The New Hampshire political scene is bursting with activity.

The presidential debates tonight and Tuesday night at Saint Anselm College, co-sponsored by the New Hampshire Union Leader, will be the biggest political event thus far in the 2008 campaign season.

And in Concord, this week will be the most active and important so far this legislative year, coming on the heels of major public policy decisions on Thursday.

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DOES HE HAVE THE VOTES? As of Friday, it didn't look good. But Gov. John Lynch will work hard with the 238 Democratic House members and the GOP minority to try to send voters a constitutional amendment on education funding. That requires 239 votes, which is 60 percent of the 398 current members. The vote is scheduled for Wednesday.

It's unclear how many Democrats are on board with the version approved by the House Finance Committee last week.

House Republican Leader Michael Whalley says about 140 of the 160 Republicans support his proposed alternative constitutional amendment. So the task for Lynch is tall. And Whalley noted that about 20 legislators miss the typical House session.

Whalley said the Republicans have two major problems with the majority amendment.

First, he said, it fails to ensure a base amount of funding for all school districts. That, he said, leaves the possibility that rich districts would receive no state aid if 100 percent of the aid is available for targeting for needier districts. The minority amendment says each district must receive a reasonable share of state funding on a per-pupil basis.

Second, he said, the minority amendment calls for "shared responsibility" with local communities, and specifically mentions "local control." There is no such language in the Democratic proposal.

Whalley said on Friday he was less optimistic about a possible compromise than he had been two days earlier.

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CANDIDATE KENNEY? The Senate spared Lynch from stating his opinion on the controversial bill that would have required all to wear seatbelts.

If the Republicans can find a candidate to oppose Lynch in 2008, these "personal freedom" issues could be central to a campaign.

Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, sounded like a potential candidate on the Senate floor last week when he questioned whether Lynch was engaging in "the politics of avoidance."

Lynch ended up supporting the creation of a committee to study how to increase seatbelt use. That brought back memories of Jeanne Shaheen's blue-ribbon commission on taxation, which worked throughout the 2000 election campaign and allowed the former governor to avoid specifics.

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BELOW THE RADAR. The big issues grabbed most of the attention, but a few small, interesting items came before the House last week.

The House concurred with the Senate on a bill to add another state song. "Live Free or Die" has joined "Old New Hampshire" with official status.

The House also agreed with the Senate to repeal the restriction on Sunday dancing. Believe it or not, dancing is officially restricted before 2 p.m. Sundays in hotels and restaurants, requiring approval of the State Liquor Commission.

More seriously, the House approved Senate-passed legislation enabling the secretary of state's office to sell statewide voter lists to the "official state political parties."

Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, a longtime personal privacy advocate, tried unsuccessfully to allow voters who do not want to be targeted for unwanted mail and phone calls to opt out.

Kurk said the bill "disrespects every voter in this state" and gives the parties preferential treatment because no other groups would have access to the list. "If we respect the voters of this state, we should at least give them the right to say, 'Thanks, but no thanks,'" he said.

Kurk's amendment failed, 170-151. The bill allowing the lists to be sold to the parties passed, 182-141.

On Friday, Rep. Shawn Jasper, R-Hudson, formally asked that the bill be reconsidered this week. Although Jasper opposed Kurk's amendment, he said he did so as a favor.

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PRIMARY NEWS. Candidates, journalists and celebrities are crowding the state before the debates.

The Democrats are up first tonight, and the Republican National Committee appears to have its act together.

Spokesman Summer Johnson said the RNC launched a radio ad this weekend accusing front-runners Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards of doing an "about face" on U.S. troops in Iraq by saying they support the troops while opposing the emergency supplemental bill to provide billions of dollars.

The ad features Londonderry Rep. Alfred Baldasaro, a retired Marine and a veteran of Desert Storm.

"When they are in New Hampshire for their debate this weekend, the question I want to hear them answer is, 'Why the about face?' " he asks in the ad. "Is politics more important than our troops in harm's way?"

Former U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley, who plans to run for his old seat again next year, will be available for media interviews as a "surrogate" for the RNC.

An RNC "research team" will distribute information to the debate audience and the reporters covering the event.

You may even be able to find a "pander bear" roaming the campus, telling anyone who will listen that the Dems "will do anything and say anything to be elected," Johnson said.

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RYAN GOES WITH BIDEN. Rep. Jim Ryan, D-Franklin, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, will join Delaware Sen. Joe Biden's campaign as a paid senior adviser.

Ryan, who is credited with a lead role in the 2006 Democratic "takeover" of the New Hampshire House, was courted by several presidential candidates and told us he is impressed with the entire field, but said "Biden is the only one out there with a real political plan for Iraq."

Biden would divide the war-torn nation into three to be governed by the Sunni, Shia and Kurds.

Ryan said, "I buy his argument that on day one, the next President has no margin for error," and so Biden's long experience in the Senate, especially on foreign relations, was the determining factor.

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SOUCY JOINS CLINTON. Hillary Clinton will announce another key endorsement this week.

Donna Soucy, the chief of staff to Senate President Sylvia Larsen and the Senate Democratic majority, has signed on with the New York senator.

The veteran Manchester activist told us she has been a Hillary Clinton fan since 1992.

In the key battle among Democrats for supremacy in Manchester, Soucy will be a key player.

An anti-Clinton group, Stop-

HerNow.com, will fly a banner above Manchester at the debate site through most of today.

Chris Dodd's campaign has landed 22-year-old freshman Rep. Michael Brunelle for the paid post of Manchester field director. Brunelle chairs the city's Democratic House delegation.

Dodd is airing his third television ad in New Hampshire, this one calling for a corporate carbon tax to fight global warming.

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McCAIN PAYS UP. State GOP Chair Fergus Cullen says John McCain has joined Mitt Romney and Sam Brownback in contributing $10,000 for a "premiere speaking opportunity" at Wednesday night's state GOP gala in Manchester -- even though McCain will not be at the dinner.

Rudy Giuliani has not made a $10,000 contribution. But we understand the campaign has been discussing buying a table for a yet-to-be-determined amount.

Cullen declined to comment on those who haven't contributed, choosing instead to thank those who have.

Giuliani will hold a town hall-style meeting Wednesday morning at the town common in New Castle, the home of state campaign chairman Wayne Semprini. Giuliani will leave the state before the dinner.

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C-SPAN PULLED OUT. As of Friday, yesterday's Democratic state convention was not scheduled to be televised on C-SPAN, even though speeches were scheduled from Biden, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and Bill Richardson.

Why? The word locally is that C-SPAN pulled out after learning that Clinton, Edwards and Obama would not attend.

State Democratic Chair Ray Buckley issued a statement on Friday saying, "It is distressing to see the C-SPAN mimicking much of the national media, which focuses on only two or three of the candidates. I have asked C-SPAN to reconsider their decision."

He said those who will speak have "great ideas" and deserve to be "heard across the country."

Richardson senior adviser Dick Bouley said the national press, including C-SPAN, is "doing a disservice to the voters of New Hampshire" by constantly covering only the front-runners.

C-SPAN political director Steve Scully told us, "We don't care about New Hampshire any more. We're all in Iowa." Scully, of course, was kidding.

"The honest answer is that there are so many of these multiple candidate events and it turns out that just about everyone speaking in New Hampshire in the morning will also be speaking in Cedar Rapids later in the day. We will be there."

Scully said C-SPAN will broadcast live from the GOP dinner on Wednesday.

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TWO TOP NAMES. There were two big-name endorsements late last week in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary.

Early Thursday, veteran activist and Stonyfield Farm CEO Gary Hirshberg endorsed Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand. A few hours later, Katrina Swett announced the support of Manchester state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro.

Each man has significant influence, Hirshberg especially in fund-raising and D'Allesandro in the important primary voting base of Manchester, which happens to be Marchand's native city.

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LEVASSEUR SUIT DISMISSED. A judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed against state Democratic officials by GOP activist Joe Kelly Levasseur.

Levasseur had claimed that Buckley, the Manchester Democratic Committee, former state chair Kathy Sullivan and Ward 3 Alderman Pat Long had defamed him, interfered with a political mailing and orchestrated the removal of GOP candidates' political signs before the November 2005 city election.

Long defeated Levasseur by 70 votes for the Ward 3 seat.

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