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.

A CAST OF THOUSANDS. State Democratic Party executive director Mike Brunelle estimates about 3,000 Granite Staters are heading to Washington for the Barack Obama inaugural.

Brunelle said the congressional delegation received more than 5,000 ticket requests and the Presidential Inaugural Committee "has taken care of more than 1,000 folks, but we've received word from others that they are still interested in going anyway, to witness history in the making."

With the Mall to be open to the public and lined with Jumbotron screens, the lack of tickets has not deterred many people's plans to go, Brunelle said.

He said most people heading to D.C. are on their own, but for those interested in teaming up, the party has organized a car pool program.

"We've been taking information from people who are driving down on when they are going and when they are leaving to come back," Brunelle said. "We're putting that into a system to notify others who are leaving at approximately the same time, trying to connect them."

The party has also reserved a block of 50 rooms at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, he said.

Brunelle said about 1,300 tickets have been sold, at $150 per person, for the Grits and Granite Ball, a fundraiser being hosted jointly by the New Hampshire and South Carolina Democratic parties on Tuesday night.

PRIVATE PARTIES. The Demers Group and the Rath, Young and Pignatelli law firm, together with Stonyfield Farm chief Gary Hirshberg, are each holding parties in conjunction with the inaugural.

James Demers, a lobbyist and Obama state campaign co-chair, says his firm's reception at Bullfeathers of Capitol Hill is full. He's expecting about 400.

About the same number is expected at the Rath firm's traditional reception party at the Willard Hotel on Monday afternoon, which this year will be co-hosted by Hirshberg.

Attorney Ann McLane Kuster of the Rath firm is organizing this year's event, and she's been busy.

An original Obama New Hampshire supporter, Kuster has been to Washington three times since the election in the role of "administrative support" for the transition office.

"I arrived at the transition office the day it opened, helping them get the phone and Web site up and getting organized," she said. She said she returned in December for several days and was heading back last night to help close the office.

The New Hampshire State Society, a group that connects Granite Staters who live and work in Washington, will host a reception at the Willard immediately following the Rath-Hirshberg event on Monday. On inauguration night, many Granite Staters are expected to head to the inauguration committee-sanctioned eight-state Northeast ball at Union Station.

THE POLITICAL LINEUP. Gov. John Lynch, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes will head the Granite State political lineup at the inaugural.

Brunelle says 10 of the 14 Democratic state senators plan to attend, along with activists Ned Helms, Chris Pappas, Donna Soucy, Joanne Dowdell and Nigerian-born Rep. Richard Komi, D-Manchester.

Hodes is hosting a open house at his Capitol Hill office on Tuesday morning.

SAYING GOOD-BYE. A group of high-profile New Hampshire Republicans were at the White House on Monday at one of two farewell receptions attended by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Long-time Bush backers including attorney Tom Rath, former Judd Gregg chief of staff Joel Maiola, current Gregg chief of staff Alyssa Shooshan, and activists Joe and Augusta Petrone, Robb Thomson, Barbara Russell, Jim Merrill, former state Senate President Tom Eaton and Steve and Susan Duprey attended at least one of the events.

Rath said that in a quick private conversation with President George W. Bush this week, the President reminisced about the New Hampshire campaign and "was in a great mood."

STEVE'S SMALL WORLD. Steve Duprey remains John McCain's right-hand man. He said he will be back in Washington on Monday as one of 10 McCain guests at an Obama tribute dinner honoring his former rival. Duprey said he will then spend inauguration day with McCain.

Duprey also said he and his wife stayed at the Hay Adams Hotel, the Obama family's temporary home, this week.

"The first two Secret Service agents I saw when I walked in the door were the two who spent time with the McCain team," he said. "Small world."

No, he didn't see Obama around the vending machines.

COMING AND GOING. State Republicans are geared up for Saturday's state committee meeting at Bedford High School and the election, probably by acclamation, of former Gov. John H. Sununu as the next party chairman.

Staffing moves for the party are expected to be announced over the next month or so, but Sununu said yesterday that he has already asked current party executive director Mike Hamilton to stay on for several weeks in a "transition role."

He said he intends to talk about top party roles with Paul Collins, who worked with him in the governor's office and the Bush (41) White House long ago and was Sen. John E. Sununu's chief of staff, and with former state GOP executive director Andy Leach, who was a top staffer with the senator's 2008 campaign.

Gov. Sununu said another priority will be deciding whom to support for Republican national chairman. He said he intends to attend the Jan. 28 to 30 Republican National Committee meeting "and cast a vote for whoever is the most committed to our first-in-the-nation primary and to reviving the Republican Party."

CLEARING THE WAY. Lynch's announcement yesterday that he won't be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010 comes as no surprise, but it does make the road ahead less complicated for Hodes and Shea-Porter.

Democratic strategists in Washington hoped Lynch would take on Gregg, who intends to seek a fourth term, but the overwhelming belief in these parts was that Lynch would not take that route.

The timing of Lynch's announcement makes sense. With tough budget deliberations on tap in Concord, why not take politics out of the equation early?

Two years ago, Lynch made his political plans known very early as well, telling the Coos County Democrat less than two weeks after being elected to a second term that he would not oppose Sununu in a 2008 Senate race.

Attention now focuses squarely on the two second-term U.S. House members. Hodes wasted no time yesterday reiterating his December statement that he is "seriously considering" a Senate run.

GOP NEWSLETTER QUESTIONS. Former state Democratic Chair Kathy Sullivan is trying to hold her old "friend" Will Infantine's feet to the fire in a complaint filed with the Attorney General's Office.

Infantine chairs the Manchester City Republican Committee, which, Sullivan says, violated state campaign finance reporting law in its handling of a pre-election day newsletter-style voter guide.

The Attorney General's Office has asked Infantine for a formal response by Jan. 23. He said he'll give a complete answer, but he admitted this week that mistakes were made in connection with advertisements for and by candidates that appeared in the newsletter.

Infantine said some candidate ads did not contain a required "paid for by" disclaimer, although they were paid for by the candidates. He blamed the oversight on poor copy editing.

Infantine also admitted that other ads did contain disclaimers although the candidates either did not pay for the ads until after the newsletter was published or, in some cases, still have not paid.

Jeb Bradley, for instance, had a full-page ad in the newsletter stating, "Paid for by the Jeb Bradley Committee," but Infantine said Bradley has not yet paid.

An ad by state Senate candidate Doug Kruse says it was paid for by the Kruse campaign, but Infantine said Kruse did not actually pay until after a post-election filing on Nov. 12. As a result, there is no public record of Kruse paying for the ad.

The Secretary of State's Office has no Nov. 12 city committee report on file. But Infantine said he knows it was mailed and is trying to help the state track it down. There is allegedly also a missing Oct. 15 report, but Infantine said he has a "fax confirmation" that it was sent to Concord.

John E. Sununu's ad in the newsletter was marked "paid for," but Infantine said it was not until after the election.

Candidate for governor Joe Kenney and Hillsborough County Commissioner Toni Pappas paid for newsletter ads, although neither ad contains the required disclaimer.

Infantine admitted the committee decided to give Hillsborough County Attorney Marguerite Wageling a "complimentary" ad but did not report it as an in-kind contribution to her campaign. But, Infantine said, Wageling "ended up giving us a contribution afterward thanking us."

Sullivan also questions a McCain-Palin ad that Infantine says is not an ad at all but a picture. She also says the committee filed some reports late.

Infantine accused Sullivan of a "personal attack on me," but she said it's a matter of the GOP committee in the state's largest city "sending out an expensive, 20-page multi-colored voter guide" with clear and potential violations. She says the state's reporting laws should be tightened.

THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: This morning, Kruse provided the Status with a copy of a $250 check payable to the Manchester Republican Committee dated Nov. 16.

"The late payment was my fault," Kruse emailed the Status. "I was supposed to mail a check to Will for the ad, but in the hectic final stretch of the campaign it slipped my mind. Will contacted my campaign manager after the election, as he still had not received payment, and she then contacted me to inquire. I put a check in the mail and emailed Will to apologize for the oversight and let him know that payment was on its way."

Kruse had not returned a call by the Status earlier this week seeking information about the payment.

QUICK TAKES:

--The New Hampshire Advantage Coalition says it filed local spending cap warrant articles in Hampstead, Hudson, Goffstown, Allentown, the Salem school district, Rindge and Kingston by Tuesday's Senate Bill 2 towns deadline.

--Robb Thomson says the change of administration means he will step down as state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency next Tuesday, after serving as a Bush appointee since April 2001. He said his next task will be working with his 89-year-old mother, Gale, archiving all the papers compiled by his late father, former Gov. Meldrim Thomson, during his public life.

--The four people who cast electoral votes for Obama -- Gaetan DiGangi, Ned Helms, Sen. Martha Fuller Clark and Sullivan -- have donated to the American Red Cross a total of $598 they received in fees and mileage from the Electoral College meeting on Dec. 15 in Concord.

--Jim Merrill has been tapped to serve as chairman of this year's New Hampshire Political Library awards dinner.

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