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.

PLAYING THE BUSH CARD -- AGAIN. Linking state Republican candidates to George W. Bush obviously has been a winning formula for New Hampshire Democrats in the last two election cycles.

Bush is gone now, but the state Democratic Party is hoping his memory lives on at least for another 12 days.

So, it's playing the "Bush card" again in the District 3 state Senate special election campaign, going hard after former congressman Jeb Bradley, who's running against Democrat attorney Bud Martin. The election is scheduled for April 21.

The party's new 30-second radio ad airing in the district features a man speaking in a very ominous tone, backed by very ominous music, saying:

"In these tough times, families need leaders they can trust, and that's not Jeb Bradley.

"For years, Jeb Bradley was in Washington supporting George W. Bush's failed economic policies. As a matter of fact, Jeb voted with George W. Bush 85 percent of the time.

"Haven't we had enough of George W. Bush and Jeb Bradley? On April 21, say 'no' to Jeb Bradley and the mess he and Bush made."

►Click to listen to the ad

State GOP Chairman John H. Sununu called it "amazing that the Democrats again, in a race for a state Senate seat in New Hampshire, are pulling out the George Bush boogie man to run a campaign on."

He said Martin "can't make up his mind whether he's for or against a rooms-and-meals tax increase, whether he's for or against the San Francisco agenda that the Democrats are pushing through, or whether he's for or against the tax-loaded budget moving through the Legislature."

He said Bradley is a strong, anti-broad-based tax candidate "committed to helping stop this Democratic destruction of New Hampshire's traditions."

State Democrat chair Raymond Buckley countered that "someone should read Jeb Bradley's voting record to John Sununu before he starts spouting off again. It's clear he isn't familiar with Jeb's record in Concord and Washington."

NHDP spokesman Victoria Bonney said, "All the ad says is he and Bush made a mess of the country, which is a fact."

THE "FUN" CONTINUES. The Conway Daily Sun yesterday reported at length on Martin's campaign manager, Joe Elcock, who, as we reported last week, left the Minnesota congressional campaign of Eileen Rowley in 2006 after a doctored photo of the GOP candidate in that race in Nazi garb showed up on Rowley's web site.

The GOP says he was fired; the Dems say he was not and it was the fault of a campaign volunteer, not Elcock.

Whatever the case, the Martin campaign took out a full-page ad in the Sun yesterday in which a long list of area Martin supporters say, "Enough of the politics of personal destruction. Join us in telling Jeb Bradley to stop his dirty tricks!"

Martin, meanwhile, stays positive in his own new radio ad, saying that as a small businessman, he is "staying awake at night worrying about the payroll. My employees are staying awake worrying about their jobs."

He says he wants to go to Concord "to represent small business and create jobs."

Bradley's first mailer hit earlier in the week, calling him a "proven leader" who worked for lower electric rates, against broad-based taxes and for jobs and the environment while in the Legislature and Congress.

Elcock says most of the 14 Democratic senators attended a fund-raiser for Martin last week. Republicans describe the support Bradley is receiving from the GOP state senators as "moderate." But he did receive a $1,000 check yesterday from Mitt Romney's Free and Strong America political action committee.

Romney's vacation home in Wolfeboro is located in Senate District 3.

THE IRONY. The Bradley camp got a kick out of Democrats defending Gov. John Lynch's huge, expensive, oil-consuming home in Hopkinton following a New Hampshire Union Leader report last Friday after they blasted Bradley because he also is well-to-do.

Spokesman Alicia Preston says the Republicans are not criticizing Lynch for having an expensive home, yet, "Every mailer they sent out against Jeb last year (in the congressional election) talked about 'millionaire Jeb Bradley.'"

GETTING CLOSER? It's looking more and more like President Barack Obama will tap John Kacavas as the next U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire.

Although there long had been speculation that he would be a possible candidate, we first reported two weeks ago that the Manchester attorney was solidly in the running and appeared to have the inside track.

Today we can tell you that background checks and interviews are being conducted.

THE BATHROOM ISSUE. With the so-called "bathroom bill" passing the House by a single vote yesterday, the state GOP wants to know details of renovations made to the same State House rest room that Republican Rep. Fran Wendelboe has suggested be turned into a "unisex" facility.

Wendelboe and state GOP spokesman Ryan Williams say the $72,000 item was contained in a much larger appropriation approved late in the 2007 session.

With the restroom recently re-opened, Wendelboe sent us a photo of its fancy new sinks, sconces and marble wall and counter top. It's a public rest room, but Wendelboe says it's used by the women of the House and Senate leadership.

Wendelboe said she thought it was worth pointing out in these "terrible economic times," and GOP spokesman Williams this week sent "Freedom of Information Act" requests for all the paperwork on the renovations to Commissioner of Administrative Services Linda Hodgdon and leading legislative Democrats, including House speaker Terie Norelli, Senate President Sylvia Larsen, Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep Dan Eaton.

"The extravagant renovation of the speaker and Senate president's bathroom seems like a gross misuse of public funds, especially at a time when the Democrats are claiming that we can't cut spending and we must raise taxes," said Williams. "The public has a right to know how their government spends their money."

By the way, four Republicans were among the 188 House members supporting the transgender rights bill yesterday: John Hunt of Rindge, Irene Messier and Steve Vaillancourt of Manchester, and Ken Gould of Derry.

With the bill now headed to the Senate, Bradley says he will oppose it if elected.

"It's time to focus on getting people back to work and balancing our budget without new taxes rather than spending all this time debating whether we should have co-ed bathrooms," he said.

We asked Martin campaign manager Elcock for Martin's position on the bill, but received no reply at press time yesterday.

IN THE MONEY. State Democratic executive director Mike Brunelle says that all the checks aren't in yet from the party's "100 Club" fund-raiser dinner on March 29, but, "We expect to have raised over $150,000, which is a bit more than we planned."

Brunelle says the party's mission "has expanded significantly" since the Democrats became the majority party so the money is needed.

STEWARD RAMPS UP. Is Fred Tausch going political?

The Nashua entrepreneur's federal stimulus funding watchdog group, STEWARD, has added a communications director, former John McCain campaign volunteer Erin Abell, and now says it will focus on holding elected officials accountable for turning stimulus money into jobs.

Tausch noted that at a stimulus forum organized by the governor's office at UNH this week, Rep. Paul Hodes said that "a billion dollars in aid to New Hampshire at this difficult time to create jobs is a considerable investment."

But a report commissioned by STEWARD, released this week, said the stimulus money will create only about 1,200 construction jobs in the state over the next three years and "support" perhaps 2,300 jobs in all.

The White House estimates the stimulus will result in 16,000 New Hampshire jobs "created/saved" over the next two years, according to the Obama administration's "Recovery.gov" web site.

Tausch says taxpayers should have "complete transparency when we hear politicians talk about all the jobs they are claiming to create. Where are the 16,000 jobs and when will they be here?"

Abell said STEWARD "will be getting very aggressive in the coming weeks" demanding details linking the money to jobs.

"President Obama and the members of Congress who voted for billions in federal spending said all the information will be transparent, but the people who are losing their jobs every day don't know where they will get a job, and they are not getting answers," she said.

ON THE OTHER HAND... Across the political divide, in conjunction with a nationwide effort to support Obama on the budget and stimulus, a coalition of groups spearheaded by Granite State Progress and the New Hampshire Citizens Alliance will host a State House event on Monday to laud Hodes for his support for the stimulus package. Hodes on Tuesday night spoke about Obama's health care reform plans at a town hall in Concord.

And Environment NH will release a report next Thursday called "2010: President Obama's Budget, Clean Energy and the Environment." The group will talk about the environmental initiatives in the Obama budget and how funding will affect various areas of New Hampshire.

OVIDE STILL CALLING. Republican Manchester attorney and former gubernatorial candidate Ovide Lamontange is continuing to make "outreach calls" about a possible run for the U.S. Senate next year.

He says he's "very pleased with the genuinely positive response and encouragement I have received," and he plans to "continue to test the waters with political, business and civic leaders over the next few weeks and then decide how to proceed."

On the congressional front, don't rule former state Commissioner of Health and Human Services John Stephen out of contention for a third try at the 1st District U.S. House seat. He's quietly making inquiries, we understand.

BOB'S IN. Former New Hampshire U.S. Sen. Bob Smith is back at it. After mulling his future for a few months, he's announced he is a candidate for the Florida Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez.

"I have agonized as to whether to re-enter national politics," Sarasota resident Smith wrote in a recent letter to friends and supporters.

"I have concluded that I can no longer 'sit on the sidelines' in this fight for the soul of America."

He says he has filed the necessary papers with the Federal Election Commission and will have a Web site up soon.

And, "I am now accepting contributions," he says.

"It's time for Republicans to start acting like Republicans again!" wrote the man who a decade ago left the GOP, and then rejoined.

"I am a proven conservative leader with a record of accomplishment," Smith wrote.

QUITE A PARTY. The New Hampshire Advantage Coalition's anti-government spending "tea party" slated for 5:30 p.m. on April 15 at Manchester's Arms Park now has more than 650 confirmed attendees.

Nearly two dozen companies or conservative groups, along with WGIR radio, are sponsors.

Meanwhile, NHAC has a new honorary chairman. Former state Sen. George Lovejoy is one of the "fathers" of the Granite State Taxpayers and started the first version of the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition in the 1990's.

REMEMBER KATE? Kate Whitman, a former Craig Benson press secretary and the daughter of former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, has become a candidate for Councilwoman for Peapack-Gladstone Borough in the Garden State.

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