Amherst – Many folks who have hit the age of 75 are spending their golden years on the golf course or cruising the Caribbean. Not Howard Morse. He's hitting the pavement campaigning for Sen. Barack Obama and working to keep Democrats in control of the State House.

Morse, a diehard Democratic activist, was born and raised in New Jersey and moved to New Hampshire in the 1970s. After a short stint at teaching at Central High School in Manchester, he opened a gourmet cheese and wine shop in Amherst, which he ran until 1984.

After selling the business, Morse became a wine broker and a consultant to restaurants, helping them design wine lists and training their employees on the finer points of serving wine. He still works in that capacity today, though on a much smaller scale.

Morse always has kept an eye on politics, but for years his activism extended only as far as the voting booth. But in 2003, when Vermont Gov. Howard Deal burst onto the national scene, Morse decided to heed the presidential contender's advice to "stop complaining and get up off the couch."

"I was really angry with what Bush was doing," Morse said.

"I realized didn't have the right to be angry unless I did something to change it."

Morse jumped into political activism with both feet, and within a year, found himself behind bars for the first time after refusing to move his protest of President George W. Bush to an area designated by the police during a visit by Bush to Nashua.

Charged with disorderly conduct, Morse was subsequently acquitted.

His new activism led him to the Amherst Democratic Committee, which was seeking candidates to fill uncontested seats on the state level. In 2006, with no one challenging incumbent Peter Bragdon (R-Milford), Morse threw his hat into the ring for a state senate seat.

What Morse -- and most people in New Hampshire -- didn't expect, was the political upheaval that occurred across the country last November, including in New Hampshire, where Republicans found themselves vacating seats they had comfortably held for nearly a century.

Morse, who had no real desire to serve in the Senate, nearly rode the Democratic tidal wave into the State House, pulling in 47 percent of the vote.

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"I didn't want to win; I wasn't prepared to serve," Morse said, "And if I had done anything to campaign, I would have won."

Now serving as treasurer of a newly energized Democratic Committee in Amherst, Morse is hoping to hold onto the majority in Concord during the next election.

"You can't win elections by only playing every four years," he said.

"As our conservative friends have taught us, you have to be campaigning all the time."

Local politics aside, Morse is also campaigning hard for Obama, his chosen candidate for the presidential election.

"I'm tired of the same old, same old in politics," Morse said.

"There's been nothing new or creative, no real change, in a long time. But Obama thinks outside the box. He isn't married to the old formula."

Through his campaign efforts, Morse has found himself surrounded by young people whose contageous enthusiasm for Obama, he said, has been a breath of fresh air for the septuagenarian.

"I don't want to be with people who sit around and talk about their health and doctors and the new medications they're taking," Morse said.

"I have more fun with young people, and remaining young and healthy is a product of having fun."

Morse said his age and experience also have helped him see through claims that Obama is too young and too green to be President.

"I'll admit that Obama's lack of experience was a concern I had," Morse said.

"But then I thought about it and realized that Cheney and Rumsfeld both had age and experience behind them, and look where it got us. It's not about the age; it's about the person."