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.

EMOTIONAL, "POLITICAL." Even before the lunch break during a long House session yesterday, the mood at the State House was tense. Tempers were held in check, but the war of words shifted into high gear over the war in Iraq.

The House, voting generally along partisan lines, passed a resolution 215-151 calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. After the two-hour debate, and after the vote, scores of lawmakers who voted on the losing side -- most, but not all, Republicans -- lined up to register their protest with the House clerk and Speaker Terie Norelli.

House Republican Leader Michael Whalley said it was "the saddest day of my legislative career," calling the vote "purely political."

Whalley noted that the voters spoke last November when they put Democrats in power, and this was the result.

"This is the way it is now," Whalley said. "We're not going to change it. The voters will have to decide in a year and a half if they want to maintain this course or go with, as the (Democratic) governor has said, New Hampshire solutions in the New Hampshire tradition.

"Boy," Whalley added, "we've come a long way from that."

But Assistant Majority Leader Bette Lasky would hear none of it.

"They had so much conviction in there that they wanted to table the resolution," she said of the Republicans.

"This is grandstanding," she said about the long line of protesting GOP lawmakers. "When we were in the minority, we never did anything like that. I believe we always showed them a lot more respect than they showed us. This (protest) has nothing to do with the war in Iraq. It's about politics."

Rarely outspoken, former speaker Gene Chandler, R-Bartlett, said the vote sent "a message of non-support to our troops" and "it's just plain wrong." Chandler said the resolution would have "no effect on Congress," but would have a "demoralizing effect" on New Hampshire troops who read about the vote or hear about it from family members.

"But," he said in frustration, "we'll move on."

WHERE'S THE REPUBLICAN PARTY?

"Has the Republican Party gone for a hike?" Conservative activist and Cornerstone Policy Research executive director Karen Testerman was unhappy before the vote on civil unions and a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman.

She said that although the definition is a "core principle" of the state GOP platform, new state chairman Fergus Cullen has been "ashamedly silent" on the bills that were to come up yesterday.

"Her anger is misdirected," Cullen countered. "I'm more interested knowing what John Lynch's position is. Will he sign or veto (the civil unions bill)? I don't have a vote, and our primary function at the party headquarters is not to be involved in legislative matters."

He acknowledged that the party issued a press release criticizing the recent parental notification law repeal, but said the Republican caucus "has not taken a formal position on this battery of bills. The day-to-day goings on at the State House should be left to our elected legislators, not party officials."

A DEM HOLDOUT?

Back at the State House, former income tax supporter Sen. Iris Estabrook, D-Durham, isn't saying how she feels about Lynch's proposed constitutional amendment. The governor needs her vote (plus the rest of the Democratic caucus and Republican Bob Odell) for the 60 percent super-majority needed to pass his plan to the House. It's early, though, and the tough discussions are ahead.

MORE FOR OBAMA

Lawmakers were also keeping an eye on Presidential politics.

We've learned of a set of House endorsements for Democrat Barack Obama, who returns to the state next Tuesday for public events in Rochester and Portsmouth.

Signing on with Obama this week were Reps. Sally Kelly of Chichester, Sid Lovett of Holderness, Nancy Warren and Deborah Billian of Rochester, Jim Powers of Portsmouth, Jim Kennedy of Exeter and C. Pennington "Penn" Brown of Epping.

THE EDWARDSES

A week after John Edwards announced he will continue his campaign despite his wife's battle with cancer, his campaign announced the couple will visit New Hampshire on Monday.

The Edwardses are scheduled to hold town hall meetings at Concord High School and the UNH-Durham campus and tour former Tom Vilsack supporter Gary Hirshberg's Stonyfield Farm yogurt plant in Londonderry.

CLINTON'S NEW OFFICE

Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire campaign has secured office space for its state headquarters at 34 Fir St. in Manchester. The New York senator will return to the state on Friday to be the guest speaker at NEA-New Hampshire's annual meeting at the Grappone Center in Concord.

MORE VISITS

Republican Mitt Romney is back in the state next Tuesday with campaign stops in Keene and Derry. He'll also keynote the joint Merrimack-Sullivan County Lincoln Day Dinner in Sunapee on April 15.

Former state Sen. Bob Flanders, R-Antrim, is a new Romney supporter.

Democrat Dennis Kucinich will visit the state twice next month, on April 4 and 5 and again on April 15 and 16. Stops include a Politics and Eggs breakfast in Bedford, Saint Anselm College, New England College, Concord, Manchester, Durham, Auburn and Portsmouth.

Democrat Bill Richardson also returns next Wednesday and Thursday with stops in Manchester, at New England College and Dartmouth College, and in Littleton, Whitefield, Berlin and Center Sandwich.

Rep. Jim Ryan, D-Franklin, by the way, confirms being courted by several campaigns, including the Richardson and Clinton organizations, for a key position. But he said his primary concern yesterday was "to get through the House calendar."

McCAIN CAMP ADJUSTMENT

John McCain's national field director, former Granite Stater Michael Dennehy, says he has moved his former business associate, Sarah Crawford, from the campaign post of New England deputy political director to deputy campaign manager in New Hampshire.

"We need another seasoned hand to organize our political operations and volunteer efforts in New Hampshire," Dennehy said, "and Sarah knows the terrain, the people and the players better than anyone else on the ground."

DONE JUST FOR FUN

But the results of an American Research Group poll to be released today are no fun for Republican Sen. John Sununu, who's up for reelection in 2008.

ARG pollster Dick Bennett decided to do a head-to-head between Sununu and former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, whom Sununu defeated nearly five years ago. Bennett said it was "just for fun," but also said Sununu "seems concerned about his relationship with the Bush administration, and when he distanced himself from the President, I thought there might be something there."

Although Shaheen has not said if she will run for the Senate in 2008, Bennett wanted a comparison to 2002. "The answer is, he acts concerned and probably should be."

And his problems stem from Bush, who registered an all-time low approval rating in the Granite State, 17 percent.

Based on 551 random phone interviews of registered voters (169 Republicans, 152 Democrats and 230 undeclared), Shaheen received 44 percent, Sununu 34 percent, and undecided 22 percent. The survey was taken March 25 through 28 and has a margin of error of 4.2 percent.

The poll showed that 17 percent of Republicans favored Shaheen and 16 percent were undecided, while only 1 percent of Democrats favored Sununu with 7 percent undecided. Independents split, 32 percent each way, with 36 percent undecided.

In October 2002, ARG found Shaheen with 43 percent, Sununu with 51 percent and 6 percent undecided.

While 17 percent of those surveyed approved of the way Bush is handling his job, 66 percent disapproved and 17 percent were undecided.

Bennett said that of the 17 percent who approved of Bush, "virtually all" favored Sununu. Of the 66 percent who disapproved of Bush, 53 percent favored Shaheen, 21 percent favored Sununu and 26 percent were undecided. Among the 17 percent undecided on Bush, 34 percent favored Shaheen, 11 percent favored Sununu and 55 percent were undecided.

"Looking at it another way," Bennett said, "82 percent of those saying they would vote for Shaheen disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job, none approve, and 18 percent are undecided."

ARG also found Gov. John Lynch's approval rating at 64 percent, with 10 percent disapproving and 26 percent undecided.

ROOKIE MISTAKE?

Rep. Carol Shea-Porter's chief of staff, Harry Gural, called it a mistake by an inexperienced intern. The congresswoman's government Web site contained a press release dated Feb. 16 announcing that she "once again plans to run a campaign (in 2008) based more on message than money."

House rules clearly forbid political press releases from appearing on taxpayer-funded congressional Web sites.

"She has launched her campaign at taxpayer expense," said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ken Spain. "It's either a blatant disregard for House ethics rules or another stumble on the part of Carol Shea-Porter."

When informed by the Status that the release was on the Web site, Gural immediately took it down.

He said it was "an inadvertent error by a junior staffer and does not reflect the high standards we set for our office."