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.

Thursday morning update: Potential U.S. Senate candidate Ovide Lamontagne announced that he has hired Jim Merrill, managing director of the Devine Strategies consulting firm in Concord, as his senior adviser.

The Granite Status first reported on July 16 that Lamontagne had signed Merrill,who was the state director for Mitt Romney’s 2008 Presidential campaign and ran the successful 2000 general election campaign of President George W. Bush.

In 2004 he served as the New Hampshire Grassroots Co-Chair for President Bush’s re-election campaign and was counsel to the 2004 Bush-Cheney and 2008 McCain-Palin presidential campaigns in New Hampshire, as well as the New Hampshire Republican State Committee.

Merrill, in an email addressed to "Friends," says Lamontagne "will make a final decision on his potential candidacy by the end of this year. Between now and then, he'll be on the road talking and listening to voters, explaining the challenges we face as a country, and sharing his ideas as an outsider for how we bring real reform, real change and real accountability to Washington."

From the left to the right, a political and ideological cross-section of the Granite State is joining in what's being described as a "vigorously non-partisan" non-profit organization called the Live Free or Die Alliance.

The 501(c)(3) has about 30 founding members, and the key players who began the organization a year ago are Paul Montrone, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Hampton-based Perspecta Trust, Anna Grace Holloway, who is chairing the group, Stonyfield Farms chief Gary Hirshberg and New Hampshire Charitable Trust Foundation president Lew Feldstein.

LFDA will not become politically active but describes itself as a key information source for issues facing the state. In short, its leaders envision it as "New Hampshire's Virtual Town Hall."

More details about the group will be released shortly, and a public meeting for invited guests is planned for the Manchester Country Club on Aug. 4.

In a letter to invited guests, Holloway and Montrone say the group's goal is "to provide a comprehensive and interactive venue to inform New Hampshire citizens about the many complex issues facing New Hampshire today, and to stimulate their interest and engagement."

Through "the power of technology," LFDA will "provide members with in-depth information, dialogue, and deliberation on a wide variety state and community issues."

Other founding members are Charlie Arlinghaus of Concord, Tom and Virginia Chrisenton of Lyndeborough, Andy Crews of Manchester, businessman and former political activist Bruce Keough of Dublin, Michael Krak of Whitefield, former state Sen. Art Klemm of Windham, Bob Mallat of Keene, Russ and Marcy McCann of North Hampton, former state Sen. Bob Preston of Hampton, Rick Samson of Stewartstown, Tom Severino of Candia, former state House speaker Donna Sytek of Salem, Tom Thomson of Orford, Mark Thurston of Laconia, Tom Tillotson of Dixville Notch, Jack and Brenda Tulley of Nashua, Michael Whitney of Manchester, and Bob and Linda Winmill of Windham.

IT'S OFFICIAL. Nearly a week after we first reported in our online column update that Washington-based political consultant Tom Daffron was the leading candidate to sign on to the fledgling Kelly Ayotte senatorial campaign as a consultant, campaign spokesman Pam Kocher confirmed yesterday that Daffron is in fact now the campaign's volunteer general consultant.

Kocher said Daffron has begun "giving guidance" to Ayotte and her advisers.

Daffron, the chief operating officer of a Washington-based lobbying firm, the Jefferson Consulting Group, has worked in the past for Sens. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, William Cohen of Maine and Charles Percy of Illinois. He also managed Elizabeth Dole's brief presidential campaign in 1999.

Daffron recently managed or consulted for Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who, as we have reported, has been befriended by Ayotte.

The state Democratic Party points out that the Jefferson Consulting web site lists Daffron as one of its "lobbying professionals," and like us, wonders who Daffron is lobbying for. We've called him for this and other comments, but have received no response.

Jefferson Consulting publishes a long list of "representative clients" of the firm on its web site, but there is no way to know from the site which ones were represented by Daffron.

State Democratic Party spokesman Victoria Bonney said that Ayotte's "first move as a Senate candidate was to break her pledge" to Gov. John Lynch to serve a full term as attorney general.

"Her second was to recruit a Washington lobbyist to run her campaign. If she thinks that is the type of leadership the people of New Hampshire are looking for, Kelly Ayotte may want to rethink her candidacy," Bonney said.

While Collins is among the key GOP moderates in the Senate, Kocher pointed out Daffron's past associations with conservatives Thompson and Murkowski and Dole.

"He shouldn't be characterized on the basis of one candidate," Kocher said.

FRED'S OUT. As the New Hampshire Union Leader reported exclusively yesterday, GOP entrepreneur Fred Tausch of Merrimack has taken himself out of consideration for the U.S. Senate.

But Tausch will continue to operate STEWARD, Stimulate the Economy Without Accumulating Record Debt, a grassroots organization he began last February to focus on and scrutinize the stimulus plan.

While many thought STEWARD was a run-up to a 2010 political campaign and might now go away, it turns out Tausch intends to keep it engaged on issues.

The staff will remain in tact with Michael Dennehy as consultant, Jeff Grappone as communications director, Will Wrobleski as political director, Erin Abell as executive director and state Rep. Gene Chandler as liaison to elected officials.

An office is set to open soon on Depot Street in Concord.

Tausch also intends to have STEWARD become active in state legislative races next year.

"Fred is committed to helping elect fiscal conservatives to the Legislature," Dennehy said.

And although Tausch did not renew his recent ad buy, Dennehy says "there will be continued advertising and I expect you will see something soon."

PRESSING OVIDE. Tausch did not rule out the possibility of endorsing a candidate in the U.S. Senate GOP primary, which at this early stage appears to be between Ayotte and Ovide Lamontange, with former U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass and Republican National Committee member Sean Mahoney also poking around looking at the possibilities.

Lamontagne will soon be facing what one key Republican activist called "enormous pressure" not to proceed with a candidacy, and it could get very difficult for him to raise money.

Still, Lamontange remains active. He spoke to a meeting of the Mount Washington Republicans in North Conway last Friday. State GOP Chair John H. Sununu was the keynote speaker.

He also has begun appearing on local radio talk shows.

He says his decision "is a few months away and won't be influenced by who else is in the race but whether it's a good time for me and my family and also my professional obligations and whether I can serve as an independent voice for the state.

"We need a Republican principles-based candidate and senator to succeed Sen. Judd Gregg," he said.

ON THE RIGHT. A new group is informally organizing on Facebook.com to fight big spending in Washington.

New Hampshire Citizens for Limited Government has been set up by conservative activists Roger Wilkins, who is president of the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition, Kevin McHugh and Matt Murphy and claims credit for several protests against the Obama cap-and-trade plan held across the state last Friday.

Wilkins says the group's goal is not to raise money and become a political action committee, but simply to "keep people up to date on what's going on in Washington" through the new Facebook page.

"It's a great voice of opposition to the health care and cap and trade bills being shoved through Congress this summer and fall."

GUINTA'S NEW POLLSTER. Republican Frank Guinta's campaign for the 1st District U.S. House seat will has added a pollster.

Virginia-based consultant On Message, Inc., joined the campaign yesterday. Heading the polling operation for Guinta will be Graham Schaffer, a familiar name to Republican operatives in the state.

Schaffer is a former field director with the Republican National Committee and ran the Steve Forbes' 2000 campaign for President in New Hampshire.

On Message has also done extensive polling for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The campaign is also organizing a grassroots leadership team, "Victory 2010," whose members will be announced in a couple of weeks.

"The goal is to put together the best grassroots team a Republican has had in this state in years," says campaign chairman Michael Biundo, who was the deputy campaign manager of Pat Buchanan's 1996 campaign, which had a strong ground game.

"LITTLE WIZ" OUT. It's still early, but as Guinta gears up, the 1st District GOP field seems to be clearing for him.

The latest to confirm he will not be a congressional candidate is Jim Wieczorek, who said he has recently married and is now renovating a home.

WAITING IN LINE. At a recent House committee markup of a health care bill, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter drew attention form her "friends" in the GOP when she noted that a Republican congressman had complained that nationalized health care would force many Americans to wait in line for medical care.

"Many of my constituents would love to wait in line for medical care," Shea-Porter said. "They're yanked out of line because they don't have coverage."

While Shea-Porter was saying that waiting in line for health care is better than no health care at all, the National Republican Congressional Committee said through spokesman Paul Lindsay that Shea-Porter somehow supports having people wait in line for such care.

If she "believes her constituents want to stand in line for medical care, she has a big surprise in store for her the next time she returns to New Hampshire," said Lindsay. "Not only is the Democrat's government-run health care plan as expensive and unpopular as the failed stimulus bill, it will do nothing but drive up costs to consumers and force millions of middle-class families out of their current coverage."

State Democratic spokesman Bonney said, "Leave it to the Republicans to mischaracterize a point that everyone already agrees on: real health care reform is overdue and cannot wait. Millions of uninsured and under insured Americans want access to quality, affordable health care now but it seems Republicans are determined to stand in their way. While Democratic leaders have put forth serious proposals to fix our broken health care system, Republicans have sat on the sidelines and offered no solutions."

WORKING ON THE HILL. Speaking of health care, former state health and human services commissioner John Stephen is working with Republican Sen. John Cornyn's staff on Capitol Hill in offering "real time" reviews of and reports on the ever-changing "Obamacare" plan. This puts Stephen in the middle of Senate Finance Committee deliberations on the issue.

Stephen, working for the Lucas Group, has also conferred with Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois on Medicaid issues. He and Jay Lucas, the 1998 candidate for governor, recently submitted a host of recommendations for savings in the Illinois Medicaid program to the Quinn-created Taxpayer Action Board.

QUICK TAKES:

>> The same Research 2000 poll released last week that showed potentially close match-ups between Rep. Paul Hodes and several potential GOP candidates also showed that by a 49 to 41 margin, Granite Staters disapproved of the same sex marriage legislation that became law in the last session of the Legislature.

>> The Americans for Prosperity Foundation will host Wall Street Journalist Stephen Moore this afternoon at a private home in New Castle. The $50 a person event is being hosted by Will and Marjorie Smith, Sean Mahoney, Ellen Christo, Carolyn Payzant, Mark Sykas, Greg Moore and Chris Wood.

>> State Sen. Lou D'Allesandro will welcome former Celtics Kevin Stacom and Satch Sanders at his birthday party at the Athens Restaurant in Manchester next Tuesday, July 28.

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