Jeanne Shaheen

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Jeanne Shaheen
Official photo
88^th Governor of New Hampshire
In office 1997 – 2003
Preceded by	Steve Merrill
Succeeded by	Craig Benson

Born	January 28, 1947 St. Charles, Missouri
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Bill Shaheen
Profession	Politician

Jeanne Shaheen (born January 28, 1947) was the first woman to be elected governor of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. She currently serves as Director of the Harvard Institute of Politics.

Shaheen was born Jeanne Bowers in Saint Charles, Missouri and received a bachelor's degree in English from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree from the University of Mississippi. She taught high school in Mississippi and moved to New Hampshire in 1973, where she taught school and owned a small business. A Democrat, she worked on several campaigns before running for office in 1990, when she was elected to the state Senate. In 1997 she became governor.

1 2000 Presidential Race & Vice Presidential Speculation
2 2002 Campaign for U.S. Senate
3 2004 Presidential Race
4 Possible 2008 Campaign for U.S. Senate

[edit] 2000 Presidential Race & Vice Presidential Speculation

Shaheen was considered instrumental in securing Al Gore's victory over Bill Bradley in New Hampshire during the 2000 Democratic presidential primary.

Gore's defeat of Bradley all but ended the Bradley campaign, and Gore rewarded Shaheen by naming her to his short list of potential vice presidential nominees, which also included Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, then-North Carolina Senator John Edwards, then-House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, and former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin. Shaheen quickly acknowledged that, while appreciative of the speculation, she would not be a candidate for vice president, and she urged the Gore campaign to withdraw her name from consideration.

Gore went on to tap Lieberman as his running mate. However, the ticket lost the race to Republican George W. Bush and his running mate, Dick Cheney.

[edit] 2002 Campaign for U.S. Senate

She served three two-year terms before stepping down to run for the U.S. Senate in 2002 when she was defeated by Republican John E. Sununu, by 47%-50%. In June 2004, former Republican consultant Allen Raymond pleaded guilty to jamming Democratic Party lines set up to get New Hampshire Democrats to the polls in 2002, an action that some (most notably former Senator Bob Smith, who Sununu had defeated in the Republican primary [1]) believe may have contributed to Shaheen's narrow loss. A judge sentenced him to five months in jail in February 2005. Chuck McGee, the former state GOP chair, was sentenced to seven months for his role.

Raymond alleged that James Tobin, Northeast field director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, masterminded the plot. In December 2005, Tobin was convicted of two federal felonies arising from the phone-jamming and sentenced to ten months in prison. Tobin's lawyers are appealing the verdict.

[edit] 2004 Presidential Race

After a short time teaching at Harvard University (and a fellowship in the Institute of Politics with former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift), she was named national chair of John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign in September 2003. Kerry's campaign, stagnant at that point, won the nomination handily and Shaheen received much of the credit.

In April 2005, Shaheen was named director of Harvard's Institute of Politics, succeeding former U.S. Representative (and current MPAA head) Dan Glickman.

Shaheen and her husband Bill, a prominent New Hampshire lawyer and co-founder of the Shaheen & Gordon Law Firm, have three children.

[edit] Possible 2008 Campaign for U.S. Senate

In late 2006 analysts looking ahead to the 2008 U.S. Senate races pointed to John Sununu's seat in New Hampshire as likely a competitive contest. Democratic Governor of New Hampshire John Lynch, who was re-elected with 74% of the vote in 2006, has ruled himself out of running against Sununu, leaving some to begin looking to Shaheen as the obvious candidate. Shaheen reportedly has not ruled out running against Sununu again. On March 18th, the Nashua Telegraph announced that several Democratic polls showed Shaheen the best candidate to defeat Sununu, who trailed the former Governor in several polls, one putting Sununu 10 pts. down, 44-34.

In 2004 and 2006 New Hampshire moved towards the Democrats at the national and local level; in 2004 it was the only one of George W. Bush's 2000 states that did not vote for him again, and in 2006 the Democrats recaptured the State Legislature for the first time since 1911.