| Saturday morning, Annie woke up and drove to Nashua to kick-off a volunteer canvass and spend a few hours going door-to-door, talking with Democratic voters about her plans to bring a new approach to Washington. After returning to Concord, she spent the afternoon on the phone making fundraising calls - mainly inviting people to sponsor our last fundraising event before the primary, which will take place Thursday night at Dimond Hill Farm - a family farm that Annie and her neighbors helped save a few years back. Then it was up to Franklin for house party #126 (or something like that - we've actually lost track), and she spent the night outside Plymouth.
 Sunday, she was up bright and early for the drive WAY up north to Colebrook (less than 10 miles from the Canadian border) where she had breakfast with activists from Colebrook, Clarksville, and Groveton and some hand-shaking with the regulars at a local diner. After a quick visit to Harper's LandingDixville, it was down to Littleton for a beautiful afternoon house party, and the day ended with a huge house party in Whitefield courtesy of Dave Mitchell (who, by the way, is doing a GREAT job promoting the local dems running for office in Coos County - every county chair should check out what he's doing.)
Monday morning, it was time for radio interviews as Annie kicked-off her statewide Main Street Jobs Tour (where local firefighters are hosting Annie at community gatherings all across the district). Seventy-seven North Country voters turned out at lunchtime in Berlin, and more than 100 did the same for a cookout in Lebanon after work, across the street from the Lebanon fire station. After a drive down the Connecticut river, Annie, NH Professional Firefighters President Dave Lang, and a couple staffers spent the night in Keene.
 This morning, the day started at 7am with several dozen Keene voters joining Annie for coffee and donuts hosted by Keene-area firefighters. Then it was three more radio interviews and we made our way up to Concord for a great ice cream social in the afternoon, across from the Broadway fire station. But my favorite stop of the tour was Nashua, where more than 120 local voters came out to meet Annie, cheer her on, and hear her ideas for creating good Main Street jobs. The best part was the family who came after meeting Annie at a Nashua back-to-school event last Thursday. They've never been involved in a political campaign before, and now they are making phone calls to help change Washington.
I peeled-off after Nashua, but Annie wasn't done - she and her son (& driver!) headed over to Salem for a beer with southern-tier firefighters to end a LONG day and thank them for a great tour.
I know that none of what I just wrote is rocket science, or revolutionary. But it is good to see a candidate - and an entire grassroots-driven campaign - working so hard. It's days like the last four that make me grateful for Annie, our tireless staff, and our many volunteers in every corner of the state. This is how we shake up politics as usual.
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