By Laura A. Kiernan, Globe Correspondent, 11/14/99

State Senator Mark Fernald of Sharon, a legislative newcomer and one of the leaders in the fight for an income tax, says he may take on two-term incumbent Governor Jeanne Shaheen in a Democratic primary, a matchup that would guarantee that Shaheen's opposition to the tax would be fully debated in front of the voters.

''Somebody is going to run and talk about it,'' Fernald said in an interview. ''It may be me.''

Fernald said he is meeting with Democrats and independents to explore the possibility of a run.

A lawyer in private practice in Peterborough, Fernald was one of several lawmakers honored last spring by the nonpartisan ''Courage and Leadership PAC,'' a coalition of activists and business leaders headed by Democrat Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Yogurt. The group has just started making grants to candidates who reject the antitax pledge. (More on that later.)

''The people in this state are prepared for a comprehensive change in the tax structure,'' Fernald said, an assertion the Shaheen administration disputes. Fernald defeated incumbent David Wheeler of Milford to win his Senate seat and immediately became a key player in placing the once-taboo subject of an income-tax solution front and center among options for ending the school financial crisis.

Ultimately, a statewide property tax was adopted instead - temporarily. Along the way, there were unprecedented majority votes in both the Senate and House in favor of various income-tax measures - support that fuels Shaheen's challengers within her own party, including Fernald.

''We have a huge opportunity to run and win on a platform of property tax relief,'' Fernald said. ''The biggest obstacle to that huge opportunity is Jeanne Shaheen,'' who pledged to veto any income tax bill that landed on her desk.

Democratic Party chairman Kathy Sullivan is obliged to remain neutral in a primary but said anyone who challenged Shaheen would be in a ''losing race.'' A primary would be divisive for the party, Sullivan said, and, in the end, only helps Republicans. Fernald saids he has never understood that reasoning.

''The Democratic party is a democracy and benefits from the same exchange of ideas and competition,'' Fernald responded.

Shaheen's legal counsel, Judy Reardon, said, ''The vast majority of Democrats in this state are happy with the leadership Jeanne Shaheen has provided across the board.''

But, Fernald says tax ''fairness'' is at the core of government's whole relationship with people.

''It deserves to be hotly debated,'' he said.

P.S. Hirshberg's name often surfaces on the list of potential gubernatorial candidates, but he says he's not running. Another name circulating, this time on the Republican side, is state Senator James Squires of Nashua, who supports an income tax. A retired surgeon, Squires said last week ''I'm in the diagnostic stage'' about whether or not to run in the GOP primary.

Paperwork signed amid Bush hoopla

The media glut that dogs the big presidential campaigns closed in on Tipper Gore last week, snapping and clicking as she sat at a historic birdseye maple desk (circa 1819) in the secretary of state's office and signed up Vice President Al Gore for the Feb. 1 primary. But it was a relatively tame scene compared to the hoopla that followed later with the arrival of the designated Republican front-runner, Texas Governor George W. Bush.

Early in the day, huge Bush banners appeared draped on buildings directly across Main Street from the State House. A stage was set up at the foot of the steps and a sound system blared country hits; ''Chattahoochee'' by Alan Jackson is a Bush team favorite. Youth campaign director Jason Recher of Rye passed out Bush signs and played head cheerleader (''Give Me A `B.' Give me a `U'''). At times, the crowd chanted ''Dubyah! Dubyah!''

Bush gripped and grinned his way through a long receiving line, got up to the secretary of state's office, did the paperwork and chatted with administrative aide Paula Penney about his mother, Barbara (she's ''a great soul'' who still tells him what to do). Bush, who seems like he's having fun (except when he's asked to name world leaders), was introduced to a crowd of about 300 by longtime executive counselor Ruth Griffin of Portsmouth. ''I'm in and I intend to win,'' he said and gave a short version of his campaign stump speech (He's a compassionate conservative and his wife, Laura, told him don't try to be witty, just be yourself).

Some demonstrators in the crowd were miffed when they were asked to lower their signs or move because they were blocking the cameras. C.M. Hall of Oregon, who was wearing a bib that said ''Invest in Kids,'' part of a campaign to lower military spending, said she was told to leave (she didn't) because she didn't have ''credentials.'' A woman wearing a Bush sticker was overheard directing supporters to go stand in front of a ''No Soft $'' sign. Said one veteran political operative, shrugging, that's what campaign ''rally squads'' are supposed to do.

Tipper Gore tries to stick to message

In contrast, a small group of prominent Democrats met Mrs. Gore when she arrived at the State House, coming from a side street with no fanfare, and she said hello to a fourth-grade class from the Sandown Central School. The videographers included Fox news reporter Carl Cameron, once of Manchester's WMUR, who is doing his own cinema verite version of the campaign with a hand-held minicam. He says the candidates love to mug for him and that the vice president called it Cameron's own ''Blair Witch Project.''

Inside, we asked Mrs. Gore about her husband's newest paid consultant, feminist author Naomi Wolf, who supposedly advised the vice president he had to be more of an ''alpha'' leader than a ''beta'' follower. That's basically an ''inside the Beltway story,'' Mrs. Gore said, referring to the media's fixation on things that are meaningless to the rest of America. She moved quickly back to the message of the day: health care, day care, preschool programs. Cameron tried again: ''Do you think your husband is too beta and not enough alpha?'' But she didn't bite. ''I think my husband is on target with his message,'' Mrs. Gore said and she got back to day care.

Please excuse her, she was at speech

Late for school because you were listening to a presidential candidate talk with voters? Need a note for the principal? ''It probably wouldn't be a bad idea,'' 15-year-old Laura Barba told George W. Bush when he asked. So Bush, who had visited The Balsams Hotel in Dixville Notch where Laura's father, Steve, is president and managing partner, whipped one off on official note paper.

''Please excuse Laura,'' the governor wrote. ''She deserves an A plus today. She suffered through one of my speeches. Sincerely, George Bush.''

Laura, who got to ride from the hotel to Colebrook Academy on the official Bush Bus, said the governor ''seems really nice.'' She has the note, which she described as ''really messy,'' in her scrapbook.

PAC comes through with candidate aid

The Courage and Leadership PAC has made good on its promise to provide campaign cash for candidates who don't take the antitax pledge and who don't support gambling as one of the financing solutions. The day after the Democratic primary for the 10th District Senate seat, the PAC gave a $5,000 grant to the winner, former Keene mayor Bill Lynch. He supports an income tax, while his Republican opponent, Tom Eaton, wants to overturn the state Supreme Court decision that led to the school funding debate.

And in the little-noticed race for a House seat in Merrimack County, the PAC gave $500 to Democrat Jay Rosenfield, whose GOP opponent, George Edmunds , opposes an income tax.

Granny is OK, but van, driver are not

Report from the field: The weather is turning cold on 89-year-old Granny D of Dublin (a.k.a. Doris Haddock), who months ago began walking from California to Washington, D.C., to bring attention to campaign finance reform. We caught up with her by telephone outside Louisville, Ky., and she said she expects to hit snow and some twisty steep roads as she makes her way into West Virginia. She has a 1984 Dodge van that's falling apart and drafty and, to get down to it, she sure would like to borrow a mobile home for the rest of her trip.

''I'd be happy to rent it but they say it's terribly expensive,'' Granny D said in an interview. She rests in her van during the day after scheduled periods of walking. She wants to make it clear she's not begging for money and she's not broke (you can make a donation to ''Granny's Angels'' through her Web site, www.grannyd.com). It's just that her van is ''an old piece of junk.''

Otherwise, she said firmly, ''I'm quite happy to take care of my own problems.''

Meanwhile, Granny's driver for the past four months, John Anthony, who also did media coordination, scheduled places for Granny to stay and answered endless e-mail, suddenly left the trek two weeks ago. ''He got burned out,'' Granny said. ''He said, `I just can't take it anymore, Doris.''' For the past two weeks, 26-year-old Nick Palumbo, a volunteer from Chicago who says Granny D is ''my hero,'' is doing the driving. And he has already said he is tired.

''I got dead bodies behind me all the way,'' said Granny, who reports she feels fine and proves it with a hearty giggle. ''I feel so guilty,'' she said. ''I kid you not.''

Gephardt joins cast at annual dinner

The leader of the congressional Democrats, Representative Richard Gephardt, will be at the Center of New Hampshire Saturday for the state Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner, one of party's two major annual fund-raisers. US Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, who is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will also be there. Political junkies remember Gephardt's 1988 run for the Democratic nomination for president. The Missouri congressman won the Iowa caucuses and had a New Hampshire campaign operation run by Mark Longabaugh, who is now here for Bill Bradley. But Gephardt came in second to then Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis in the New Hampshire primary and soon dropped out of the race. Now, the Democrats are hoping that, if all goes their way in the 2000 congressional elections, they will win control and Gephardt will be speaker of the House.

Campaign workers are moving around

Short takes: Gordon MacDonald and Brian Moushegian, both late of the Dan Quayle campaign, are now officially on board with Gordon Humphrey and his ''exploratory'' look at running for the GOP nomination for governor. Duane Naquin, who had been with the Steve Forbes campaign is helping with computer operations for Humphrey's team, which has set up an office in Chichester ... Representative Richard (Stretch) Kennedy, the Hopkington Republican, has signed on with the Forbes 2000 campaign. Kennedy had been with Senator Bob Smith 's now-defunct independent presidential effort ... Concord lawyer Ed Damon is the state Senate's new legal counsel ... Dennis Parker of Bedford, who has been the chief lobbyist for the State Employees Association for more than 30 years, has decided to set up his own consulting business. Parker will still represent the 6,000 member state employees union, and he says he's not ruling out getting into politics himself some day ... And the runoff in the Nashua mayor's race is Dec. 7. In the Nov. 2 general election among four candidates, incumbent Mayor Don Davidson came in first over Executive Councilor Bernie Streeter by just 196 votes, which, under city election law, wasn't enough of a margin to avoid the runoff ... Ari F leischer, who had been the chief spokesman for Elizabeth Dole's presidential campaign until he left abruptly a few months ago, has signed on with the Bush team. Fleischer, who worked out of Washington for Dole, will now head to Austin, where he will help prepare Bush for his December debate debut in New Hampshire. Fleischer's official title is senior communications adviser and spokesman for Bush.

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