Talk about being ungraceful.

Republican Carol Elliott lost her bid for her fourth term as country treasurer for Grafton County, MSNBC and The Dartmouth reports. What is remarkable is that she lost to a 20-year-old junior at Dartmouth from Big Sky, Montana. Vanessa Sievers, who is set to graduate with a degree in geography and history in 2010, said that she had nothing against 66-year-old Elliott, but wanted to take the position "to a new level."

Elliott, who had never been challenged in her previous three-terms, said from the outset that she didn't believe that Sievers could handle the job. She came at her opponent and said that she couldn't handle a college schedule and the position. Students didn't believe her, though, and Sievers won by nearly 600 votes out of 42,000 cast. Much of her advertising targeted voters at Dartmouth and Plymouth State University, spending only $42 on a Facebook ad.

Well, Elliott didn't like that.

Elliott is very upset. She seems to blame everyone but herself: 

"It was the brainwashed college kids that made the difference," Elliott, 66, told the Valley News of Lebanon. She said she had little faith that Sievers will fulfill her duties adequately.

"You've got a teenybopper for a treasurer," said Elliott, who has held the position for six years. "I'm concerned for the citizens of Grafton County." 

Sievers, however, is refusing to take Elliott's bait: 

Sievers said Wednesday she was surprised by Elliott's "brutal attack."

"She's never met me before," Sievers said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "She has no idea what I'm like."

 

Sievers... she has been active in politics for many years and has worked on numerous New Hampshire campaigns, ranging from the mayoral race in Lebanon to Bill Richardson's presidential campaign.

"I've always believed that being involved in local government is part of your responsibility as a citizen and is a way to get involved in your community," she said.

 

Sievers said her age has nothing to do with her qualifications, noting that she has worked as a bookkeeper, managed her family's finances and has been thoroughly researching investment options to prepare for her new job.  

Major props to Sievers for staying classy, and getting college students involved in local politics. With the huge youth turn out in this year's election, we can only hope that young people can continue to start making their mark on the world. I'll leave you with this awesome quote Sievers gave regarding "brain-washed" college students, and hope that, somewhere, Carol Elliott is reading and learning her lesson about insulting things she doesn't understand.

 "I don't know why people think college students are less informed than other members of the community. A lot of students get very, very involved in their communities, are extraordinarily involved in politics in the area, in doing community service, everything," she said. "I think college students are connected, and sometimes know more than the 'real' citizens... I think we're just as real citizens as anyone else in the county."