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.

BELIEVE IT or not, it's true.

As New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley prepares to ask the Democratic National Committee's Rules and ByLaws Committee to give his local party a break and seat its delegates at next summer's national convention, he's picked up a most unexpected ally.

Buckley on Saturday morning will request a waiver from the new DNC rule that set the primary for Jan. 22, two weeks later than the final date of the primary.

At stake, politically speaking, is more than the loss of some delegates to the Denver convention. It's a question of whether the DNC's most powerful panel will validate or reject the first-in-the-nation primary.

Buckley will tell the group that Secretary of State Bill Gardner was forced to set the date for Jan. 8 to adhere to state law. He'll say the early date was prompted by events out of the state's control -- that is, other states, especially Florida and Michigan, breaking DNC rules by jumping into January and creating a domino effect to the front of the calendar.

Buckley began making his case in a letter this week to the rules committee co-chairs.

We reported on Sunday that co-chair Jim Roosevelt of Massachusetts believes there is substantial support -- or at least sympathy -- for New Hampshire's position. But he made no promises.

This is the same committee, by the way, that voted unanimously (with the exception of then-New Hampshire member Kathy Sullivan) to drop New Hampshire into third place in the primary/caucus lineup behind Iowa and Nevada, in part because the national party felt the state is not diverse enough demographically, economically and in other ways to have such a prominent role in the process.

But now, Donna Brazile, one of New Hampshire's chief critics during the two years that led to the setting of the Jan. 22 date, told the Status this week she will "grudgingly" support New Hampshire.

She is one of the most influential members of the committee -- if not the most influential. And so Brazile's opinion should carry some significant weight.

"While I firmly disagree with Gardner's decision to wait until Michigan decided," she said in an e-mail, "I will grudgingly support the waiver -- but will remind Iowa and New Hampshire the days of 'privilege' may end soon.

"We cannot allow any state to hold the process hostage," she wrote. "Similarly, we cannot allow Florida and Michigan to rewrite the rules to play the game."

Brazile said she will back New Hampshire's waiver "because this confusion or chaos was created when Florida decided to jump ahead of the Feb. 5 start date" for non-designated states. "Then Michigan, South Carolina and the others."

Brazile added, "While I understand Gardner's views about New Hampshire's traditional role, I have to believe that this early start -- this desire to ignore the holidays -- will backfire."

If Buckley can pull this off, it will be a victory for the freshman chairman. And if the DNC ends up backing New Hampshire's date, it will stand in contrast to the national GOP decision to punish the Granite State by withholding half its delegates.

Edwards takes a pass

John Edwards yesterday wouldn't take a swing at an issue that's right in his anti-special interest and anti-money-in-politics wheelhouse.

Edwards said in an interview he didn't know enough about the donations being doled out by Barack Obama's leadership political action committee, Hopefund, to comment on the growing controversy over its 2007 donations.

Edwards instead focused on his new campaign theme and Web site, "America Belongs to Us," as opposed to belonging to the special interests. More about that below.

The question is: Did Obama, or his campaign, essentially try to buy support from local elected officials and political activists in New Hampshire and elsewhere by having Hopefund make contributions to these officials and local party committees in key early-voting states?

The Clinton campaign is raising that question after numerous reports that Hopefund -- which is supposed to be separate from, and unaffiliated with, the Obama campaign -- remained very active even after he announced his candidacy for president.

It has given more than $180,000 to local Democratic groups and candidates in the early-primary and caucus states, and $73,000 of that went to New Hampshire officials and committees this year.

Federal Election Commission regulations forbid a PAC, in its "independent expenditures," from coordinating its giving with the candidates the PAC is promoting or the candidate's campaign committee. If they do coordinate, it is considered an in-kind contribution to the candidate and must be limited to $5,000.

Clinton's campaign said the Hopefund practice "appears to be inconsistent with the prevailing election laws" and noted that her leadership committee, Hill PAC, went dormant as soon as she announced her candidacy.

Hopefund in N.H.

The Hillsborough County Democratic Committee received $1,000 from Hopefund in August. Chair Chris Pappas, a Clinton supporter, said the check was presented to him at a meeting by committee member Roberto Fuentes, a volunteer for the Obama campaign.

"The way it was given to us was that it was money from Sen. Obama, and everyone recognized that," Pappas said.

Hopefund contributed $2,500 to Rep. Paul Hodes in October 2006 and then $5,000 in June, shortly before Hodes endorsed Obama. He has said his support was unrelated to the gifts. The PAC gave Hodes $4,000 more on Sept. 27.

Rep. Carol Shea-Porter received $2,500 from Hopefund in early November 2006, $5,000 in June 2007 and $4,000 in September. She has so far remained neutral in the primary race.

For local politicians and committees, there is a long list of 2007 Hopefund donations. Committee to Elect House Democrats received $15,000; Friends of a Democratic (state) Senate, $15,000.

If indeed there was an effort to win support, it had mixed results.

Hopefund gave $1,000 each to campaign committees for Executive Councilor Bev Hollingworth and Sens. Lou D'Allesandro, Iris Estabrook, Maggie Hassan and Kathy Sgambati, now all Clinton supporters, and Harold Janeway, Jacqualyn Cilley and Martha Fuller Clark, who are Obama supporters.

D'Allesandro said yesterday he didn't get the impression that there was an ulterior motive.

"I was surprised when the check came in the mail," he said. "But it's not unusual to get a donation. There were no strings attached."

Gov. John Lynch's committee received $6,000. His wife this week endorsed Clinton. U.S. Senate candidate and former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen's "friends" committee received $5,000 on Oct. 2, long after Shaheen's husband, Bill, was named a national co-chair for Clinton.

The state Democratic Party received $5,000, while eight county committees received $1,000 each.

Obama fights back

Obama's campaign has said the donations are entirely legal. It accused Clinton of a "personal attack" and said that while Obama supports "full disclosure," she refuses to disclose "her White House records, the list of donors to her husband's presidential library, how much her bundlers raise" and release her tax returns.

"She's not really in a position to point fingers at others," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

Edwards' new push

Edwards said his campaign yesterday kicked off a new theme and a new Web site, "America Belongs to Us," which is asking voters to pledge not to vote for a Democratic presidential candidate who accepts campaign contributions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs.

"We're saying to voters, 'You have the ability to bring about change right now," he said. "You don't have to wait until the election and the inauguration of a new president.' "

He said the "very aggressive goal is to sign up 1 million people who will commit to that challenge and send a clear signal to the presidential candidates that voters and caucus-goers want real change."

Edwards said he has "never taken money from Washington lobbyists or PACs, and I believe you can't continue to defend those people and defend what they do and continue to take their money and still bring the change that the country needs."

But Edwards let the Hopefund flap slide.

"I don't personally know enough about what the PAC has done and what its ongoing connection to Sen. Obama is. That's the unease I have about commenting about that," he said, adding, "I think that for today, I'm going to stick to the positive thing I'm trying to do."

His campaign was also content to sit it out and let the other two squabble.

Delegates needed

Speaking of delegates, the state Democratic Party says several presidential campaigns are having difficulty filling slates.

Supporters of any Democratic candidate have until Dec. 5 at 5 p.m. to file a delegate candidacy declaration form with the party, available for copying on the party's Web site. They'll caucus on Dec. 15, separately, to select delegate slates.

The GOP slates

The Republican presidential candidates have a different process to pick their delegate slates. They just pick them.

Their slates were filed with Gardner's office earlier this week. Each major candidate filed the names of 21 delegates and 21 alternates, except for Mitt Romney. He filed 24 delegates and 24 alternates.

Party chair Fergus Cullen and RNC members Sean Mahoney and Phyllis Woods are automatic members of the delegation.

Cullen said that by filing full slates, the candidates effectively rejected the RNC's decision to cut the delegation in half -- to 12 -- as punishment for the early primary.

"Some candidates have said directly and some have hinted" that they will seat the full delegation if they become the nominee, Cullen said.

Under state law, any candidate who receives at least 10 percent of the vote will send at least one delegate to the convention, so ultimately, the delegation will be proportioned based on the primary results.

Frustrated Fergus

Cullen says Granite Staters deserve to know if Hodes and Shea-Porter sent political propaganda at taxpayers expense.

While spokesmen for the two freshmen told reporters and columnists last week that the glossy pieces recently arriving in some -- but not all -- mailboxes were approved by a bi-partisan committee on Capitol Hill, Cullen raises some serious questions on the state GOP Web site.

He asks whether, since the mailing was not sent to everyone because they were individualized and not sent to "postal customer," it was "obviously targeted to certain voters. Who was the mail sent to (example: just undeclared voters?), who made the targeting decisions, and what was the targeting criteria?

"Targeting mail to individuals shows you are working off of a specific list," he said. "What was it? A voter list? There is no question in my mind that someone made a political decision on who this taxpayer-funded mail should go to."

Five days

With only five days instead of the traditional eight between Iowa's caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, what effect will the results of the caucus have on voters here?

Will the Iowa "bounce" be any stronger with three fewer days for any momentum to fade?

The bounce certainly helped John Kerry win in New Hampshire in 2004, partly because of Howard Dean's legendary post-caucus rant.

"This time, it's uncharted waters," said Tom Rath, a veteran strategist now an adviser for Mitt Romney. "If the bounce is the same duration this time as it usually is, about four or five days, it runs you right into the primary.

"The bottom line is, you have to do as well as you can in both places, and each state has to be treated independently of the other," he said.

State Rep. Jim Splaine, D-Portsmouth, said an eight-day window between Iowa and New Hampshire would have been preferable, but, "The real importance of the primary is that there are seven days afterwards for the rest of the country to see what New Hampshire did."

Secretary of State Gardner said he is "not worried at all" about an abbreviated window as long as the seven-day post-New Hampshire window remains.

In the mail

With his campaign on the upswing in New Hampshire, Richardson is pouring it on in the direct mail category, with four pieces in the past last week.

One has a full-page photo of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the cover and asks, "Who can clean up their mess?" It then folds out to poster size with photos of Richardson and copy touting his experience, his promises to end the Iraq war and his positions on energy independence, education and health care. A separate eight-page mailing arrived in mail boxes a few days later that details Richardson's position on those and other issues. The most recent has a full page photo of several U.S. troops on the cover, asking, "Who will bring them home?" Another touts his as "The boldest education plan."

Obama, meanwhile, sent a 22-page booklet last week with biographical material and his position on "challenging the ways of Washington" and bipartisanship.

This week, his latest piece says that "change we can believe in begins with unity," and talks about his "bipartisan leadership" working with Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar.

Among Republicans, Ron Paul's latest piece talks about his six-point plan to end "immigration nonsense," while a piece from John McCain says that "character matters."

And locally, Sen. John E. Sununu is complimented as an "independent leader who has stood up to the special interests" for opposing the Employee Free Choice Act in a mail piece by the pro-business Coalition for a Democratic Workplace. The pro-organized labor bill would in part require workers to choose if they want to join a union by signing a card that would be made public.

Quick takes

-- Rudy Giuliani's campaign today will announce the endorsement of former state Senate President Arthur Klemm, R-Kingston, who calls Giuliani "a strong leader who will use New Hampshire-style conservative principles to move our country forward."

--The chairman of the New Hampshire College Republicans, Dartmouth College junior Gregory Boguslavsky, recently polled the candidate preference of 300 GOP students and found that McCain edged Rudy Giuliani, 25.6 to 22.2 percent, with Ron Paul a close third at 21.1 percent. Mitt Romney placed fourth at 12.2 percent.

-- Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling will campaign for John McCain on Dec. 5 with a "politics and sports town hall" being planned.

-- Mike Huckabee and Tom Tancredo return to the state this week after long absences. Tancredo has five public stops between this evening and Thursday morning, while Huckabee arrives tomorrow for nine public stops through Sunday morning.

-- Joe Biden returned last night speak with students at the College Convention in Manchester and has three scheduled stops today.

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