Congressional hopeful Lori Handrahan has come to the tiny fishing village of Lubec armed with her legal pad, a second cup of coffee and a host of questions.

Able to rattle off the area’s rather dismal economic statistics – its high unemployment and a marked decline in the once lucrative sardine industry – the 32-year-old development expert has come prepared.

But the rather surprised townspeople here aren’t completely sure why the candidate for national office is so interested.

“This town’s dead. There’s no votes here. There’s no money here,” said the town’s harbor master, Mark Staggs, inside his small office on the sheltered harbor. “The only reason to be here, that I can see, is because it’s the right thing to do.”

But the Sorrento Democrat – one of six vying for her party’s nomination in the crowded race for the open 2nd Congressional District seat – knows exactly why she’s here.

Although just 127 Democrats voted here in the last contested primary when Bangor Democrat John Baldacci first won the seat in 1994, Handrahan is well aware of the importance of this small town – and the hundreds like it all over the sprawling district.

“Seventy percent of Maine is rural, and your issues are rural issues,” Handrahan explained to Staggs, who sat down with the candidate to review the harbor’s woes including the gradual demise of its resident fishing fleet. “Anyone who stays in Bangor and Lewiston isn’t seeing the whole state.”

In February, when Democratic Party caucuses were held the same day in communities across the state, Handrahan was the only candidate not to attend events in either Bangor or Lewiston. Instead, she spent the day at a relatively tiny gathering in Farmington, next door to her hometown of New Sharon.

Handrahan speaks fondly of growing up in the Franklin County town, cutting firewood and waiting on tables through high school, and later, college.

After graduating with her doctorate from the London School of Economics, Handrahan made her home in Washington, D.C., working as a private consultant and human rights advocate. The job often took her overseas – including a two-year stint in the former Soviet Union – to promote civil and women’s rights in developing countries.

While some of her competitors have quietly labeled her a wealthy carpetbagger for her sudden return to the state, the candidate sees her work in the nation’s capital as an asset for the district.

“This is not about who’s spent the most time in Maine. This is about who can be more effective in Washington fighting for Maine,” Handrahan said in a recent interview from her Ellsworth campaign office. “A record in Augusta does not mean you know how to get things done in Washington.”

But perhaps more important, Handrahan said she hoped her return to Maine could serve as an example for the state’s young people, the best and brightest of whom routinely leave the state for economic opportunities to the south.

Handrahan recently looked to take that message to a class of sixth-graders at the Lubec Middle School, where she gave an impromptu lesson on firm handshakes and questioning authority.

After a leadership exercise – in which Handrahan eventually corralled the 18 giggling pupils into a circle and somehow convinced them to hold hands – a group of girls flocked to the candidate, asking her how they could improve after-school activities in their “boring” town.

For Handrahan, the issues facing the district are a bit more complex.

Perhaps the most outspoken candidate on reproductive rights, Handrahan often takes to task party rival state Sen. Michael Michaud of East Millinocket for his anti-abortion stance in a congressional district that hasn’t elected a pro-life representative since the 1972 Roe v. Wade decision.

While on the campaign trail, Handrahan also said she would support efforts to reduce drastically the cost of higher education, making it more accessible to the 75 percent of Mainers who don’t hold at least a bachelor’s degree.

And to help the district lift itself from its economic doldrums, Handrahan said the state would be wise to stray from its hydropower roots and provide incentives for something they can’t see:

Wind.

“It’s not flaky to talk about it anymore,” Handrahan said, noting a recent study that puts Maine at the 19th-highest potential in the nation in what has become a multibillion-dollar industry.

In only her first run for office, Handrahan’s candidacy has impressed the likes of Bowdoin College professor Christian Potholm, who called Handrahan “perhaps the Democrats’ best shot” to keep the seat in a likely run against a moderate Republican.

Win or lose, Handrahan said she’s proud of her campaign and its focus on rural communities.

“If you’re not doing it in the campaign, you’re not going to do it in office,” Handrahan said. “These are real lives and real issues.”

On the Net: www.handrahanforcongress.org.