John DiStaso, the New Hampshire Union Leader's senior political writer, began writing "Granite Status" in 1982. His influential reports on behind-the-scenes politics in the first-primary state are must reading every Thursday for insiders from Concord to Washington, D.C. Watch for "Granite Status" updates on UnionLeader.com whenever New Hampshire political news breaks.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Nashua Republican Jennifer Horn is expected to announce tomorrow that she will once again run for the 2nd Congressional District U.S. House seat in 2010.

Horn was her party's nominee for same seat last year, losing to Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes.

Hodes is leaving the seat to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Judd Gregg.

Horn campaign manager David Chesley today said only that Horn will make an announcement Wednesday on "whether or not she will run" for the seat. The announcement is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at the Legislative Office Building in Concord.

HORN

But veteran Republican strategist David Tille emailed friends this morning that Horn "will officially announce her candidacy" at the LOB event.

Tille told the Granite Status he received the information from "someone close to" Horn and he wanted to invite some friends to support her.

Horn's expected announcement will come a week after former Rep. Charlie Bass announced that he is seriously exploring a run for the same seat, which he held for six terms before being defeated by Democrat Hodes in 2006.

Horn told the Granite Status last week she would not be swayed by Bass's move.

Democrat Ann McLane Kuster is also a candidate for the 2nd District seat, while Katrina Swett is expected to formally join the race later this month.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE, Part 2: The New Hampshire Republican Party will host U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner at a fund-raiser next month.

Boehner, R-Ohio, last appeared in New Hampshire in the summer of 2008 to campaign for then-congressional candidate Jeb Bradley.

State Republican Party spokesman Ryan Williams said the Boehner fund-raiser will be in Manchester or Concord, with the precise venue yet to be determined.

Tickets will be $100-a-person and more for hosts or sponsorships.

A BASS COMEBACK? Charlie Bass is a pretty cautious guy, so you can bet that he wouldn’t be filing a campaign finance committee if he didn’t feel confident about regaining the 2nd District U.S. House seat he held for six terms before being ousted by Paul Hodes in 2006.

As this column first reported on UnionLeader.com yesterday, the Peterborough Republican confirmed that today, he will file a statement of candidacy and a Bass Victory Committee for 2010 with the Federal Election Commission.

Bass had toyed with the idea of running for the U.S. Senate, but decided several weeks ago that if he was going to run for office, it would be for the House.

He said yesterday he is not officially a candidate and will make a formal decision later this year or early in 2010. But now, he’ll have a committee in which to deposit what he said are thousands he’s received recently in unsolicited contributions. And now he will be able to begin raising more.

He said he will also tap about $37,000 he has in his existing ‘06 campaign committee.

His move has not chased away 2008 GOP 2nd District nominee Jennifer Horn.

“It does not change my course at all and I will make an announcement when I originally planned to make an announcement, which is the near future,” Horn said.

She said she continues to explore a 2010 candidacy but has not yet decided whether to run. She has not yet filed a statement of candidacy or exploratory committee.

Bass said he has received “a lot of encouragement.”

He said that despite the filings, “I am not a candidate for Congress, but I have decided to move to the next level.”

But in the eyes of the FEC, when he filed a statement of candidacy and a campaign finance committee, he will be a candidate.

OLD FRIENDS. Bass tapped 20 long-time friends and advisers for his exploratory committee.They include Bing Judd of Pittsburg, Jack Tulley of Nashua, Vahrij Manoukian of Hollis, Jim Hardy of Pelham, Scott Hillard of Northfield, Nancy Dwight of Lyme, Victoria Zachos of Concord, Eric Stohl of Colebrook, Tom Brady of Jefferson and Richard “Stretch” Kennedy of Hopkinton.

Also: Brien Ward of Littleton, Tom Rath of Concord, Steve Griffin of Berlin, Jane Lane of Keene, Dan St. Hillaire of Concord, Scott Mason of North Stratford, Chuck Morse of Salem, Arto Leino of Keene and Sam and Ellen De Young of Swanzey.

In a statement, Bass said, “I am proud of my life in public service and believe strongly that we need elected officials in Washington who understand the challenges facing our state and who are committed to finding pragmatic solutions, not simply engaged in partisan politics.”

Bass, 57, has been running for office on and off for three decades. Son of a former congressman and grandson of a former governor, Bass lost a bid for Congress in a 1980 GOP primary, but later served three terms as a state representative and two terms in the state Senate.

A moderate, especially on social issues, Bass was defeated by conservative David Wheeler in 1992.Two years later, as part of the GOP takeover of the U.S. House under Newt Gingrich, he beat Democrat Dick Swett to begin the first of six terms before losing to Democrat Paul Hodes in the Democratic sweep of 2006.

With Hodes now moving on as a Senate candidate, the seat is open and Bass is convinced that the political pendulum is moving back to the center.

Time will tell if the sentiments of the moderate-to-liberal 2nd District are shifting again.

State Democratic Party Executive Director Mike Brunelle noted that Bass will run on the 30th anniversary of his first run for office. He said voters want to move forward rather than “look to the politics of the past.”Brunelle asked, “What’s next? Is Bill Zeliff going to run for Congress in the 1st CD?”

BENDER GETS IN. Republican businessman Jim Bender of Hollis, who’s interest in running for the U.S. Senate was first reported here a week ago, confirms that today he will file the necessary papers to set up an exploratory committee.

While Bender says he’s merely exploring, his new Web site says point blank, “I am running for the U.S. Senate from New Hampshire” to reduce spending, simplify the tax code and government regulations and change the U.S. Constitution to allow for “strict congressional term limits.”

OVIDE’S “527.” Potential GOP U.S. Senate candidate Ovide Lamontagne has not yet filed exploratory papers with the FEC, but he has set up a “527,” called “Ovide TTW (Testing The Waters)” to raise money.

A “527” is a political or advocacy organization named after a section of the U.S. tax code that does not fall under FEC regulations and are not subject to federal contribution limits.

Lamontagne adviser Jim Merrill says Lamontagne “has raised money necessary to test the waters for a potential candidacy. He has been honored by the response from friends and supporters who have provided the resources to travel the state and explore a race.

“Pursuant to FEC regulations, if he decides to run, all of these contributions and disbursements will be fully disclosed on his first FEC report.”

ANNIE AND FRIENDS. Democratic 2nd District hopeful Ann McLane Kuster is expected to soon be joined in a primary by Katrina Swett, who said recently she will file an exploratory committee later in the fall, and by Concord state Rep. John DeJoie.

A Kuster-Swett primary will offer a clear distinction on the abortion issue, and the pro-choice Kuster has been receiving support from leaders of the abortion rights movement.

Her party at state Sen. Martha Fuller Clark’s home in Portsmouth on Sunday featured Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation and former president of the National Organization for Women.Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL, “visited” by speaker phone.

Other key local Democrats who attended were former party chair Joe Keefe, House Speaker Terie Norelli, state Sen. Amanda Merrill and former state Sens. Katie Wheeler and Burt Cohen.

Kuster will raise more money tomorrow morning in Boston with Bay State Democrats who have ties to past New Hampshire presidential primary campaigns, including veteran consultant Charlie Baker, Ken Robinson, who was John Kerry’s state director in 2004, and Lynda Tocci, who was the get-out-the-vote director for the New Hampshire Democrats’ coordinated campaign during the general election last year after doing the same job for Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign. Also attending will be Betsy Myers, chief operating officer for Obama for America and environmental activists Abby Rockefeller and Lee Halprin of Webster.

THE QUARTER IS HISTORY. Third quarter fund-raising closed at midnight today following a flurry of e-mails from candidates looking for last-minute dollars.

Kuster campaign manager Colin Van Ostern blasted out two fund-raising appeals before 2 p.m. yesterday, including one that appeared shortly after our online report about Bass.

“Tomorrow, Charlie Bass is filing papers to run for Congress again, just a few years after the people of New Hampshire voted him out of office for supporting George W. Bush and his Republican agenda,” wrote Van Ostern.

“How short does he think our memory is?”

Likely Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte sent out an afternoon e-mail: “From the day I started this effort, the Democrat Party has continued to attack me at both the state and national level. They send out press releases attacking me almost daily because they are afraid of my campaign for fiscal responsibility. They know that when voters look at Paul Hodes’ record of unchecked spending by an ever increasing government, and my message of fiscal discipline and limited government, I will win every time.”

“I need your help to defend against their false and desperate attacks,” she wrote.

John DiStaso is senior political reporter of the New Hampshire Union Leader.