The Eaton vs Kelly Race is Heating Up

Eaton: "Keene and Cheshire County have been very good to me."
That's Republican Senator Tom Eaton, speaking at a debate on Cheshire community TV last month. The predominantly Democratic district HAS been good to the Republican senator. It has given him a winning margin through four elections.

"New Hampshire shaped who I am and what I believe in. For
the past 7 years I've had the privilege to be able to apply those values of
hard work, personal responsibility and fiscal discipline to our government
as your state senator. and I ask for your vote in November so I can continue
to make a positive impact for the citizens of Cheshire County."

Eaton was a well-known and well-liked funeral home director when he first won this senate seat in a special election in 1999. He rose quickly to become senate president in 2002, but then his political star began to fade. His fellow Republicans removed him from the presidency a year ago - claiming he'd grown power hungry.

Molly Kelly is the Democrat who aims to remove Eaton from the senate entirely. She's a first-time political candidate with a law degree, who works as a financial advisor. Though occasionally cautious on the campaign trail, she still isn’t afraid to bring up some taboo subjects. Kelly says the income tax should be on the table as a possible solution to the school funding problem. In general, she promises to be a voice for the policies that Democrats tend to support.

Molly: "a voice that calls for strengthening public education and equal
access to all of our children for education, and a voice that calls for
affordable healthcare for individuals and families in our community and
calls for reform of healthcare for small businesses, and a voice that calls for a woman's right to privacy, and I will not break my promise."
(I'll ship some ambience for this speech, "Molly ambience")

That last point refers to Eaton's role when lawmakers passed the state's parental notification abortion law. Eaton favors a woman's right to choose but at a key moment acted to allow parental notification to win senate approval.

By all accounts, Eaton faces a real threat from Kelly. But Cheshire County Republican chairman Edwin Smokey Smith says Eaton enjoys close relations with many people across the district. Eaton's been credited with luring big business into town and bringing a technical college to Keene. More important, Smith says many voters still remember and appreciate his work for them as a funeral home director.

Smokey: "Tom has a great history in Cheshire county, especially in the Keene
area, he's worked hard and dealt with people when they've had some real
calamities in their life and I think that will come forth here."

The question for Eaton is which public image will dominate. Will voters see him more as a nonpartisan and active member of the community? Or has he been in politics so long that many voters in this Democratic district will focus on his Republican stripes?

For Keene resident Arthur Nichols, a Democrat who voted for Eaton twice in the past and gave money to his last campaign, the distinction is pivotal.

Nichols: "I don't know necessarily that it's a change of heart, as much as it is a change in the political landscape and a sort of a major change in the issues facing the state legislature."

Nichols is the president of Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth Hitchcock-Keene, and he worked with Eaton when he was on the hospital board. This time around, Nichols’ campaign contribution went to Kelly, and so will his vote. He says the Democrats, led by Governor John Lynch, have a better chance at fixing the state's education funding crisis.

Nichols 2: "I've lived in Keene for 18 years and I know Senator Eaton personally and I also know Molly Kelly personally, and they're both very fine people. I think they both could do a great job in the Senate ... but I think in this case with the education funding situation facing the legislature that it was time for me to back the candidate, in this case the party, that I think was going to face up to the issue best."

The winds this election year are blowing more in the Democrats' favor. Democratic Governor John Lynch is the most popular governor in some time. Recent polls also suggest that Democrats are slightly more eager vote than Republicans. But Tom Eaton is hoping that neither of those factors will shape his political fate on Tuesday.

For NHPR news, I'm Donna Moxley.