Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

by Matt Stoller, Sat May 26, 2007 at 08:21:18 AM EDT

I know little about New Hampshire Democratic Senate candidate Katrina Swett, but this back-and-forth between Swett and an activist blogger is really obnoxious.

I have looked through her FEC Report, I wrote a post about it here. I talked a little about some of the things I found out, how most of the money came from large out of state donors, and if she thought it was ok for those out of state donors to buy her the Democratic nomination. My follow up question was asking her what she would do with the money she raised that's marked for the general election, about 30% of it, if she lost the nomination.
Swett said she makes no apologies for her fundraising; whoever takes on John Sununu is going to need all the help they can get. She also said that if she lost the Democratic Nomination, she'd be on the ground `the next day' campaigning for the winner. Fair enough.
She also told me "Well, if you spend that much time looking through my FEC Report, you need a more interesting life. I have a few suggestions for you. . ."
Is this how she'll handle tough questions from Democratic Activists? Tell them to get a more interesting life and stop following the campaign so closely?
Also, as an overall criticism, Katrina Swett is a bit long winded. I found it difficult to follow what she was saying at times, and even more difficult to find a good quote in the middle of her responses. I think she's aware of this, because she made a joke about her son reminding her to stay brief in her remarks.
So, I don't know. Katrina Swett speaks passionately about the issues she cares about, and is obviously committed to defeating John Sununu. I talked to her after, and she was really very nice. I wasn't inspired by her safe Democratic positions, but they were light-years ahead of John Sununu.

A little googling shines a bit more light on her career. Swett is a somewhat milquetoast candidate who backed Lieberman's independent bid in Connecticut, though her positions are fairly liberal. Her husband was a two-term Congressman who has endorsed Clinton, and she seems to be the establishment choice in the Democratic primary to face Sununu (her opponent is Steve Marchand). She actually managed her husband's first campaign, so she has a deep and working knowledge of politics. Surprisingly, though, she lost to Charlie Bass in 2002 despite dramatically outspending him. Politics is in her family; her father is Congressman Tom Lantos, a noted Iran hawk (and holocaust survivor).

All in all, Swett seems like a standard 1990s Democrat, a bit contemptuous of activists and into the whole loads of cash thing. I could be wrong. But I do want to note that treating progressive activists who want to blog about public politics and policy badly is a good way of getting mentioned on MyDD.

Tags: Katrina Swett, Steve Marchand (all tags)

Comments

21 Comments

Sort by

permalink

Geesh

I wonder if she is a real netroots type?

Answer: It doesn't sound or look like it.

by dk2 2007-05-26 08:27AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Geesh

I keep asking this question and never getting an answer. Why does the Republiscum almost always(we'll see about Rudy) pander to their base, yet the Dems, like Swett, treat their base like trash?

by Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle 2007-05-26 10:02AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Geesh

The answer to you question?

Simple really....

You, I assume you are a netizen like myself, are not the 'Democrat' Party's base.

Big, fat, bloated cash donors are. Yes, the same folks, the very same, who give to the ReThugs are the ones giving to the 'Democrat' Party.

So there is no reason to listen to us.

This is what we have to change.

by Pericles 2007-05-26 12:21PM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

But who are we to bring up out of state funding? Ned Lamont? Tester? Webb?

by padcrasher 2007-05-26 08:33AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

Webb raised half his money in-state, Lamont 48% (compared with 20% for Lieberman, and, no, this doesn't include his self-financing), Tester about a third, again more than his rival.

This is really extreme, actually.

by Adam B 2007-05-26 09:04AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

by domma 2007-05-26 09:15AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

When, though? It's very early in a Senate primary - are those in-state percentages for Webb, Lamont and Tester from the final campaign tally, or from 1Q 2005?

by domma 2007-05-26 09:19AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

Those are the final figures. Because Senate candidates don't have to file with the FEC electronically, for Tester you'd have to go page-by-page through this document to figure it out, etc. It certainly seems to have a lot of in-state contributions.

by Adam B 2007-05-26 09:23AM | 0 recs

permalink

Follow the link

It wasn't just a lot of out of state fundraising... Ms. Swett has raised 94% of her money so far from out of state donors. It was the same story with her 2002 House race. And it got brought up by Charlie Bass (her republican opponent) in the Debates.

Here is where I write about it.

by nhcollegedem 2007-05-26 10:57AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

I hope she's nothing's less than STEAMROLLED in the primary.

by astronautagogo 2007-05-26 10:00AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

She wouldn't have answered a newspaper reporter this way, which means she isn't just clueless about the role of the internets in contemporary politics, but maybe she's also not very good at answering questions. It's not as if this type of question doesn't come up in campaigns.

by BlueinColorado 2007-05-26 10:00AM | 0 recs

permalink

She didn't know

I wrote the Blue Hampshire post in Question.

Katrina Swett didn't know that I was a blogger when I asked the question. I think she was just caught off guard that anyone would have that much information about her FEC filings given that no NH Media had covered it in detail yet. Except, of course, for Blue Hampshire.

by nhcollegedem 2007-05-26 10:49AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist

She's probably a neocon on middle east policy melded to somewhat liberal policy positions domestically. well, that combination of policies is retread. She's really behind the times. Pathetically, i might add.

I really don't like her and, since I live in Boston, it's not far for me to be able to help out the Marchand campaign.

by jgarcia 2007-05-26 10:09AM | 0 recs

permalink

Here's another interesting

Katrina Swett post from Blue Hampshire:

Swett to Purchase Senate Nomination "If Necessary"

Make no mistake: I'm focused like a laser on beating Sununu, so whoever the nominee is will be getting my full support.

But right now, I'm real excited by Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand (here's his statement against the Iraq funding bill), who has made a real effort to connect with the NH netroots.

by Dean Barker 2007-05-26 10:23AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

Swett's connections, Lantos and Lieberman, are pure AIPAC. She'll almost certainly be in favor of the most Likudnik policies in the Middle East. If New Hampshire wants that, she's their lady. If they want a chance of policy change and to reduce the likelihood of endless war in the Middle East, they'll get someone else.

by janinsanfran 2007-05-26 10:40AM | 0 recs

permalink

Endorsing Lieberman as an independent

Endorsing Joe Lieberman as an independent gives anyone who wants to run against her as a Democrat my support. You can't build the party by undermining the party. Is Swett going to do joint events with Tom Allen in neighboring Maine or join her pal Lieberman in endorsing Susan Collins?

Katrina Swett's husband was Richard was a two-term Congressman who lost to Charlie Bass himself in 1994. Richard Swett then proceeded to lose to Sen. Robert Smith in 1996. Followed by Katrina Swett losing to Charlie Bass by 17 points in 2002. Let's not extend the losing streak from 3 to 4 races.

I think NH Democrats could use some new faces.

Like Mayor Steve Marchand.

by joejoejoe 2007-05-26 11:32AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

Question: isn't Sununu relatively "good" (at least for a Republican) on Israel and other Middle East issue? At least, that's been my impression. From what's been commented, might her views be only marginally better at best? We don't need more Liebercrats betraying us in the Senate.

Which isn't to say we shouldn't work hard for Swett if she gets the nomination. But if we want to make the most of the opportunity Sununu's precarious position offers us, we should try and get someone else as his challenger. And that means starting early and hard in pulling for someone else in the primary.

Any knowledgeable takes on Marchand?

by Zephyrus 2007-05-26 01:32PM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

I encourage you to check out our Steve Marchand tag, as well as our John Sununu tag for lots of content on issues.

by Dean Barker 2007-05-27 05:33AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

I lived in the Bay Area for 28 years, so I am very wary of Tom Lantos' daughter. Holocaust survivor Lantos is still fighting the Cold War. He supports human rights, but mostly when leftist governments break them. If Swett has similar politics, then she would not be progressive on foreign policy issues.

Steve Marchand seems like a much better candidate. However, from Steve Marchand's website, I see that he is a regional director of the Concord Coalition. On their website they say they want to educate the public about "the long-term challenges facing America's unsustainable entitlement programs". Is this code for "cut Medicare, Social Security, and other social programs"? I was under the impression that the Concord Coalition is very conservative and sees the cost of social programs as the main problem facing our country. I hope that Marchand is more enlightened than that.

by RandomNonviolence 2007-05-27 07:12AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

The Concord Coalition was co-founded in part by Paul Tsongas and Warren Rudman, both of whom, according to Marchand himself, were political role models.

I can't speak to the aims of the Coalition, but I can tell you that Steve was raised in a hard-working blue-collar family. Here's how his upbringing shaped his views on health care:

Mayor Marchand said that neither of his parents had had the economic resources to allow them to earn a high school diploma, but that they worked hard and played by the rules to secure the benefits of the American dream. Unfortunately, he said, his mother suffered a heart attack when she was only 39 years old. Since his father was a self-employed carpenter, they were not covered by health insurance and were forced to declare bankruptcy to deal with $80,000 in unpaid medical bills. This turn of events severely constrained their future choices, and his father had to give up working as an independent contractor to work in the maintenance department at St. Anselm College in Manchester, which provides health insurance. His parents and only sibling, Joanne, now live in Goffstown. His parents' searing experience, he said, gave him a first-hand look at the reasons why solving the nation's healthcare financing crisis is so important.

It should also be noted that Steve recently stood solidly with union workers concerning a recent Verizon sell-off that will negatively impact them.

Swett's stands on those issues are less clear to me, and Jeanne Shaheen (undecided on running), while amassing a fantastic record as NH governor, supported Bush's tax cuts when she campaigned in 2002 against Sununu for the Senate.

by Dean Barker 2007-05-27 11:29AM | 0 recs

permalink

Re: Katrina Swett to Activist Blogger: Get a Life

The fact that she supported Lieberman is all I need to hear about her.

by zippetydoodah 2007-05-27 02:34AM | 0 recs