentence...but Bass votes in an independent form. I think he has crafted a unique position.
Political Science Professor Dante Scala seems to agree, the cards are stacked up against the Democratic candidate.
That's why Hodes must turn to fundraising marathons and reference newspaper articles in obscure newspapers.
4:08 this is a real start up campaign. This is an unknown candidate. So he is in a position where he has to find any way to generate publicity. That old adage any publiclity is good publicity applies to him in this race, b/c in NH, looks like an awfully sleepy place for a campaign.
Hodes couldn't disagree more.
An essential part of his message relies on a close presidential race.
T. 5
1:33 ...This seat is in play. And we are finding people understand that NH could make the difference in this year's presidential election. And that means that the 2nd CD is the battleground, in the battleground state. So it's an important race nationally.
Professor Scala admits that a strong turnout for the Democratic presidential candidate could help Hodes.
But says, that alone may not be enough.
7:08 ... keep in mind as well, Bass has consistently run ahead of the rest of the ticket. When Dole lost the state by double digits ahead of Bob Dole. And he almost ran double digits ahead of Bush four years ago...so it's really going to take something of a tidal wave, a real strong national movement toward Democrats to make the second district a competitive race.
One measure of the hill that Hodes has to climb can be found in a couple of election statistics.
The last time Bass won in a presidential year, he got more than 152,000 votes.
This year, even if Hodes got 100% turnout from every Democratic voter and every undecleared voter who cast a Democratic ballot in the January primary, Hodes would still come up 14 thousand votes short.
But even with the statistics on his side for the general election, Charlie Bass must first defeat Mark Brady in the Republican primary.
For NHPR News, I'm DG.
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