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DUBLIN, N.H. - "I am not a nice old lady," Doris "Granny D" Haddock says, wheezing slightly as she walks up a road near her home. The 94-year-old relishes adventure and near-impossible challenges - once walking across the country despite emphysema brought on by a half-century of smoking.
Now Haddock has taken on another Herculean task: She is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Judd Gregg, one of New Hampshire's most popular politicians.
She embarked Thursday on a 200-mile walk through New Hampshire to promote her candidacy, sent off by a marching band and about 100 well-wishers. Haddock plans to walk 5 miles each morning and campaign by car the rest of the day.
"If you want something done right today, you have to run for Congress yourself - or at least send your grandmother," said Haddock, who has 16 great-grandchildren.
The Democrat insists she is no sacrificial lamb against the 57-year-old Gregg, a former governor whose campaign has about $2-million in the bank to Haddock's $50,000.
She entered the race at the last minute after the expected Democratic nominee dropped out, leaving Gregg essentially unopposed in November in his bid for a third term. (Gregg has token opposition in the Sept. 14 GOP primary, while Haddock has none.)
Haddock vehemently opposes the war in Iraq, and calls Gregg "an enabler of George Bush's neocon scourge." The daughter of a warehouse worker, she decries the flight of good jobs overseas that is making us "a nation of Wal-Mart greeters."
"I am the angry grandmother come off my porch to ask young Judd what in the world he is thinking when he supports Bush's military misadventures, supports the transfer of billions of our tax dollars to billionaires and supports the shipping of our jobs overseas," Haddock said in announcing her candidacy this summer.
Gregg has not responded to Haddock's attacks. "I'm going to run on my issues," Gregg has said. "I don't spend a lot of time trying to juxtapose myself with my other opponents."