We can appreciate the difficulty of making a name for yourself as a freshman member of Congress. You go down to Washington, you vote with your party, you bring home a little bacon (or gripe about the pork) and your new constituents have trouble remembering your name.

The trick, come election time, is convincing those constituents that you've spent the past two years working for them - and trying to change the culture of the capital. Trouble is, if you're not careful, the medium can obscure the message.

That's the case in the puzzling story of 2nd District Rep. Paul Hodes and his bountiful, beautiful mailings. Hodes, a Democrat from Concord, is not just the freshman class president. He is also a leader in spending taxpayer money on mail to his constituents - perhaps not exactly the image he was hoping to cultivate.

The demographics of the district may be changing, but no one wants to see their tax dollars frittered away.

In the first half of this year alone, Hodes has spent more than $236,000 on mailers - more than nearly all of his colleagues spent individually in a year. In the past 18 months, he has sent more than a million pieces of mass mail.

By comparison, 1st District Democrat Carol Shea-Porter is positively parsimonious. So far this year, she has spent about $103,000. Last year: $63,901 in all.

Hodes's mailings are also in sharp contrast to those of his predecessor, Republican Charlie Bass. Where Bass sent out black and white missives on cheap paper, Hodes's are sometimes glossy, full-color productions. The most recent included several pictures of Hodes and was easily mistaken for a campaign brochure - despite the blessing of a bipartisan vetting commission.

Surely 2008 looks like a good year for Democrats. Hodes is hoping, no doubt, to focus his reelection campaign on the Republicans' disastrous handling of the war, on the economy and the price of oil. But when the candidate filing period closed last week, there were five Republicans eagerly vying for a chance to take Hodes's place. Too bad he's now given them such an easy target.