DECATUR, Ga. - The rain clouds are building over a quiet, middle-class subdivision on the south side of DeKalb County, but Mary Squires doesn't plan to halt her door-to-door campaign anytime soon.
"I only stop when there's lightning," said the three-term state lawmaker who is hoping to become the next U.S. senator from Georgia.
Armed with fliers, the 46-year-old keeps hoofing down the street.
Nobody is home at the first house in this mostly black, heavily Democratic neighborhood. The residents of the second house don't seem too interested in what the redheaded, former-Georgia Army National Guard captain has to say - but they are polite.
Ms. Squires began her low-key efforts last year, before any other Democrat had officially entered the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Zell Miller.
Leaders of the state Democratic Party have kept their distance as she makes her rounds.
That's isn't too much of a concern for Ms. Squires, who says her party's leadership has been almost entirely absent in the Senate race.
"They had no plans of any significance," she said, explaining that she decided to enter the race after watching her party's failure to secure a big-name nominee.
"I didn't go for permission. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't someone in the wings who could beat me. And that person wasn't there."
A former Capitol lobbyist for the Physical Therapy Association of Georgia, Ms. Squires is perhaps best known for calling Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue a racist in 2003.
He had pushed for a state flag referendum that would include the 1956 version - and its racially charged Confederate battle emblem - among the options from which voters would choose.
"The governor is a racist, and these freckly white legs are headed down to the second floor to teach him a lesson," Ms. Squires said on the Senate floor before marching to Mr. Perdue's office to confront him.
More than a year later, she is confident her grass-roots strategy is having an effect and will help her stand out among the eight Democrats in the July 20 primary.
"There will be a blur of names and a blur of slogans, and face-to-face beats all of them," said Ms. Squires, a Florida native whose large Catholic family moved to Augusta when she was 11.
The strategy has worked for her before. While a history student at Augusta College - now Augusta State University - she used her love of conversation to win a seat on the school's student government.
"I flagged every single person down and asked them to vote for me," said Ms. Squires, the oldest of eight children.
Now, she has her eyes on Washington, and she is knocking on doors with a message that many people can understand: increasing jobs and reducing health-care costs.
She is proposing the creation of a federal-state cooperative program to nurture small businesses. The plan would consolidate resources from the state and federal departments of labor and revenue under one roof.
"When small businesses fail, it's often due to a lack of information," Ms. Squires said.
She also wants small businesses to be able to provide health care for their employees by paying directly into a state's Medicaid system.
Mary Hodges Squires
Age: 46
Born: West Palm Beach, Fla.
Lives: Norcross, Gwinnett County
Education: Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of South Florida, 1980
Occupation: Paralegal; former lobbyist; former Georgia Army National Guard captain
Political experience: State senator, 2003-04; state representative, 1999-2003
Family: Twice divorced; two sons, James, 15, and Patrick, 11
Web site: www.marysquires.us
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