In December 1983, we received depressing news from Gary Hart’s national headquarters. The campaign had run out of money. Throughout the year we had built a grass-roots organization of hundreds of committed volunteers across the state who were ready to go door-to-door in the freezing cold to persuade voters to support Hart in the New Hampshire primary that was just weeks away. Now we were told that there would be no campaign literature for our volunteers to give to voters.

We weren’t sure what to do.

But then Sue Casey and I, who were directing the New Hampshire operation, said, “We can do this ourselves!’’

We’d raise the money we needed in New Hampshire and design and print our own lit. Why not?

We called on some of the earliest New Hampshire supporters of Gary Hart — Will Kanteres, Dan and Susan Calegari, Ned and Sally Helms, Jim and Kathy Muirhead — and asked them to help us raise the money. They were enthusiastic and willing to start immediately.

We tapped local advertising genius Merve Weston, who was supporting Hart, to design the lit. Hart had spent so much time in the state that we had lots of great photos to use.

In a matter of days, we raised the money we needed. I remember how excited I was looking over Weston’s shoulder as he laid out the piece. To save money, we had it printed on newsprint in black and white.

With New Hampshire ingenuity and Yankee thrift, we were able to produce more than 100,000 copies, enough to get us to Election Day. And on the night of Feb. 28, 1984, we shocked the nation when Gary Hart upset Walter Mondale and won the first-in-the-nation primary.

Jeanne Shaheen is a US senator from New Hampshire.