‘Oh, my hat,” Doris Haddock says on an early October morning as she stretches her small and fragile frame to grab her straw hat. The wide-brimmed feathered hat that sits on top of a gray bust in the corner of her room has become the key to her signature look. She says she never leaves her Dublin home without it.

Before Doris “Granny D” Haddock, leaves the bedroom, she takes one last look in the mirror. She spends several minutes ruffling her white blouse, which had her taken 30 minutes to fix earlier this morning. Her driver carries Haddock’s personal tote bag and they head for the car. Today, Haddock is the featured speaker for Professor Phyllis Zrzavy’s individual and community class at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge.

Zrzavy introduces Haddock as a living legend and national icon whose call is for clean elections. Her guest was the university’s 2002 honoree doctorate recipient and has been a regular visitor to the campus ever since.

Over the next hour Haddock, whose 100th birthday is one month away, sits on a couch and has an informal conversation with about 15 students. She begins by emphasizing the power of “one.”

“My book and movie tries to tell there is a power of ‘one,’” Haddock says. “Everyone has that power. You can be world famous as I am. Don’t use it for yourself. Use it for something else and use it wisely.”

Haddock describes how her crusade for campaign finance reform eventually took her on a cross-country walk to raise awareness on the issue.

At the age of 89, Haddock walked 3,200 miles across the country over a 14-month span. Haddock traveled as a pilgrim, fasting until given food and sleeping on couches along the way.

“I have two arms and two legs, that’s all,” she says. “Anyone can do it.”

Still going strong

Within the last decade, Haddock walked across the country, published a book, ran an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Judd Gregg and starred in the HBO documentary, “Granny D Goes to Washington.”

But that’s not enough. The New Hampshire native, whose name has become synonymous with clean elections, is as active a grass roots activist as ever.

“We have this theory in our culture today where we have to retire from 65 and sit around and do nothing,” Haddock says. “To me, that’s the time to do a lot. You have to be involved in something bigger than yourself.”

Every day Haddock dedicates her daily activities to passing public funding of elections. She has a small group of supporters too. Her fellow activists are members of the Coalition for Open Democracy. They believe public financing should be enacted both at the national and state level to ensure the voices of voters are not drowned out by large corporations and special interests.

A regular in Concord

Some of them join Haddock at the State House in Concord to listen to discussions at a new citizen funded elections task force. The task force was assigned to develop policy to create a system of publicly financed elections in New Hampshire. The bipartisan group was mandated by the passage of a House bill in the last session. The 12-member group includes both current legislators and citizen advocates appointed by the president of the state Senate, speaker of the House and the governor.

Maine, Arizona and Connecticut have already enacted publicly funded elections. Efforts to pass public funding of elections in New Hampshire date back to 2002. New Hampshire activists hope to draft a bill modeled after the three states and the federal bill, Fair Elections Now Act (FENA).

After a recent meeting in the State House, Haddock is inspired by the election task force’s dedication to help make her dream of clean elections a reality.

“I can’t believe they put in as much time as they do,” Haddock says. “If I were to walk again, I’d walk across the country to raise their salaries. I think they are all patriots and do a lot of hard work.”

Carol Wyndham of Peterborough is an activist for public funding of elections. Wyndham works closely with Haddock, and often reminds her that state legislators don’t put inany more work on the issue than Granny D does.

An active lifestyle

At first glance, Haddock appears to play the part of a 99-year-old woman; hunched over with a cane, breathing heavily and constantly adjusting her hearing aid. But when she speaks, especially about clean elections, she transforms into someone much younger and sprightlier than her age. Haddock leads an active lifestyle. She usually retires around 10 p.m. but frequently stays up until the early morning hours responding to e-mails and conducting research on publicly funded elections.

Every Monday Haddock and members of the New Hampshire Citizens for Public Funding of Elections have a conference call. They discuss what strategies to employ and how to further support clean election related bills.

“We are the ones who pushed the legislature for the task force and commission,” Wyndham said. “If they don’t do it, we’ll yap at their heels.”

Leaving a legacy

After tireless years of phone calls and letters to legislators, speeches, meetings and public appearances, there is nothing that will steer Haddock off course from getting public funding of elections passed.

“Well I just feel I want to have a decent legacy for all of my 16 grandchildren and other grandchildren in the world,” Haddock said.

She tries to stay physically fit and walk at least one mile every day on back roads near her small Dublin home. However, her days of training as she did for her cross-country walk 10 years ago are over.

Haddock’s advice for leading a long robust life is simple.

“Don’t overeat,” she said. “Eat proper things. Walk every day and just keep the system moving.”