GrannyD for Senate

Doris "GrannyD" Haddock is certainly one of the more unusual Senate candidates. And isn't it about time we had some unusual candidates?

She's 94 and joined the race after the Democratic opponent of Judd Gregg dropped out. A July poll gave her 20% to Gregg's 65%, meaning that Alan Keyes has a better chance of becoming a Senator than she does.

But read what she has to say. It began with this one in Pecos, which is more about the power of art than politics. And this sermon (literally) is about the faith of doing. Here she argues for a return to the old ideals of journalism and for limning a positive vision of how things can be. Here she tries to understand neo-Conservatives and outlines a strategy for winning elections. She says, among other things:

There are many among us who will not support a candidate unless that candidate is perfect on every issue. Politics is about winning. For us, it is about winning to save lives and raise people up from poverty and illness and loneliness and injustice. Those posturing on the left sometimes forget that. Don't tell me that you can't support a particular candidate because of this or that. This isn't about you and your precious political standards. It is about saving nature and our people. We are coming out to win, so please don't stand in our way. When we have reasonable people in power, let us start our arguments again, for we can not move forward unless we have a decent government underneath us and a Bill of Rights to let us speak freely.

To the freshman at Franklin-Pierce she said:

What an amazing world! The young woman college student in Iran, wearing her Levis under her burka, is your sister and your friend. The farmer in Central America who is trying to get a fair price for his coffee beans so that he can build a better house for his children is your uncle and a man you deeply respect. The Navajo woman who is fighting for the right to stay on land that has been her family's for generations is your grandmother, and she needs your help.

It is not too much. It is all quite beautiful. Cast your heart into this world right now, for your eyes and your heart are open and your senses of justice and fairness and your sense of the right thing to do by the planet that sustains us are fully matured and at their perfect moment to give hope and progress to the world. Don't save yourselves for later...

Haddock for Senate.