Surprise school board winner: Give me a chance

[SoxFan]

Source: New Hampshire Union Leader

MANCHESTER – When Jennifer Peabody woke up Tuesday morning, she had a bad sinus infection and another day of apartment hunting and work ahead of her. By the time she went to bed, she had a title -- school board committee member-elect.

The 23-year-old shocked the political establishment Tuesday by upending incumbent Seumas Regan in Ward 3 with a whisper of a campaign and a candidate who makes Mayor Frank Guinta, at 37, seem old.

Peabody has lived in Manchester for about four years. A graduate of Alvirne High School in Hudson, she moved here to attend Hesser College. She left college after a year because, she said, she didn't feel challenged. She works as a bartender at Raxx Billiards and is considering cosmetology school.

An independent, she endorsed Guinta for mayor and wants to see Democrat Barack Obama win the presidency.

Read more: http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Surprise+school+board+winner%3a+Give+me+a+chance&articleId=51e2bc7a-8eaf-46f0-b86a-f0e18e05bcca

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Jen's a terrific young woman. I think she's going to surprise a lot of people.

[Tesha]

1. Don't read too much into this.

Don't read too much into this. Guinta, the Republican mayoral
candidate cruised to an easy victory and down here in Nashua,
we elected as mayor a woman who's been a big wheel in Republican
politics for years.

Tesha

[SoxFan]

2. Jen's an independent, but...

...she's much, much closer to the Democrats than to the Republicans.

She supported Guinta for mayor, but she nearly always votes for Democrats at the state and national level. Last year, she supported Carol Shea-Porter for Congress and Bob Bruce for Executive Council. She has an anti-Bush bumper sticker on her car. She's a good person, and will do just fine on the board. She doesn't care for the thuggish and creepy Ray Buckley crowd, and that has made her hesitant about registering as a Democrat

[Tesha]

3. :-)

> the thuggish and creepy Ray Buckley crowd,

:-)

A lot of us don't.

Tesha

[SoxFan]

4. Elitism runs amok

I've gone back and looked at the "comments" posted by readers. My god, some of these people are elitist pricks, snarking at Jen for not finishing college and working as a bartender.

Funny, I don't recall any of these people asking what her opponent does for a living.

I don't here any sniping about the backgrounds of the other school board members. Hell, one of them was a bar owner!

I don't hear them fussing about the alderman who was once a campaign aide to Dan Quayle. If that doesn't raise questions, what does?!?