Shaheen, who is challenging incumbent Senator John Sununu in New Hampshire's U.S. Senate election, focused primarily on Social Security. She also discussed her record as former Governor of New Hampshire, her goals if elected to the Senate and the importance of electing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Sununu shares a number of economic policies with President George W. Bush, Shaheen said, including the privatization of Social Security, which she said would be irresponsible and potentially devastating to the program.
"What's happened this last week on Wall Street has been a sign of how dangerous and wrong it would be to gamble people's retirement on the stock market," Shaheen said.
Social Security policy also affects young voters, Shaheen said, noting that the government borrowed money from Social Security to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lebanon Mayor Karen Liot Hill '00, who was in the audience, told Shaheen about her personal experience when her father relied on Social Security to raise Hill and her two sisters after her mother passed away. Hill's story, Shaheen said, highlights the fact that Social Security is not just for the elderly, but benefits young families and the disabled.
Shaheen also discussed more general economic policies, stating that Sununu misleads voters by describing himself as a fiscal conservative.
"[Sununu] voted down the line to support George W. Bush in Iraq. This administration has taken record surplus and turn it into near-record deficits, and John Sununu has supported them," Shaheen said.
She added that as a congressman, Sununu proposed legislation to force people under 55 to put some of their money into a privatized sector of Social Security. Although Sununu ran for Senate saying he opposed privatization, Shaheen said, he has since proposed three bills that would promote it.
When questioned about her term as governor, Shaheen said she was particularly proud of her efforts in health care, early childhood education and sustainable energy.
"We created the first-ever energy plan, which fell by the wayside when my successor didn't support it, and we retrofitted state buildings, saving over $1 million in energy costs and preventing pollution," Shaheen said.
She also described her successful push to offer pre-kindergarten in public schools and to fund children's health insurance, which was unpopular among state senators.
In a campaign event in Hanover on Tuesday Sununu criticized Shaheen's energy policies.
"We've successfully lifted the ban on offshore drilling, which Jeaane Shaheen supports, like she supports the windfall tax on oil profits that Jimmy Carter supported. We don't need to take energy policy back to the 70s and 80s," Sununu said.
