With little money, a strong anti-war message and a tireless campaign ethic, former social worker Carol Shea-Porter of Rochester was the upset winner in yesterday's Democratic 1st District U.S. House primary.

Shea-Porter, her city's Democratic chairman, defeated outgoing state House Democratic Leader Jim Craig of Manchester despite raising about one-fifth of the money he did and despite Craig's endorsement by the national Democratic Party. Shea-Porter clearly out-performed Craig in the proverbial trenches by getting her voters to the polls in a low-turnout election.

Shea-Porter will face two-term Republican incumbent Jeb Bradley in the general election. Bradley cruised past Eaton stonemason Michael Callis in a GOP primary.

In the 2nd District, Democrat Paul Hodes of Concord faced no primary opposition in his attempt to deny Republican Charles Bass a seventh term on Capitol Hill. Bass easily won the GOP nomination by defeating Berlin Mayor Bob Danderson and Mary Maxwell of Concord.

Democratic 1st District returns, with 81 percent of the votes counted, showed Shea-Porter with 9,772 votes, 51 percent, to Craig's 7,093 votes, 37 percent. Rye businessman Gary Dodds and engineer Dave Jarvis of Londonderry trailed far behind the Democratic leaders while state Rep. Peter Sullivan was on the ballot despite withdrawing from the race.

Craig won nearly two-thirds of the vote in Manchester, but Shea-Porter overcame the deficit with big victories throughout the district. She defeated Craig in the Manchester suburbs of Merrimack and Londonderry, by about 80 votes in each community. She also won in Bedford by 23 votes. She also scored wins in the key communities of Conway, Ossipee, Dover, Portsmouth and Hampton.

"Oh, my god, I think I'm going to faint," Shea-Porter told a crowd of more than 100 supporters in Portsmouth late last night.

Shea-Porter had raised only $34,700 through Aug. 23, and had $17,800 on hand. Craig had raised $325,000 and reported $194,000 on hand, according to official campaign finance reports.

►Official results not yet available
►U.S. House, 1st District - Democrats (detailed results)
►U.S. House, 1st District - GOP (detailed results)
►Bass and Hodes to face off again in 2nd
►U.S. House, 2nd District - GOP (detailed results)
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►State Senate - GOP (detailed results)
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►Executive Council (detailed results)
►State House - GOP (detailed results)
►State House - Democrats (detailed results)
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►Former AG Heed wins both county attorney races
►Merrimack County GOP ousts Sheriff Jordan
►Nashua Democrats found no contested races on ballot
►Uncontested races (complete list)
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Craig said last night he was warned early in the campaign that Shea-Porter had a strong grassroots organization, but he could not say why he lost.

"Jeb Bradley is still the target," he said. "I still think it will be a Democratic year in the House."

In the two Republican congressional primaries, with 64 percent of the votes counted, Bass had 74 percent of the 2nd District vote to 15 percent for Danderson and 11 percent for Maxwell.

With 90 percent of the 1st District votes counted, Bradley had received 86 percent to 14 percent for Callis.

Shea-Porter focused mostly on Bradley during the primary campaign but was at times critical of Craig's "anointment" as the preferred nominee by the Washington-based Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. It's questionable whether the DCCC will focus on the 1st District, since it bases its decision on which races to target on the Democratic candidate's ability to raise money.

State Democratic Chairman Kathy Sullivan said Shea-Porter's win was "symbolic of the fact that people want a change of direction." She said Shea-Porter's call for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq by a date certain "is not on the fringes, despite what the Republicans will say. It reflects the majority of people in New Hampshire."

She said the congressional elections "will be referenda on the Bush administration. If you like the Bush administration, then vote for the two guys who've been supporting him. If you're not happy and think it's time for a change, then vote for the Democrats."

But state Republican National Committeeman Tom Rath said Sullivan "can't find a way to beat either one of them, so she tries to convince voters that they are someone other than who they are. The people know Charlie Bass and Jeb Bradley. They will be reelected comfortably."

Bradley last night said he was "gratified" by the strong primary vote and said he welcomes "a vigorous debate focused on the issues and the records."

Bass said that since he faced Hodes two years ago, "I expect nothing will change. I expect him to be on the attack and very negative, talking about the Democratic campaign committee line. I'll talk about the things I've been doing for New Hampshire, regarding low taxes, the environment and many other issues."

Bass said the Democratic strategy is to "nationalize all the races, but all politics is local and I've worked with New Hampshire people now for a dozen years on issues I know are important to them. Some may be Republican issues. Others may not be."