DUBLIN — Campaign finance activist and 2004 New Hampshire Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Doris “Granny D” Haddock died shortly after 7 p.m. tonight, a family spokesperson tells NHPoliticalReport.com. She turned 100 years old in January.
She died at her son’s home in Dublin after battling a recent round of respiratory problems.
Beginning on Jan. 1, 1999 and at the age of 89 years old Granny D walked across the country in the cause of campaign finance reform. She had talked to both Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold four years earlier about the cause. This walk made her a national political rock star. The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill that passed in 2002 was largely a testament to her activism.
Movies were made, two books were written and she became a liberal icon in the state and nationally. In 2004 she endorsed Dennis Kucinich in the New Hampshire Primary, but it was in June of that year that she had one Last Hurrah.
During New Hampshire’s two-week filing period for elections in early June the only Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Judd Gregg found his campaign manager missing along with a bunch of campaign cash. That Democratic candidate, Burt Cohen, dropped his campaign suddenly and it left Democrats with a day to scramble to find another candidate to file. Minutes before the filing period ended a bright multi-colored bus came up South Main Street in Concord and out came Granny D. She held a press conference, signed papers to become a candidate and at 94-years-old became the nominee since she did not face competition. In order for her nickname “Granny D” to appear on the ballot she legally made it her middle name. Gregg defeated her 66 percent to 34 percent that year. A movie was made about her campaign called Run Granny Run.
But in terms of politics Granny D was much more than just a former Senate nominee and activist. She inspired many on the left and those who at an advanced age wanted to be more involved in politics.
Doris Haddock was born in Laconia on Jan. 24, 1910. She attended college in Boston and then married James Haddock. She raised two children during the Great Depression and worked at a shoe factory for 30 years.
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