`GRANNY D' EAGER TO GET GOING: ODYSSEY PROMOTES CAMPAIGN REFORM.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

With birthday greetings from a Marine Corps band as she entered Arizona and an appearance on ABC's ``Good Morning America,'' Doris ``Granny D'' Haddock was gaining ground in her cross-country march for political finance reform.

Then the 89-year-old activist was set back with a case of pneumonia that forced her into a hospital Jan. 30 for a five-day stay.

Recovering in Phoenix, Haddock said she is raring to get back on the road. Saturday, she was kicking up her heels as a guest at the annual rodeo in neighboring Buckeye.

``With something like this, it has a momentum. If you go off for a week, you have to build it up again. I want to be out there. I don't want them to forget me,'' said Haddock, who is staying at the home of Dennis Burke, Arizona Common Cause director and coordinator of her travels through the state.

Haddock started her 10-mile-a-day journey in Pasadena on New Year's Day, vowing to walk across the country to the nation's capitol to draw attention to campaign finance reform.

A veteran activist from Dublin, N.H., Haddock wants Americans to push Congress to pass a measure that would ban the use of unlimited, unregulated large donations to political parties, known as ``soft money.''

The sight of a diminutive great-grandmother, wearing a broad-brimmed straw hat and sturdy hiking boots, tromping along rural highways leaves a strong impression on her growing legion of followers.

``She's very delightful, young at heart and has a lot of get up and go. She's just a real dynamite lady,'' said Sandy Pierce, the mayor of Parker, Ariz.

Also pulling for Haddock are those who noticed news accounts of her journey and turned to Granny D's hotline or the Web sites tracking her progress. Some circulate petitions. Others offer food and lodging along the way.

Jim Hightower, a progressive reformer and former Texas agriculture commissioner, talks to Haddock weekly during his radio show syndicated on nearly 100 stations in 35 states.

``I want to encourage her by getting other people, as we say, to walk symbolically with her by getting them to sign the petitions,'' he said. ``My listeners are what I call radioactive. They're not just listeners, they want to take action.''

``Agitate'' is the theme of ``Hightower's Chat and Chew'' show broadcast from an Austin, Texas, restaurant. ``Our heroes are not the sports figures or politicians but the people who stand up and say, hell no, I'm not going to take it anymore. She fits right up there with the best of them,'' he said.

``Good Morning America'' cameras accompanied Haddock during the highlights of her rest stop in Parker, showing the footage during its broadcast interview with her.

Haddock celebrated her birthday on Jan. 23 in the Colorado River vacation spot, and it was a day to remember. The Marine Corps band from Twentynine Palms played for Haddock as Pierce led her across the bridge into Arizona. Then Haddock led the town's annual parade.

``Her timing was excellent. We had our grand marshal, but we went ahead and put her ahead. We thought it was remarkable what she was doing,'' Pierce recalled. ``The People's Day Parade is like a celebration for the winter visitors, the seniors, and we just felt like a lady that age was an inspiration.''

The town's turnout inspired Haddock. ``It was probably one of the highlights of my life.''

Such support, including city keys from Upland and Parker and receptions in San Bernardino, Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms, has given Haddock energy for the often lonely stretches.

``I hoped for it, but I didn't anticipate it,'' she said. ``I came out saying I would like to create a groundswell of interest in campaign finance reform. I'm afraid it's still about me more than the message.''

Salome, Ariz., provided the latest shot of support. ``They greeted me with sirens, and kids came running out onto the street with little pieces of paper and said, would you give me your autograph?''

The next day Haddock was riding in an ambulance to the Wickenburg, Ariz., hospital. She was released Wednesday after treatment for pneumonia and dehydration.

Reflecting the defiant streak that has left doubters quailing in her wake, Haddock said she must have gotten the flu from someone among the throngs she has met.

``I walked through the desert with great briskness and felt very wonderful when this hit me,'' she recalled. ``(The doctors) said all you have to do is shake a hand and you've got it.''

The rigors of the road could have contributed to her illness. When she couldn't find donated lodging, Haddock spent nights inside the unheated camper van that Burke and other Common Cause members had been driving alongside her through the California desert and into Arizona.

Burke said Haddock will no longer spend nights on the road, giving supporters the task of finding nightly lodging.

``She's not delusional in any way about her risks. Nor is she going to become a martyr,'' he said. ``And frankly, we figured there would need to be stops along the way.''

Burke took over assisting the pilgrim for political change from Ralph Langley, an Upland retiree and Common Cause member. But it was Langley who was there Wednesday to take Haddock from the hospital to Burke's home in Phoenix - a sure sign of Haddock's impact.

Lately she has spent as much time with doctors as her supporters. One put her through a series of chest and heart tests Thursday, including time on a treadmill. Another gave her stress tests Friday.

Haddock feels good and hopes to resume her journey back in Salome on Wednesday.

``I'm raring to go.''

After all, she needs to make Wickenburg next weekend.

``I hope to make Gold Rush Days. That would be fortuitous. Somebody's looking out for me.''

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Map

MAP: Haddock has progressed to Salome. The next goal is to reach Wickenburg.