Two weeks ago, I posted a diary on DailyKos, MyDD, Open Left, and the Swing State Project announcing the creation of the ActBlue page Protecting Our Asses.  The goals of this page are as follows:

I've already written in one comment that I'm very disenchanted right now.  Somehow, we're still in Iraq, don't have universal healthcare, don't have stem cell funding.  We're seeing pushes for offshore drilling.  And this week, our party assumed the position when it comes to FISA.

What was even more infuriating is to see candidates that many candidates heavily supported the grassroots and the Netroots (both in the more limited sense that includes the page DailyKos, Swing State Project, etc collaborate on. and the broader sense to include all of the liberal websites such as Democracy for America and MoveON).  It's both heartbreaking and infuriating to see people like Patrick Murphy, Kirsten Gillibrand, Nancy Boyda, Jim Webb, and Jerry McNerney, people we thought would be the vanguard of the coming progressive era, vote they way they do, with the likes of Murphy and Gillibrand joining the Blue Dogs!

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First, it was Paul Hodes back in July. Now it's New Hampshire's other Democratic Representative, Carol Shea-Porter.

U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter has decided to endorse Barack Obama for President, UnionLeader.com has learned.

The freshman 1st District congresswoman had been considering staying neutral in the primary, but has now decided to get involved.

[...]

Her backing may be a plus for Obama especially among women, who have strongly favored Clinton so far in the New Hampshire Democratic primary race, according to polls.

It seems to me that this endorsement could also pull a lot of weight in a sense not mentioned here by John DiStaso, the Union-Leader columnist who broke this story: Shea-Porter has quite the grassroots organization, which she used last year not only to knock off Republican Congressman Jeb Bradley in a race few thought she could win but also to defeat Democratic state Rep. James Craig, who had quite a bit of institutional backing and, again, who few thought she could defeat. If Shea-Porter puts some or all of the support of her grassroots organization behind Obama, it could be a big deal.

Beyond that, there is a certain symbolism that looks good for Obama in having the support of both Democratic members of Congress from New Hampshire, two who might perhaps be the highest ranking officials in the state to make endorsements this fall (with Governor John Lynch and former Governor-cum-Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen both remaining neutral). Clearly Obama already has momentum in New Hampshire -- and one can't imagine having the backing of both Hodes and now Shea-Porter is going to hurt much.

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Cross-posted from my Katrina recovery blog, The Wayward Episcopalian: Nathan in New Orleans.

This past weekend, I attended the College Democrats of New Hampshire's second annual convention. One of our guest speakers was the newly-elected Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH). After a brief speech, she took several questions. When she called on me, I said, "Every agency involved with Katrina recovery is screwing up as badly today as they did immediately after the storm; of 120,000 people eligible for rebuilding assistance, not even 10% have gotten a dime. What has Congress done in the past few months to address this issue, and what is it going to do?"

Surprisingly, I was disappointed in her answer, which is detailed below, along with the three problems I have with it (as well as my hope for Rep. Shea-Porter's future answer). I call this a surprise because shortly after the storm, Rep. Shea-Porter traveled to the Gulf Coast and spent six weeks volunteering on relief efforts.

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Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) ran perhaps the most grassroots of any victorious Democratic campaign anywhere in the 50 states last year. She took on her own party's establishment and won the primary and then went on to defeat an entrenched Republican incumbent using a clear and un-nuanced progressive and anti-war message. Last weekend she was one of 5 members of Congress at an online Blue America townhall meeting to be awarded a check as someone who has been working diligently to keep the promises on which she ran. Today she'll be blogging live at Firedoglake at 2PM, est.

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