TPM Election Central brings word that New Hampshire Democratic activist and friend o' Joe, Katrina Swett, is further distancing herself from the toxic former Democrat in her bid to win next year's Democratic primary for senate from New Hampshire. It appears she's now trying to sell herself as a staunch opponent of the war with a $1,000 donation to MoveOn's effort last week in support of Rep. Tom Allen (seeking to topple fellow friend o' Joe Susan Collins,) her promise to "End the war in Iraq by focusing on diplomatic and political solutions" appearing first and foremost among her list of campaign pledges on her website and her latest statement regarding the man whose NH primary campaign she ran in 2004:

I have known Joe Lieberman for a long time and, while he is a friend of mine, I certainly do not agree with him on a lot of issues - especially Iraq. I do find myself disagreeing with him more and more frequently these days. This doesn't change the fact that we are friends, but it does change my support of him as a politician.

Hmm. That's funny, MyLeftNutmeg seems to remember Swett's singing a much different tune as recently as August of last year:

"I'm convinced that Joe Lieberman is the better leader . . . and I'm also convinced that he's the better positioned politically for the future of the party that I love."

Could this woman have worse judgment? First she brings the world Joementum and now, in 2007, she's "finding" herself disagreeing with him on the war? This tack left way too little way way too late. But it's nice to see a story that frames clinging to the Lieberman 'bi-partisan middle way' BS as political suicide.

As a New England Republican, Sen. John Sununu is on anyone's endangered species list. Let's hope former governor Jeanne Shaheen jumps in for a rematch. Kos hears she'll announce in September.

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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.

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