Raymond Buckley, who grew up on the poor side of working class, spent 30 years laboring for Democratic causes before he bought his first nearly new car, a year-old Chrysler PT Cruiser with low mileage.

That was in 2003, when he was working for Joe Lieberman's presidential campaign. Buckley immediately volunteered the car to be the JoeMobile, the official vehicle of the campaign.

Over the next six months, Buckley's car - shrink-wrapped in a stars-and-stripes motif, and adorned with photos of Joe and Hadassah Lieberman and a JOE2004 license plate - logged 40,000 miles on parade routes, highways and country roads, with and without its owner at the wheel. Buckley is still paying for the wear and tear.

The JoeMobile story is classic Buckley, friends say, a tale of singular devotion to the Democratic Party with little personal gain - at least, besides a bit of showmanship or an inkling that it might make a good story later - and sometimes personal cost.

In state Democratic circles, Buckley's story is well known. The origins are mythic - he first went door-to-door to canvass at 8; he was an acting town chairman at 14 - but the narrative has shifted to tragedy. Buckley, 47, dreamed for years of becoming House Democratic leader or state Democratic Party chairman. During a fast rise, he came close to each goal but fell short of both. After another decade of service, Buckley - who received considerable credit for the party's historic victories in the last election - finally seemed poised to assume the Democratic chairmanship.

Then a former friend came forward with accusations that Buckley had possessed child pornography, thwarting his bid to be chairman.

Buckley withdrew his candidacy Jan. 5 amid news that he was being investigated by the Manchester police for possible possession of child pornography. The investigation began after Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, a Manchester Republican and Buckley's former housemate, sent a letter to Gov. John Lynch alleging that Buckley had possessed child pornography during the 16 years they lived together in Manchester, before their friendship ended in 1999.

Buckley denied the allegations, which he called "the politics of personal destruction" in a brief statement.

Vaillancourt, a onetime Democrat who evicted Buckley after a personal and political falling out, acknowledged recently that he lacks "hard and fast proof" to link Buckley to child pornography. He also said that he timed his letter to Lynch in part to derail Buckley's campaign, though he said he did so for the benefit of the state, since the chairman's role assumes additional prominence during presidential-primary cycles.

Several leading Democrats have denounced Vaillancourt and expressed hope that Buckley will be exonerated. But regardless of the outcome of the police investigation, Vaillancourt's letter had an immediate impact, depriving Buckley of both the chairmanship and his automatic membership on the Democratic National Committee, which he has held since 1999 as state party vice chairman.

Buckley will also lose his status as elected chairman of the DNC Eastern Region Caucus, which covers the mid-Atlantic and New England. And with his personal and political future uncertain, Buckley - who has played a full-time role for Democrats in every state, local and federal election cycle for 30 years - must watch from the outside as the 2008 presidential primary takes shape.

"This was his golden opportunity," said Chris Pappas, a Manchester Democrat who became friends with Buckley while working on campaigns and serving with him in the House. "This was the right time for him, and he certainly deserved it."

A true believer

In three decades, Buckley has done nearly everything for the Democratic Party and its candidates, rising from the bottom to become a campaign manager, strategist, state lawmaker and party leader. Colleagues say Buckley has an unrivaled memory for names, faces and relationships, making him an especially skilled organizer. He is passionate about campaign history, with the ability to recall obscure past office-holders and a fondness for instilling in college students and other newly arrived campaign workers a sense that they are participating in something valuable, a link in the chain of political history.

Friends and colleagues say Buckley is a true believer, one who sees politics in black and white and views the Democrats as the sole advocates for fairness, equality and support for the downtrodden. For 30 years, he has sustained the hours - dawn-to-midnight, seven days a week - that many abandon after one or two campaigns. He has been guided by a devotion to the party and a vision of Democrats rising in a Republican state. In November, Democrats won control of the New Hampshire House, Senate and governor's office concurrently for the first time in over 130 years. Buckley wanted to be party chairman to celebrate and cement those new majorities.

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