The magazine of the North Carolina Center for Voter Education • Saturday May 19, 2012

The Remarkable Journey of 'Granny D'

By Damon Circosta
Published: Mar. 22, 2010

RALEIGH - In 1994, a movie about a simple man who “just kept running” opened to rave reviews. Forrest Gump and his run across America struck a chord with the public.

Forrest wasn’t running for any particular cause. But since the movie was released, there have been untold numbers of folks who have been inspired to cross the country on foot to raise awareness of one thing or another.

One such woman was Doris Haddock. Doris wasn’t an endurance athlete, or even in particularly good shape. The cause she was trying to raise awareness of -- campaign finance reform -- doesn’t really tug at the heartstrings.

Given the up tick in people running across America and her somewhat esoteric cause, her story could easily have gotten lost among the multitudes. Except for one thing: Doris Haddock began her trek when she was 88 years old.

Doris, who went by the name “Granny D,” set out from Los Angeles in 1999 and walked 10-20 miles a day -- for more than a year. Along the way she gathered support for campaign finance reform and used the novelty of her age to focus media attention on the cause. By the time she got to Washington, D.C. she had attracted thousands to walk with her. Even a couple of congressmen strolled with her for the last few miles.

Granny D passed away earlier this month. She was 100 years old.

If Doris Haddock were a Hollywood character, like Forrest Gump, then her story would have ended triumphantly. Campaign finance reform would have been enacted, elections would have been returned to the people and our democracy would be thriving. Her movie would have closed with her smiling from the gallery as the president thanked her for ushering in a new era of confidence in government.

Unfortunately, Doris Haddock’s story was not scripted by Hollywood. A few weeks before she passed, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a case that could undermine the reforms for which she worked so hard. In a statement she released after the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, the despair of a 100-year-old woman is evident.

“Reform groups are trying to staunch the flow of special-interest money into our political campaigns, but they are mostly whistling in a wind that has become a gale force of corrupting cash,” she wrote. Clearly she was frustrated.

The not-so-Hollywood reality is that happy endings are hard to come by. When it comes to policy change, they are exceedingly rare. For every Mr. Smith who goes to Washington, there are countless thousands who give it their all and come up short. Granny D, for all the miles she logged, all the speaking out she did, all the attention she brought to the cause of campaign reform, didn’t get to see in her lifetime a democracy unbridled from corporate cash.

But just because something doesn’t end with a cut-and-dry resolution, doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it. At the movies, the lights come up, the credits roll and everyone goes home. Real life rarely has such squared away moments. Policy fights are hard. Just when you fix one thing, another challenge presents itself.

The story of Granny D isn’t a sad one. The work she did will carry on. Ironically, the Supreme Court decision she despised has breathed new life into efforts for reform. The back and forth continues. Doris Haddock gave her all to fixing something that most people don’t really spend much time thinking about. It might not have ended like a Hollywood film, but she moved things.

Step by step, Doris Haddock forced change.