Veteran Democratic Leaders Jean Hennessey, Marion Copenhaver
                                Lead Upper Valley Activists Announcing Their Support for Kerry

                    MANCHESTER, NH – Veteran Upper Valley Democratic leaders Jean Hennessey and Marion
                    Copenhaver and other Upper Valley Democratic activists today announced their decision to
                    support John Kerry in New Hampshire’s presidential primary.

                    Hennessey, who is a veteran of New Hampshire Democratic presidential campaigns going back
                    to John Kennedy and has spent her professional life on environmental matters and international
                    policy issues, said, “I believe that John Kerry's service on the Foreign Relations and Intelligence
                    Committees of the Senate puts him in the strongest position to repair our badly damaged
                    credibility in the world. His courageous military service in Vietnam will make him invulnerable to
                    the Republican strategy to defame Democrats as `unpatriotic.’ Kerry’s proposals for energy
                    sustainability will reduce our reliance on foreign oil, and he is in the best position to implement
                    an effective international program to halt global warming.” Hennessey has served as the U.S.
                    Director of the NAFTA Commission on Environmental Cooperation, Commissioner of the
                    International Joint Commission for the United States and Canada, Director of Dartmouth's
                    Institute on Canada and the United States and as board member of the Woodrow Wilson
                    International Center for Scholars. Hennessey also was the first director of N.H. Charitable
                    Foundation.

                    Copenhaver, who served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives representing Hanover
                    for 14 terms and concentrated on health care issues as a member of the Health, Human Services
                    and Elderly Affairs Committee, said, "I agree with the consensus of independent health care
                    experts who recently announced that John Kerry's proposed health care plan is the most cost
                    effective and strongest. Not only will Kerry’s plan cover all Americans, but by helping employers
                    cover the cost of catastrophic health cases, it will lower the premiums for the 163 million who
                    already have insurance through their workplaces. Kerry’s plan simultaneously provides more
                    protection for those who are the sickest and, by reducing employers' costs by 10% or more, it
                    will stimulate the economy.” Copenhaver has also served on a number of non-profit boards
                    including the Grafton County Senior Citizens Council, the Norris Cotton Cancer Center Board of
                    Overseers, and Grafton County Soil Conservation Board.

                    Other Upper Valley Democratic activists announcing their support for John Kerry today include
                    Richard Abel, Lebanon; Carman Deuso, Lebanon; Susan Gray, West Lebanon; James Heffernan,
                    Hanover; Elizabeth Hunter, Hanover; Barbara Jones, Lebanon; Judith Kaufman, Cornish; Claire
                    Lobell, Hanover; John and Merideth Lunn, Newport; Howard Shaffer, Enfield; Molly Shatavsky,
                    Hanover; Ginny Smith, West Lebanon: George and Jayne Sykes, Lebanon; and Flobert Tanga,
                    Lebanon.

                    Upper Valley Democratic activists who previously announced their endorsement of John Kerry
                    include former Congressional nominee Barney Brannen, Lyme; State Senator Clifton Below;
                    Lebanon; State Representative Susan Almy, Lebanon; Dartmouth's student body president Janos
                    Marton; Lilla McLane-Bradley, Hanover; and Perry Williamson, Hanover.