We started the day by going to Londonderry for the Old Homes Day parade.  Parades are really fun for us because so many people show up to walk with us-volunteers, supporters, staff, family…there is a lot of high energy, and it makes the mile walk go by really fast!

So after the parade, we had a canvass kick-off event and three festivals! The Greek, the Lebanese and the Latino festivals were all on Saturday in Manchester, and we hit them all!

When I say we, I mean my mom, dad and me (along with staff–they play a key role in keeping me sane when I am with my parents 24/7).  We started at the Greek festival….delicious.  There was so much good food!  We stayed for about 2 hours, talking with people and eating!  It was a really fun community event.  Several people asked me if I was Greek–I felt pretty good about that!

Then we headed for the Lebanese festival…my Dad and I, both being Lebanese, were really excited for that!  On our way there it started to rain and thunder. It was coming down pretty hard, but we decided it would stop eventually so we waited it out for about a half hour and then went.  Of course, we ate more food!  I haven’t decided if the campaign is a good diet or a bad diet. There are some days when we get fed like 8 times and other days when we really only get to eat once or twice Either way, the food is always really good so I eat just about as much as I can.  We will see in November what I weigh in at and go from there, I guess.

Last but not least, the Latino fest.  There was a live band and hundreds of people outside dancing and walking around all of the tents…just a nice social afternoon.  My mom stopped to talk to a young woman holding a baby, and they started talking about the little baby and my mom was playing with her for a few minutes. When we walked away, I was dragging behind a little, and I heard the woman say to her friends, “You guys, you guys! Oh my God! Jeanne Shaheen just touched my baby!!”  It is so funny for me to hear things like that because I don’t really think of her that way.  It is nice to see young people show excitement and appreciation for candidates.

It was a long day, a fun day, but really long.  I slept the whole drive home, got in bed at around 7pm and didn’t get out until the next morning…those are the best sleeps!

After another day on the campaign trail, Tuesday night my family headed to Concord for a Bonnie Raitt concert!  It was actually a fundraiser for my mom!  About 3 months ago, Bonnie Raitt came to the campaign and offered to donate her time for a fundraiser and how can you say no to that offer?  Not only was she a gracious, amazing and entertaining performer, but it was the biggest fundraising event we have had for the campaign!! Now, that is my kind of fundraiser!

It was a really fun night!  There were so many new faces, it really attracted a different group of people than we usually see on the trail.  There was a lot of  current staff there and staff from my mom’s other campaigns, and family friends which made it even better.

There was a reception after the show and Bonnie Raitt and my mom went to talk with some of the other people which was cool for a lot of the other guests.  I was exhausted by then.  It was after midnight and we had been working all day…not to mention the 4 and 1/2 inch heels I had on all day!  So, I only stayed at the reception for a little while and then I started on my hour-long drive home.  From what I hear everyone had a really good time!
Overall, a very successful event!

This Saturday, I went out and braved the campaign trail alone!  My mom had some other places to be so we divided up to cover more ground!  I started the morning in the coordinated campaign office in Manchester for a canvass kick-off.  We had some out-of-state volunteers come up yesterday to go out door-to-door canvassing so I wanted to stop by and thank them very much for coming!  Most of the people were from Mass but we had one from Canada, which is pretty neat!

After the canvass kick-off I headed to the Nashua Young Dems BBQ.  Delicious!  They had really good food (note to NH young dems…try to go to the BBQs).  I was there to represent my mom so I had to say a few words, which is always fun!  The pressure was definitly on because the other people speaking were Matt Kennedy (for the Obama campaign), Ray Buckely (as the Chairman), and Congressman Paul Hodes!  I’m not really sure I was all that qualified to be speaking with the pros, but it was really exciting!  There is so much energy at the young dem events from everyone so it makes them really fun to go to!  I highly recommend checking one out!

This morning my mother and I drove to the Attitash Hotel in Bartlett to stop by the NEA summer convention.  The NEA has endorsed my mom and she was there this morning to give a speech on education.  She was very well received and gave a fantastic speech!  We then drove to Berlin to talk about my mom’s new proposals to make home heating costs affordable for everyone and a downtown walk.  Vanessa (a young woman my age) is helping with the fund-raising and finance for the campaign and she rode home with us to do call time in the car…we laugh in the face of rest!

An interesting note…today I was driving my car (which of course has Shaheen for Senate bumper stickers on it) and to my knowledge, I was doing everything correctly.  Going the speed limit, paying attention, etc. etc.  All of a sudden I heard someone beeping at me, next thing I knew the car from behind me was next to me and the driver was making an obscene gesture.  It was a young man in a truck who then sped up to cut in front of me and what of course was staring at me from the back of his car??  A Sununu for Senate bumper sticker.  I just adore this story.  I am posting it to remind people to please be courteous to Sununu supporters.  Even though we clearly have opposing views, it is important to remember that we are representing more than just ourselves and we should always be polite to everyone.

This morning I left my house at 6 am for a 3 hour drive north to the Mt. Washington Hotel to pick up Mom.  My mom, her two sisters and my grandmother went there for the night for some female bonding.  I am not a morning person so the early morning drive was a rather difficult task.  I did, however, get to have a dance party by myself the whole way up.  I am sure everyone I passed thought I was a full tank of crazy to be dancing like a mad woman that early but I had to stay awake!

The drive north is really beautiful — so many trees, mountains, and rivers.  It was hard to pay attention to the road because I just wanted to look around.  The pictures are from my cell camera that I took on the drive.  The hotel itself is an old grand hotel that looks like something out of a fairy tale.  I picked my mom up at 9 am and we officially started our campaign day in the North Country.  We stopped at a gas station and talked about the problem of high gas prices at a diner in Littleton and a restaurant in Plymouth called 6 Burner Bistro (really good food).  Finally, we had a scheduling meeting and a house party in Gilford.  We got home close to 9…one of the longer trail days!

Oh yes, I almost forgot, we picked up a camera crew from PBS at the gas station in Littleton who are making a documentary on women in politics and they spent most of the day with us.  The documentary airs Sept. 19th.  Check it out!

Flickr Pic by Avelino Maestas

Saturday was my last day in Texas.  At 9am I went back to the Austin Convention Center to listen to Nancy Pelosi speak.  There was also a surprise guest speaker who just happened to be Al Gore!

He also gave a great speech on what he knows best: the environment.  Some of the things he had to say were really scary.  He talked about the Polar Ice Cap, which is the size of 47 of the 48 states in the continental US, that is melting at a rapid rate.  There is a 75 to 80% chance that it will be completely gone within the next 5 years.  We may be able to save some and regain the rest if we act now and act fast.   After his speech I went into the hallway where there were literally several people crying because they we so excited that he came to speak.
That was my last Texas event so I went back to my hotel room to pack, headed to the airport and finally at 11pm I got back to the Shire.

Friday was a long day.  By the time I got back to my hotel room at 1am my feet hurt so bad I thought I would collapse.  After going to the workshops I had several meetings, one with someone from 21st Century Democrats.  He told me that as far as political parents go that I got lucky with mine.  He is absolutely right.  My mom is an absolute doll, she is a phenomenal woman regardless of her political role.

The highlight of my night was the Huffington Post/GQ party.  Being interested in the entertainment industry and getting to go to that event was so exciting. The last stop of the night was the DailyKos Party which was also really fun.

Late Addition! Just found this pic on the Huffington Post page about the party:

Earlier this week someone on the campaign staff asked me if I would be interested in attending a political blogging convention in Austin, Texas.  I said yes, which is a good thing because he told me I was already registered here!  So on Thursday I came to Texas to meet with 2,000 people from all over the country who are online activists and organizers.  It is a four day convention with workshops all day and meetings all night.  My first night Howard Dean was the keynote speaker which was amazing!  He has so much energy and really gets people excited.

Today was my first full day and I went to a panel where the hosts were 15 year old high school students.  I was floored by their knowledge and passion about what is going on in America today.  They were brilliant, one young man said that he started a blog about politics when he was 12 years old.  When I was 12 I was trying to avoid politics as much as possible and these kids are wise beyond their years about the world.  I have been living politics for my entire life and they made me feel like an amateur.

I also went to a workshop about viral videos, we basically watched a bunch of viral videos on you tube which were incredibly clever and funny!!

I have been meeting so many interesting people with so many ideas and so much energy.  It is so nice to see so many people engaged and working so hard towards a common goal.

I am leaving tomorrow afternoon to head back to the Shire and tonight I am attending a candidates reception to represent my mom which will be very exciting! I will write more tomorrow about tonight’s events!

For those of you who have yet to hear about the ‘TEAM SHAHEEN’ effort, it’s time to look alive. It has only been up for one week and we have recruited 1,342 members! Its time to get on board, folks - who will join to get our membership up to 2000?  If there are things going on in the country right now that you don’t like, this is your chance to help organize in your community and make a change.

Click to join TEAM SHAHEEN!