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New Hampshire
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.
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 come with her position - she has a staff of 22 split among Washington and district offices in Dover and Manchester - Shea-Porter insists she remains the same person who won her seat as a champion of average citizens.
"I surround myself with people who will talk to me like they did before I was elected," said Shea-Porter, who travels home to New Hampshire nearly every weekend. "I don't think I've changed like that at all. I stand in line like everybody else. I grab my own luggage."
Coming home to Rochester helps her stay connected. "I walk through my community every single weekend, and I look and I listen. I understand the pressure they are under," she said of average residents. "I understand how difficult it is for them now with the high cost of oil and the high cost of food. I know that people are working two jobs. . . . It's a wonderful community and a microcosm of what's happening in America."
Martha Fuller Clark, a Portsmouth Democrat who is New Hampshire Senate majority whip, said Shea-Porter has remained true to her commitment to represent average residents. She said that shows "not only in the stances she's taken but also in her ability to stay connected to voters" through forums and other district events.
Clark, who lost bids for the congressional seat in 2000 and 2002, believes Shea-Porter is settling in well to her new role.
"She has earned the respect from her fellow members in Washington. She's extremely articulate and she's very focused in what she has to say," she said.
The Democratic majority in Congress has been sharply criticized for failing to deliver on its agenda. But Shea-Porter believes much has been accomplished, and is especially pleased with the progress made on several issues on which she had campaigned.
Included in the accomplishments, she said, was the adoption of the new energy bill increasing mileage standards; the first increase in the minimum wage in a decade; expanded funding for college aid, veterans benefits, and home heating assistance; and a pay increase for members of the armed forces.
Another of her highlights was the adoption of a bill guaranteeing that those who leave the military because of injuries sustained in the line of duty do not have to repay part of their enlistment bonuses. Shea-Porter, who managed floor debate on the bill, has made the health needs of veterans and troops a priority, in part based on her experience as a former military spouse.
"I understand we may differ on policy," she said of members of Congress, "but we have an obligation to honor our commitments to these troops."
Perhaps her greatest satisfaction, Shea-Porter said, has been "working with my constituents and being able to help them," including efforts to track down medals for veterans who earned but never received them. "I'm a social worker at heart, so having the power to make a positive change for somebody is terrific," she said.
Shea-Porter said the first year also has brought disappointments, the most prominent being the inability of Congress to end the Iraq war. Shea-Porter, who visited Iraq as part of a congressional delegation last March, opposed the war during the campaign and has not altered that stance.
"I think it's a tragedy," she said. "Iraq is a sinking hole. . . . There is a reason we don't have money to fix our bridges and insure our children and do the other things that need to be done in this country. It's because Iraq is driving us into debt."
Also disappointing was the bill to expand health insurance for children, which was adopted in a less comprehensive form than she would have liked.
For the coming year, Shea-Porter said, her priorities will include pushing for a greater expansion of health insurance for children, helping address the mortgage crisis, and continuing to seek an end to the war.
Shea-Porter is backing Barack Obama's presidential bid in the Democratic primary, scheduled for Jan. 8 in her home state, where recent polls show the Illinois senator has taken a narrow lead. "Obama is bringing out the same people and giving the same people hope that I brought out in my district, and that's people who don't necessarily think it matters if they vote or not," she said. "They feel that nobody is listening to them."
Shea-Porter plans to run for reelection on a theme similar to the one she had in 2006. "I'm a populist and proud to be one," she said. "So I try to speak up for what I always call 'the bottom 99 percent.' " What I'm trying to do in Washington is to make sure everyone has a seat at the table."
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
