Bradley Considering a Run in 2008
Bradley Exit
New Hampshire Union Leader
Kendra Gilbert
Boston University Washington News Service
11-14-06
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 – A large trash bin overflowing with old papers, folders and discarded knickknacks sits outside Rep. Jeb Bradley’s Capitol Hill office door, awaiting removal. Inside, another bin occupies the office sitting area and is halfway to capacity.
Surveying the two rows of baseball hats that line the top of the office’s walls, which were given to the representative by constituents and friends, Bradley’s press secretary, Stephanie DuBois, remarked, “We’re going to have to find a box for those.”
No one in Bradley’s office saw it coming.
“I had gone into the election day feeling pretty good; I felt we had run a good campaign,” Bradley said in an interview in his office. “And then we came up short,” he continued, recalling his defeat a week ago by Democratic opponent Carol Shea-Porter.
Bradley attributed his loss to President Bush’s declining approval as well as the recent scandals involving Republican members of Congress and the popularity of New Hampshire’s Democratic Gov. John Lynch.
With the next two years now open, Bradley said he hopes to get back to his passion for mountain climbing, something he didn’t have much time for while in Washington.
“I’d like to complete the 4,000-footers in the winter,” the avid hiker said of climbing all of New Hampshire’s 48 mountains that have elevations more than 4,000 feet. “Now, if the weather’s right and I feel like climbing Mount Washington, I can climb Mount Washington,” he said.
But that doesn’t mean Bradley is ready to give up politics altogether. After taking some time off after the new Congress takes charge in January, Bradley said he “expects to be pretty actively involved politically” while back home in New Hampshire.
“Running for elective office is something that I will certainly be considering,” Bradley said.
Although he would not specify which office he would be seeking, Bradley said a 2008 bid is something “in all likelihood” he is considering.
“I feel that in 2008 things will be different,” Bradley said, while sitting on a chair in his office under a picture on the wall marked with a small yellow Post-It note.
The other photos on his office walls, and the family photos on his desk, are all similarly marked; those are the keepers and will not be joining the other office throwaways in the Dumpster.
Looking back on his four years in the House, the collaborative effort between the New Hampshire and Maine delegations to keep the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard off the military base-closing list was among his most important accomplishments.
“That took a lot of different people coming together,” Bradley said.
As a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Bradley said veterans’ issues were “near and dear” to him.
Before this session adjourns, Bradley said, he hopes that Congress will pass appropriations bills and “establish reasonable levels of spending.”
From New Hampshire, Bradley said he will carefully “observe” and “monitor” the new delegation, which includes incoming Democratic freshman Paul Hodes.
Hodes defeated Rep. Charles Bass, whom Bradley said he worked closely with during their four years they spent together in Congress.
“Charlie and I are good friends,” Bradley said. “We worked very well together, and he’s obviously become a good friend.”
Bradley called the Republican to Democrat turnover in New Hampshire a “historic change” but said that he thinks it will “be somewhat temporary in nature.”
“We’ve got to get back to talking about things that unite Republicans,” Bradley said.
For now, Bradley said, his top priority is to find jobs for his staff, many of whom have been with him from the beginning.
“I’ve had more staff that have been with me for the full four years than most offices have,” Bradley said. “My top priority is to find placement for my staff and help them transition.”
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