Nearly three weeks after Jeanne Shaheen entered the race for Republican John Sununu's Senate seat, transforming the contest and generating national attention, she has turned to the decidedly lower-profile task of asking for votes.

Yesterday, that meant snacking on pepperoni pizza and chatting, for nearly two hours, with about a dozen employees at Page Belting in Boscawen. The crowds of supporters who trekked to Shaheen's Madbury home to witness her announcement weren't present, nor were camera crews. It was, Shaheen said, simply an attempt to "get a sense of how people in New Hampshire are feeling about what needs to happen in Washington."

Calling for an end to partisan "gridlock," Shaheen stressed the need for ending the war in Iraq, a focus on renewable energy and investment in stem cell research. Noting the day's news - President Bush vetoed legislation that would expand a children's health insurance program - she criticized what she deemed Bush's hypocrisy.

Despite vetoing the health insurance measure, Bush "didn't have any problem with the bill that had the bridge to nowhere in Alaska in it; he signed that just fine," Shaheen said. "That's the kind of special interests that we need to stop if we're going to make Washington work again."

Shaheen, a Democrat and former three-term governor, described her return to the campaign trail as a reluctant one, driven by the condition of Washington politics.

"When I left the governor's office in 2003, I really didn't think I was going to run for office again," she said. But "as I watched what was happening in Washington, I got more and more concerned that we need to

make a change, that it's not working, particularly for middle-class families."

Shaheen narrowly lost to Sununu in 2002. This time around, Shaheen is the clear favorite of national Democrats; her entry into the contest prompted two Democrats, Katrina Swett and Steve Marchand, to withdraw. Shaheen still faces one Democratic primary opponent, Dartmouth Medical School professor Jay Buckey.

Talking up her gubernatorial record, Shaheen touted her ability to work across party lines. Responding to a comment about bickering in Washington, Shaheen said that "one of the things that has been the most discouraging is watching the maneuvering, really, for what seems like partisan benefit."

Page Belting President Mark Coen echoed the candidate's concerns about partisan politics.

"My big disappointment is the Democratic leadership in Washington," said Coen, who criticized Democratic leaders for failing to enact change and praised Shaheen's political style. As governor, "I think she did a very good job of working on both sides of the political spectrum."

But for the most part, Shaheen spent more time questioning than making speeches. She probed Page Belting employees about co-payments for doctor's visits, Section 8 housing vouchers and pensions. She asked about their daily commutes, their children and their political concerns. The lunch - Shaheen's second "brown bag" with voters since announcing her candidacy - was a low-key affair and a break from fundraising, which Shaheen said has consumed most of her time.

After Coen presented Shaheen with a pink leather case (for her new business cards, he said), she recalled her past in leather production. When she first married her husband, Bill Shaheen, they had a leather and silver shop in York Beach, Maine, she said.

"I like the way she talks; she's absolutely right - we need some new blood and direction in the Senate," said Donna Hersey, who travels to Page Belting every day from her home in Sanford, Maine, before working a second part-time job. "It seems like bickering between Republicans and Democrats, and we need to get over that."

The political climate is a far cry from what it was in 2002, Shaheen said after yesterday's event.

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