Editor's note: This is the first in a series of articles chronicling the campaigns of New Hampshire politicians running in the 2002 elections.
Katrina Swett has a deceptively simple goal: she wants to join her dad, a 74-year-old Hungarian immigrant and former economics professor, in the workplace.
But if successful in her efforts to win election to the House of Representatives from New Hampshire's second district, Democratic hopeful Swett and her father, current Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Ca.), will make legislative history as the United States Congress' first concurrent father-daughter pair.
Thus far, however, Swett's fate is still unclear. Her opponent, four-term incumbent Rep. Charles Bass '74 (R-N.H.) is well-liked in his district, which encompasses Hanover, the cities of Concord and Nashua and the northern portion of the state. A pro-choice moderate, Bass won the 2000 election with 56 percent of the vote. So far, he leads Swett by 18 percent -- 51 percentage points to 33 -- in a poll of 600 registered voters conducted by the American Research Group.
Twenty-one percent of voters remained undecided, according to the poll, which was conducted from Sept. 14 to Sept. 18.
The race will nevertheless be close, Swett told a group of 50 students Sunday at a Young Democrats' event in Dartmouth Hall as she spoke of her first attempt at elected office. She cited her fundraising success -- as of Aug. 21, Swett had raised $767,000 compared to Bass' $532,000 -- as an indication of her campaign's strength.
Television advertisements, Swett said, will help make her the evident choice on Nov. 5.
"We're going to have an awesome air war in this campaign," Swett said. "We've managed to put Mr. Bass ... onto the list of vulnerable incumbents."
Another paramount factor in this congressional race is encouraging Dartmouth students to acquire New Hampshire voter registration, Swett said.
Swett's father, an 11-term incumbent who is expected to win easily in his own upcoming election, has also aided Swett in her fundraising endeavors.
Many area voters are already familiar with the Swett name. Katrina's husband, Dick Swett, served the jurisdiction in the post she now seeks between 1990 and 1994. The first Democrat to serve New Hampshire in the House since 1912, he was ousted by Bass during the 1994 "Republican Revolution," led by former U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).
Dick Swett also narrowly lost the 1996 race against Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.). He then served briefly as the U.S. ambassador to Denmark, while his wife, a lawyer by profession, lectured at the University of Southern Denmark.
This year, Katrina Swett said she considers health care, education, recent corporate scandals and the growing debate over Iraq to be of prime importance to New Hampshire voters. Although Hanover's population is more educated than much of the second district, key issues remain the same, she said.
"I think that our public school system is one of the fundamental building blocks for a successful society," Swett said, explaining her stance against school vouchers.
A self-described fiscal moderate, Swett said that if elected, she would take a "cautious look" at any proposed tax increases. She also called for the elimination of loopholes that allow large corporations to relocate to tax-free offshore locations.
"Charlie [Bass] has spent a lot of time in D.C. promoting special interests," she said. "There's a real link between the special interests that have supported him financially and his voting record."
Also of growing importance in November's race are voters who register as "undecided." In the second district, they constitute 38 percent of the population, while registered Republicans and Democrats make up 36 and 26 percent, respectively.
Katrina Swett and her husband, along with their seven children, reside in Bow. If elected, she will become the first New Hampshire woman to serve in Congress.
The New Hampshire AFL-CIO, the Nashua Telegraph and the United Steelworkers of America are among several groups that have endorsed Swett.
Congressional Quarterly currently ranks the race as "Republican Favored."
