I have a house out in the woods of Dublin. We have had so many wonderful people from all over the country--sleeping on my couches and out in the forest in tents—it has been magical. Some have come just to cook and clean, and others to do good research to help me understand the issues facing a U.S. Senator. I have had students and Pentagon consultants, violinists and young chicken farmers. Such a celebration of love it has been, right there in the shadow of old Mount Monadnock, which watches over southern New Hampshire and is well worn by me and all the people I have known.

What we are doing is very special. We are running a federal campaign, a campaign for the U.S. Senate, without a dime of special interest money from political action committees.

In my voter registration trek last year and into this year, I met many people who had very different definitions of “special interests.” I remember a fellow working in a coffee shop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania—a shop perched on a bluff avove the old Bethlehem Steel Plant, now closed due to outsourcing. He said he was not interested in politics anymore because it was run by special interests. When asked what he meant by special interests, he said, “you know, Republicans and Democrats.”

So everyone has their own idea of that. For those on the left, special interests are the business groups and the right wing issue groups. For those on the right, special interests are the environmental and justice groups. From either side, people can hardly see a politics of individuals anymore, just of groups with agendas.

So how do you break through that mistrust and alienation and despair? In my campaign, we have said that we'll take not one dime from any special interest group, left, right or middle, and we haven't. It has been hard to return checks to donors, especially on days when we could not afford even bumper stickers and yard signs.

But we managed, making our signs by hand sometimes. And this has proven to be a good thing.

We have reinvented the Burma Shave highway sign—the series of rhyming signs; For example: Her campaign cash / Is Fatcat-free / She’ll represent / Just you and me / Granny D for U.S. Senate. These have been a great deal of fun to think up and make, and we have a couple of barns and basements turned into little factories, with scrap wood going in one door and little signs coming out the other.

But we could do much more if everyone who liked the idea of cutting the strings of obligation to special interests would contribute on the website or drop by a little check. That is exactly what must happen if someone is to take this idea the next step forward, for it is a fundamental reform much more important that the McCain-Feingold bill that I walked across the nation to promote.

Making our own signs and running a shoestring campaign is enjoyable, but it is clear that the mainstream press is not interested in talking about my opponent's really outrageous voting record in the U.S. Senate, so ads are simply necessary to tell it like it is.

But we won't have much for that, and that is because we are new at this. Our campaign will get a ways up the mountain, toward the goal of a special interest-free democracy, but we will have to be a base camp for the next assault on the summit by others. It is possible that I will win, though highly unlikely.I certainly want as good a showing as possible, in order to encourage the next climbers.

To that end, I have asked my friends to set up a system where individuals can support individuals who agree to run for federal office without taking any special interest PAC funds. The first of it is already up, at GrannyD.com It will not be like MoveOn or Emily’s list, but just a person-to-person affair, and with all parties welcome.

What happens this Tuesday, in the presidential race especially, will shape our future in such a significant way that we must be prepared emotinoally for it. If Mr. Kerry wins, there will be a relief in the progressive community that could dangerously lull us to sleep, when in fact there is a democracy and a world yet to save. If Mr. Bush wins, we may feel too depressed to take reform action.

So we must talk one step at a time, each day, to keep moving forward, regardless of the outcome. That’s what I will do. I will get out there and encourage good people to run, and to do it outside the special interest and black tie system of funding. Only in this way can we gain the trust of all our people, and move toward a renewal of democracy. And only by regaining the reins of government can we end the madness now underway.

The progressive PACs are a good thing, but it is better if people have a chance to give directly, so that we can avoid being labeled as tools of the left or the right. We need the trust of our people.

The progressive leaders can do a better job of promoting candidates who deserve support. They get so wrapped up in their organizations and in their fearful need to support candidates most likely to win, that they are fairly useless to real reform candidates. That has been my experience. But when they wake up, they can make a big difference in the repair of our democracy.

I am running at my age as a statement that you do not have to be the perfect candidate. Real people, hearing aids and all, need to step forward and suffer the slings and arrows of a hardball campaign. It isn’t so bad.

I debated my opponent last week, a polished, two-term U.S. Senator, and I was petrified. I couldn’t find half my words, and I looked pretty silly sometimes. But the fact that I was telling the simple truth came through, and 79% of the viewers of the television debates, two hours after the show, were saying I won. So you don’t have to be the perfect candidate to connect with people who are very sick of the same old crud from the professional politicians. It can be done.

A small band, Tattoo, follows me everywhere as I walk the state of New Hampshire. My friends from my old study club are answering the phones. The sign shops are abuzz with activity. We may not make it to the top of a mountain, as our opponent has three million dollars to our pocket change, but we are the people, and he is not. And we are breaking trail up this mountian, and I hope others will take our beautiful experience as an invitation to follow.

Thank you.