The infamous "scream" speech may have brought former Vermont governor Howard Dean's campaign for the White House to an end, but it has not silenced the young voters who helped give him legs during the race -- people like Rockefeller Center student activities coordinator Karen Liot Hill '00.
After taking part in the grassroots charge for Dean and then jumping on the John Kerry bandwagon, Hill is now campaigning for herself in an effort to land a spot on the Lebanon City Council.
Hill, 26, said she is running because she wants to become more involved in the town where she lives and to bring a younger perspective to the council.
"The people that are active tend to be of a certain generation," Hill said of the council. "My generation just isn't represented."
For Hill, trying to win the seat means getting out and talking to average New Hampshirites. Sarah Ayres '06, who is serving as field director for Hill's council race, said she is working on "walk lists" to help when Hill knocks on doors in Lebanon.
Ayres, who worked on the Dean campaign with Hill, said Hill is the "poster child" for furthering the Dean movement.
"It didn't live and die with Howard Dean's presidential candidacy. It's continuing and has inspired a lot of people to look at civic engagement in a new way," Ayres said.
Besides Dean, Hill also credited her daughter, five-year-old Marina, as a major influence in her decision to run for the council seat.
"I want the world to be a better place for her," Hill said.
Even though Hill said she has been attending council and other city meetings for only about three weeks, she had some harsh criticism for how the council operates.
"The Lebanon City Council could be perhaps characterized as much by inaction as anything else," Hill said.
She characterized the meetings as long and accomplishing little, preventing new issues from coming up for debate.
Incumbent Dominic Balestra, a former internist at the V.A. Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt., is associated with Dartmouth Medical School. Balestra agreed that council meetings sometimes get bogged down in details.
"I think they could be streamlined," said Balestra, who is seeking a third term in office. "If the meetings were more efficient, I think we'd get more public input."
Balestra, 59, questioned whether Hill had any special qualifications to represent young people, suggesting that a certification in geriatric medicine gives him some expertise in representing older people.
Overall, though, he said he works to represent everyone in his district and he welcomes the competition.
"The more choices the voter has for a given seat in public service, the better," Balestra said.
Hill is campaigning for a two-year term representing the Ward 3 voting district, which covers the eastern third of the city from downtown toward Enfield.
Less than half of approximately 2,000 eligible voters in Ward 3 usually show up at the polls for the city elections, but over the past few years the precise number has varied -- from less than 400 to nearly 700, according to City Clerk Sandra Allard.
Hill is betting that, with a few handshakes, she can get some more people to show up and vote her way.
"I'm sort of hoping that my grassroots efforts will perhaps give me an advantage," Hill said.
As political director for the Dean-affiliated group Democracy for New Hampshire, Hill is taking the lead with the organization's goal of recruiting local citizens to be a part of their government. If unsuccessful in her council-seat bid, Hill said she would run again for another open seat next year or get involved with an unelected committee like the zoning board.
Hill said she is looking forward to learning more about the most important issues in Lebanon and noted that some of her top concerns are the troubled Lebanon Airport and a landfill that is nearly full.
Hill, a government major and former Decibelle originally from Sag Harbor, N.Y., graduated from Dartmouth in 2002. She wrote her thesis on education in the area.
She is married to Andrew Hill, 36, of Lebanon, and her daughter, Marina, will be six in March.
Having Marina as an undergraduate changed her Dartmouth experience and forced her to become more focused, she said.
Voting for the Ward 3 council seat is set for Mar. 8 at Lebanon College.
