Chellie is not the sort of tireless self-promoter we often meet in politics. But she is hard working, energetic and persistent. She is motivated by a strong sense of community and guided by her innate common sense. It is no surprise to those who know her that, no matter the venue, she consistently gains the respect and trust of colleagues who then look to her for leadership.

And Chellie delivers. Before term limits ended her tenure in the Maine Senate, she was an effective legislative leader who earned bragging rights on lots of important victories in areas as diverse as health care, the environment, economic development and social justice. Her legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs drew intense and focused opposition from Big Pharma, including an unbelievable lobbying effort and appeals all the way to the Supreme Court. Maine won, largely because of what Chellie did to build a strong bipartisan base of support for a bold proposal that would clearly help many Maine people.

Most recently, Chellie spent four years at the helm of the national reform organization, Common Cause. At Common Cause she fought against media consolidation, for election integrity and a whole lot more. You may have seen her on TV talking about these issues. TV is fine, but it's never enough, so Chellie made it a priority to build the grassroots capacity of her organization in order to win important victories in the states. Connecticut's success in passing a Clean Election public funding system is just one example where her commitment to the grassroots made a difference.

There is absolutely no doubt that Chellie will be a solid progressive leader in Congress. She is courageous, tenacious and effective, and she is not afraid to take on the big, thorny issues. If she served in Congress today she would argue for holding impeachment hearings so that the actions of the Bush administration could be fully investigated and understood. To Chellie, this is a matter of safeguarding democracy and our Constitution. Convenience and politics should not trump the fundamental notion of accountability which is what impeachment is all about.

Chellie will take on the entrenched interests that stymie efforts to achieve universal access to quality affordable health care. Chellie supports a single-payer option and says, "There are plenty of good proposals out there; what's lacking is the political will for fight for them." You can count on Chellie to take on the real fight.

I know the kind of grassroots support Chellie can muster because I helped recruit and coordinate volunteers on her 2002 race against incumbent US Senator Susan Collins. Recruiting is not exactly what we did - the volunteers flocked to Chellie and we had only to figure out how to channel all that enthusiasm and spirit. In that race, Chellie was cautioned against speaking out against the impending war, but she did not heed that advice. She took a strong position against the war and spoke about it all the time. Volunteers streamed into to the campaign, not just from Maine but from around the country.

Chellie is a true grassroots all-star whose values are wholly compatible with Democracy for America's mission of electing socially progressive, fiscally responsible candidates. I hope you will vote for her so we can send a real leader to Washington.

--- by Alison Smith, Portland

To vote, go to http://democracyforamerica.com/gras.

Crossposted at Turn Maine Blue and Pingree's Campaign Journal.