NH DID IT SO CAN YOU!!!

Written by: Mayme Trumble on Dec 28, 2007 7:30 AM EST

Linked to groups: Rockingham/Strafford DFA

By John Laidler

Globe Correspondent / December 27, 2007 

She was a candidate who came out of nowhere, a political neophyte who tapped a grass-roots network to topple a sitting member of Congress.

'I'm a social worker at heart, so having the power to make a positive change for somebody is terrific.'

CAROL SHEA-PORTER

Now, a year into the job she earned through her 2006 defeat of Republican incumbent Jeb Bradley, US Representative Carol Shea-Porter is relishing her role advocating for New Hampshire's First Congressional District.

"I think the job fits me like a glove. I really, really enjoy it, every aspect of it," the Rochester Democrat said in an interview this week.

For the onetime social worker and college lecturer, the last 12 months have been a whirlwind of Capitol Hill hearings and votes, official trips to Iraq, China, and the Gulf Coast, and a myriad of events back home in her district, which encompasses the Seacoast, Manchester, the Mount Washington Valley, and the Lakes Region.

The first woman to represent New Hampshire on Capitol Hill, Shea-Porter, 55, admitted there are moments she wonders if positive changes can happen in Washington "until the White House changes. But it's a great job, and it's a great honor," she said.

Like many other freshmen in Congress, Shea-Porter will face a stiff challenge for reelection. Both Bradley and another Republican, John Stephen of Manchester, a former commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Services, are running in 2008.

Despite the power and resources that ...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/27/political_novice_thrives_in_new_role/ 

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