READ HIS LIPS: NO NEWT. As Newt Gingrich passes Mitt Romney in polling nationally and gains on him in New Hampshire, the Romney campaign is becoming more aggressive in its attacks on the former House speaker.

A new CNN/Time/ORC poll Wednesday showed Gingrich now trailing Romney by only 9 percentage points, 26 to 35 percent, in the first-primary state.

The Gingrich camp isn't counter-attacking _ at least not yet.

“Newt has gotten to this point of being in contention by taking the high road, being positive and focusing on the problems the county is having and listening to the American people,” Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond told the Granite Status.

Prominent among those taking aim at Gingrich is former Gov. John H. Sununu, who told us this week that Gingrich's “significant flaws” compared to other candidates have only bolstered his support for Romney.

Sununu's first anti-Gingrich remarks surfaced on Monday in the Wall Street Journal, where he was quoted as saying, “Listen to just about anyone who worked alongside Gingrich and you will hear that he's inconsistent, erratic, untrustworthy and unprincipled.”

In a Tuesday interview with this column, Sununu elaborated.

“I've just had a history of difficulty dealing with Mr. Gingrich,” Sununu said, “and it really underscores to me all the things that former members of Congress are saying.”

Sununu said that when he was chief of staff in the George Bush (41) White House and Gingrich was the House Minority Whip (the number 2 Republican in the House), Gingrich “quite often would say one thing on one day and take a completely different position the next day.”

Sununu charged that 21 years ago, Gingrich “reneged” on his approval of the now-infamous (to Republicans) 1990 budget agreement with Democrats that included tax increases. Many believe Bush's reversal of his famous “Read my lips. No new taxes” pledge of 1988 cost him a second term.

Sununu said that as an agreement with the Democratic majority was being reached, “I specifically asked Newt Gingrich if he would support it, and he said, ‘yes.'

“We then went to the President and told him we had” the support of both Gingrich and the chief Senate GOP negotiator, Phil Gramm, “and then the White House put out a statement saying that there was an agreement.”

But, Sununu said, “The next day, for whatever reason, and nobody has ever been able to explain it to us, Gingrich decided that he was going to oppose it.

Twelve hours later, he decided it was to his own benefit to oppose the agreement.”

Had Gingrich initially told the White House he was opposed, Sununu said, “we would have gone back to the negotiating table,” and “continued negotiating from a position of strength.”

He said the White House had assured Gingrich and Gramm “we would not accept any agreement they did not support.”

A senior aide in the Gingrich campaign said Gingrich's position was consistently opposed to new taxes and that he “had said consistently to Sununu and (former Office of Management and Budget director) Dick Darman that he would not support a net tax increase.”

The aide said that “things were represented to Gingrich in the afternoon that, when checked, turned out not to be accurate. There was a net tax increase, and the Republicans didn't get the things they were told they were going to get.”

Sununu said Gingrich was clearly aware of the tax increases included in the plan when he agreed to it.

The Gingrich aide said Bush's 1988 no-new-taxes pledge had “thrilled” Gingrich, who believed it fueled the Republican enthusiasm that sent Bush to the White House.

But, the aide said, Gingrich was “shocked when the President was forced by the Democrats to back off that commitment in the summer of 1990.”

The Gingrich aide said that the morning the budget agreement was to be announced and the key players gathered in the Cabinet room of the White House, “Gingrich stayed with the Bush 1988 pledge of no new taxes and said, with sadness, that he could not agree to go along with the tax increase. He was the only person in the room to say that.

“When all the rest of them trooped into the Rose Garden, Gingrich walked out the front door,” the aide recalled.

The aide also noted that Gingrich “clearly represented the majority of House Republicans because in the vote, an overwhelming majority voted against the tax increase.”

Sununu said that without Gingrich and his House followers on board, “It led to the Democrats forcing us to strip out some of the good stuff that they didn't like that they had agreed to. They said, ‘If the House Republicans don't agree to it, we don't agree to it.'”

Sununu said that for more than two decades, “I've kept quiet about it. I have not written a book. I haven't attacked anybody.

“I've basically swallowed this, but everybody knows this,” he said.

The Gingrich aide responded, “Did Governor Romney favor the 1990 tax increase? Are we going to have a New Hampshire primary between the ‘no tax increase' Gingrich and the pro-tax increase Romney? Is that the intent of Sununu's comments?”

Sununu cited two other examples of what he said were shifts in positions by Gingrich during the Bush (41) years.

He said that while Bush consistently fought Democratic efforts to attach federal funding of abortion to various pieces of legislation, Gingrich, a self-described pro-life advocate, “at least twice went to Darman and complained that we were drawing a line in the sand on something that wasn't important.”

He recalled one instance in which Gingrich “said to Darman and me that he wished the President fought as strongly for getting rid of the capital gains tax as he fought for getting rid of federal funding for abortions.”

The Gingrich aide responded, “It's true that Newt Gingrich thought economic growth was important. That did not undermine his 100 percent support for all efforts to cut off federal funding of abortion. He just indicated it would be good to have a growing economy with jobs. Both were important.”

Sununu also said that Bush fought hard to allow federal funding for child care for working mothers in church-based programs, as promoted by former Rep. Jack Kemp.

He said Gingrich at first supported it but then told the White House it should not be a priority.

“It was important to the conservative religious community and so we fought and we finally won it,” Sununu said, “but Gingrich abandoned us.”

The Gingrich aide said he could not recall the specifics of that incident and had no comment.

In the end, both men had controversial conclusions to their careers in the nation's capital.

Sununu resigned as chief of staff in 1991 after disclosures that he used military aircraft for personal and political trips.

Gingrich resigned from the House in 1998 after the House reprimanded him in a bipartisan vote the prior year for using tax-deductible money for political purposes.

(Earlier updates and the full Dec. 1 Granite Status follows.)

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 6, UPDATE: CAIN STAFFERS WITH NEWT. Although Herman Cain has not yet endorsed Newt Gingrich, as he is expected to do, Gingrich's New Hampshire campaign has picked up two of Cain's top state staffers.

Former Cain state director Jamie Coughlin has joined the Gingrich New Hampshire staff as the director of Gingrich's “Campaign 2.0,” which, we're told, means he will be heading all social media, phone banking and “emerging technologies” in the first-primary campaign.

Charlie Spano, the former state field director and field director for Cain, is now with Gingrich as state deputy field director.

Gingrich spokesman Matt LeDuc said the New Hampshire staff now numbers 15. Mitt Romney's campaign has nine staffers and one full-time adviser, a spokesman said.

We've also learned that former New Hampshire U.S. Sen. Bob Smith, who was announced last week as a Gingrich supporter, has moved to New Hampshire from Florida temporarily to work as a full-time volunteer at Gingrich headquarters.

Smith, who served in the House before becoming a senators and is a long-time friends of Gingrich from their days on Capitol Hill, “is really a go-to guy for anything,” said LeDuc. “He's making phone calls, doing interviews and basically anything he can for Newt.”

Also today, former former U.S. Attorney Tom Colantuono has backed Gingrich, calling him “the only candidate who has proven that he can balance the budget with conservative leadership.”

Colantuono, who is now in private practice with the Bianco Professional Association in Concord and teaches part-time at Southern New Hampshire University, is also a former state senator and Executive Councilor.

As U.S. Attorney, Colantuono served on the Attorney General's Advisory Committee's subcommittees on terrorism and national security, border and immigration issues, and white collar crime.

(Earlier updates and the full Dec. 1 Granite Status follows.)

TUESDAY, DEC. 6, UPDATE: BURNS JOINS NEWT'S STAFF. Hillsborough County treasurer Bob Burns has joined the staff of Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign as deputy state director, a paid position.

The campaign said with the addition of Burns, it now has 13 paid staffers in New Hampshire. Burns had been announced in September as a supporter of Rick Perry.

Burns, of Bedford, was elected to the part-time county treasurer's post in 2010 and has been a New Hampshire Young Republicans National Committeeman since 2009. He backed Mike Huckabee in the 2008 campaign and was an alternate delegate for Huckabee to the 2008 Republican National Convention.

Burns also is the treasurer of the Bedford GOP and a Hillsborough County GOP Regional Chair.

(Earlier updates and the full Dec. 1 Granite Status follow.)

TUESDAY, DEC. 6, UPDATE: TOP RIGHT-TO-LIFER FOR PERRY. GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry's campaign today announced that Kurt Wuelper, president of New Hampshire Right to Life, endorsed the Texas governor.

Perry said he was honored, “As governor, I signed more pro-life legislation than any other governor in history. Our nation needs a President committed to protecting the rights of innocent unborn children.”

Wuelper, a Strafford resident, said Perry “unequivocally believes that life begins at conception and does not waiver in his protection of the unborn, unlike some self-professed pro-life candidates.”

As governor Perry signed the Parental Notification Act, the Parental Consent Act, the Prenatal Protection Act, and the Woman's Right to Know Act, the campaign said.

Perry's campaign said that his “defunding of Planned Parenthood resulted in the shutdown of 12 Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas. Since 2005, Gov. Perry has signed budgets that include millions for pregnancy resource centers and other pro-life agencies that assist pregnant women. The governor also signed a ban on late-term abortions and a law that requires a doctor to perform a sonogram on an expectant mother before performing an abortion. Additionally, every Texas budget signed by Gov. Perry prohibits funding of abortions by tax dollars.”

(Earlier updates and the full Dec. 1 Granite Status follow.)

MONDAY, DEC. 5, UPDATE: WAITING FOR HERMAN. Former New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Jack Kimball, one of Herman Cain's top Granite State supporters, said Monday he will wait until Cain endorses another candidate before he makes his own choice known.

Kimball , who became Cain's Seacoast campaign coordinator after resigning earlier this year as state GOP chair, told the Granite Status that he has “made my decision” but will wait until Cain makes his choice public before announcing it.

Numerous media reports say that Cain will endorse Newt Gingrich, but there were conflicting reports on when that endorsement would come.

One report said Cain would make the announcement on Monday afternoon, but Reuters then quoted Gingrich's top national spokesman, R.C. Hammond, as saying the announcement in fact would not come today.

Last Thursday, Kimball said he would stick with Cain until and unless Cain left the presidential campaign.

Now that Cain has suspended his effort, Kimball said, “I have a high regard and high respect for Herman. I want to wait and see who he's going to endorse.

“I obviously know _ or have a 99 percent certainty, anyway _ that it's probably going to be Newt,” said Kimball. “Their relationship has been extremely strong. I've witnessed it. I've been in the room.

“So, I'm not surprised, but until I hear that I won't reveal my position,” Kimball said.

Kimball said that even before Cain came to New Hampshire last Wednesday night to speak with local supporters, Kimball received about a dozen phone calls from “a combination of a few state representatives who had already endorsed Herman and a few others who were supporters asking me what I was going to do. I told them I was going to support Herman until he made his decision.”

Kimball said some of them “decided they weren't going to be able to do that anymore and virtually all of them went to Newt.”

Kimball said he was not surprised Cain essentially dropped out of the race by suspending his campaign on Saturday. He said his conversation with Cain last Wednesday night “was pointed toward that and I just felt that (his family) had to be his priority.

“I'm not taking credit for influence at all. I'm just saying that's what I suggested strongly to him. I think it was the best thing for him to do given the circumstances. And I'm also pleased he did it earlier rather than later, so that people who were looking to get behind someone else would have ample time to do it,” said Kimball.

Kimball said he still believes that Cain was treated unfairly, “and I'm actually going to convey to Herman that I think his investigation of this should continue and he should really get to the bottom of all of it and publish the findings as soon as possible.”

At Gingrich's Manchester headquarters, state campaign director Andrew Hemingway said that since Saturday's Cain announcement, “We've had quite a few people coming over and asking for signs and asking how they can help. I'd imagine we will get more in the coming days.”

Hemingway said he and his fellow staffers are not “bragging” about receiving support from former Cain backers.

“We're not taking their support for granted and realize we will have to work very hard to gain that support.”

(Earlier updates and the full Dec. 1 Granite Status follow.)

THURSDAY, DEC. 1, UPDATE: JACK STANDS WITH HERMAN. One of Herman Cain's most prominent New Hampshire supporters says he simply does not know whether the Atlanta businessman will stay in the presidential race, but Jack Kimball says that as long as he does, he'll stick with him.

Kimball, a former state Republican Chairman and current Seacoast coordinator for Cain, said he will be with Cain unless “there is some stark revelation that something actually happened” regarding the many allegations Cain is facing.

At the moment, Kimball said, he has seen nothing to convince him the allegations against Cain are valid.

Kimball said he was deeply concerned about the accusations that Cain had sexually harassed women and had an extramarital affair for 13 years with Ginger White.

Kimball told the Granite Status today he had a lengthy one-on-one conversation with Cain when the candidate visited his headquarters in Manchester on Wednesday night and came away deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Kimball said his own recent ouster as party chairman was very “difficult” on his wife and family, and, “I can't imagine how difficult this is now for Herman's wife, kids and grand kids.”

He said he told Cain, “You need to decide now how more of this they can take and should they be subjected to this.

“I take the man at his word,” Kimball said. “I want to look and see what happens over the next couple of days.”

Kimball said that while Cain was at the headquarters, the candidate received a call from his attorney, Lin Wood, “and it was good news with information that had just come out regarding the new allegations and this woman.”

He said Cain told him that “today and tomorrow there will be releases of very important information concerning this woman and her claims and he said it will be good news for Herman Cain.”

Kimball said he did not know what that information is.

“My personal feeling is I support Herman Cain, I have supported him, I really like the man,” Kimball said. “I have never seen in the time I've been with him anything in his DNA that would lead me to believe this kind of stuff. So right now, I certainly give him the benefit of the doubt, I trust his word and I will stay on board with the campaign.

“I do believe, however, that within a few days, we'll all know what's going to happen here,” Kimball said. “I think I owe him my loyalty until such time I am given a reason to not.”

Even if Cain proves the accusations to be untrue, Kimball is unsure the candidate can recapture the standing that had launched him to the top of national polling.

“The only way that happens is if the information that comes out is so impacting that it reveals that there was a concerted effort to lie and be deceitful and this stuff wasn't true, and that this was conspiratorial,” Kimball said.

But, Kimball said, “We have only four or five weeks left (before the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary) and so no matter what, he's going to be carrying this stuff for a while and I don't see how you gain a whole lot of ground, at least here and in Iowa, unless it's so, so powerful. I think that would be the only way he can regain a whole lot of his footing.”

Will Cain ultimately stay in the race?

“I can honestly say I really don't know. I don't know,” Kimball said.

(The full Dec. 1 Granite Status follows.)

THURSDAY, DEC. 1: NOT JUMPING — YET. Hours before Herman Cain was scheduled to arrive in New Hampshire Wednesday night, conservative state Rep. Sam Cataldo, R-Farmington, clarified that he has not left Cain's campaign for the Gingrich camp, as had been reported by the New Hampshire Union Leader and many other media outlets.

Cataldo told the Granite Status he is going to stick with Cain while the candidate conducts the much-publicized reassessment of his campaign.

Cataldo said that if Cain decides to drop out of the race, he will move to Gingrich.

Cataldo said that if Cain decides to stay in the race, then he will do his own reassessment of whether to stay with Cain or move to Gingrich.

“I don't just jump ship just because something negative is happening,” Cataldo said.

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BIG PICK-UPS FOR MITT, NEWT. Mitt Romney won still another big-name New Hampshire endorsement this week even as Newt Gingrich's New Hampshire campaign continued to grow with the addition of key new staffers.

The Granite Status has learned that state Senate President Peter Bragdon today will sign on with the former Massachusetts governor, citing his business acumen.

We've also learned that former Michele Bachmann state campaign director Jeff Chidester, one of the state's leading conservative activists, and businessman Jim Wieczorek have signed on as paid senior advisers in the Gingrich campaign.

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THE BRAGDON ENDORSEMENT. Bragdon, of Milford, was with John McCain in 2000, when Romney did not run, and again in 2008, when Romney finished second to McCain.

Bragdon said he was “not uncomfortable” with Romney in 2007 and 2008, but “just felt that McCain was my guy.”

Of the 19 GOP state senators, Bragdon is the ninth to back Romney, joining Jeb Bradley, Jack Barnes, Gary Lambert, Jim Rausch, Russell Prescott, Tom DeBlois, David Boutin and Chuck Morse.

In an interview, Bragdon agreed that New Hampshire voters are independent-minded and may not be influenced by who their state senators endorse. But he did note that the current crop of senators comprises “a record number who are involved in the business community, and the fact that many of them are backing Governor Romney underlines his expertise and experience in the business world. We need a President who understands private business.”

The Bragdon endorsement leaves six GOP senators uncommitted in the presidential primary: John Gallus, Jeanie Forrester, Bob Odell, Jim Luther, Sharon Carson and Ray White.

Ron Paul has the backing of Andy Sanborn and Jim Forsythe, while Nancy Stiles has backed John Huntsman and Fenton Groen has backed Rick Santorum.

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NEWT'S STEAM. The biggest endorsement in the GOP primary, the editorial backing of the New Hampshire Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News, was won by Gingrich on Sunday.

It added to the momentum for Gingrich that had been building for a few weeks.

The mystery is why Gingrich did not capitalize on the endorsement this week by heading directly to New Hampshire to ride the wave. A new Rasmussen poll Monday showed he's gaining on Romney.

Gingrich's absence (he was in South Carolina earlier this week and Iowa today) risks allowing the endorsement buzz to diminish, but his campaign is working to keep it going.

In addition to their roles as paid senior advisers, Chidester and Wieczorek will also co-chair Gingrich's state steering committee. (Jim's father, Executive Councilor Ray Wieczorek, by the way, backs Romney).

Chidester said that after leaving Bachmann, he was recruited “by all the campaigns except for one.

“I was going to take a really passive role,” he said, but then was impressed by Gingrich at the recent Granite State Liberty PAC forum in Hampton.

“I have always liked Newt, but after that I felt very connected to him,” Chidester said. “He has been one of the strongest conservatives since Reagan. He's a common-sense intellectual conservative at a time when a lot of conservatives say their lines but don't want to explore the issues further.”

Chidester said he “loves the red card solution” that Gingrich proposes to address illegal immigration.

Chidester said the campaign “is all up for us. He is surging and since the Union Leader's endorsement, the enthusiasm just keeps building.”

Chidester also said that he has been assured by the national campaign that Gingrich will spend lots of time in the state in the final weeks of the campaign.

After his Bachmann experience, “That was the first question I asked,” he said.

(It's unclear when Gingrich will be back but we understand it may not be until late next week.)

The Gingrich campaign also says it has signed up more than 1,000 volunteers on NewtHampshire.com since its launch several weeks ago.

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PUSHING AGAINST NEWT. It was only a matter of time before reports of push-polling in the presidential primary emerged.

The Granite Status was told by two New Hampshire voters this week that they were “pushed” in a poll after telling the caller/surveyor that they favored Gingrich in the presidential race.

Each of the two voters said he asked the caller to identify himself and the organization and/or candidate he was working for. The voters said the callers refused.

That's illegal.

Peter Crimi of Wilmot said his call came in on Sunday. He said that when said he supported Gingrich, the caller asked if he would still support the former speaker if he knew that Gingrich had been reprimanded and fined by the House for alleged ethics violations (14 years ago).

Crimi said the caller then asked how he felt about Romney and brought the conversation back to Gingrich.

“When I asked who was sponsoring the call, he got very evasive and so I terminated the call,” said Crimi. He said the caller identification on his phone said “private call.”

Tom Dabrowski of Goffstown said he had a similar experience last week.

The caller ID on his phone read “undefined, unavailable,” he said.

He said that when he told the caller he planned to support Gingrich, the caller made statements similar to those that Crimi described, mentioning ethics violations.

Dabrowski said the caller also asked if he would still support Gingrich if he knew Gingrich supported “amnesty” for illegal immigrants.

“That's what really got me mad,” Dabrowski said. “I told him Gingrich is not in favor of amnesty and never used the term ‘amnesty'” in the debate the previous night.

“I said, ‘Who do you work for?' but he wouldn't give me an answer,” Dabrowski said.

State law (RSA 664:16-a) allows pollsters to “push” voters by asking negatively or positively slanted questions in poll form about voters as long as the caller tells the person contacted that the call “is being made on behalf of, in support of, or in opposition to a particular candidate for public office, identify that candidate by name and provide a telephone number from where the push-polling is conducted.”

That didn't happen.

Assistant Attorney General Matt Mavrogeorge told us he has not received a complaint about a push poll since late August and is still investigating.

But he said he had not heard of these particular push poll calls until we informed him.

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MITT GOING POSITIVE. The new Romney TV ad that went up yesterday is a shift from last week's controversial ad attacking President Barack Obama.

The 30-second spot is all positive, all about Romney and does not mention Obama or any of the other Republican presidential candidates.

The full ad, entitled “The Right Answer,” is a Romney response to a question from the Sept. 12 CNN debate in Florida:

“I spent my life in the private sector. I've competed with companies around the world. I've learned something about how it is that economies grow.

“But we're not going to balance the budget just by pretending that all they have to do is take out the waste. We're going to have to cut spending. And I'm in favor of cutting spending, capping federal spending as a percentage of GDP at 20 percent or less, and having a balanced budget amendment.

“The right answer for America is to stop the growth of the federal government and to start the growth of the private sector.”

The video shows Romney standing with supporter Sen. Kelly Ayotte and various flattering shots of him shaking hands with prospective voters.

National Journal reported the buy is $85,535 on WMUR and will run until Dec. 6.

Romney had a smaller ad buy last week targeting Obama just as Obama came to New Hampshire. The ad caused controversy because it did not contain a full quote of Obama paraphrasing 2008 GOP presidential candidate McCain.

Romney will return to the state on Saturday for a rally at Alderman-elect Joe Kelly Levasseur's Theo's Restaurant in Manchester also featuring former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

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EIGHT FOR NEWT. Gingrich on Monday picked up the backing of eight New Hampshire House members:

Reps. Laurie Pettengill of Glen, who backed Romney in 2008, as well as Glen Hill of Northfield, Don McClarren of Nashua, Joe Pitre of Farmington, Kathy Lauer-Rago of Franklin, Joe Osgood of Claremont, Brandon Giuda of Chichester and Ken Sheffert of Hampton.

Romney was endorsed by New Hampshire Sheriffs Mike Downing of Rockingham County, Craig Wiggin of Belknap County and Michael Prozzo of Sullivan County. They join Sheriffs Scott Hilliard of Merrimack County and Douglas Dutile of Grafton County.

And former Bachmann supporter and 2010 candidate for governor Karen Testerman has signed on with Santorum.

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GOING THIRD PARTY? After months of frustration, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson said this week he may abandon his run for the Republican presidential nomination and run in the general election as a member of the Libertarian Party.

Johnson said he has abandoned his New Hampshire campaign effort and called the prospect of running nationally as a Libertarian “really exciting.”

“There is no expectation, none whatsoever” in New Hampshire, Johnson told New Mexico-based Capitol Report on Monday. “Realistically, there's no reason to think that I'm going to even register.

“We were hosting town halls and nobody was showing up,” he said. He blamed the lack of interest in his campaign on his being denied entrance into the GOP presidential debates.

“All of it ties together,” he said. “The debate thing is really a self-fulfilling prophecy. You're not in the debates, you're not even a candidate.”

And he said, “I'm not even in the polls to determine who's in the debates.” He noted he has been excluded from 14 of the 16 debates.

“Somebody's out there taking shots at me and they're really well camouflaged and they've been very effective at it,” Johnson said.

“What's really exciting is considering running as a Libertarian,” he said. “It's exciting, the notion that by doing that I could be on ballots of all 50 states in the general election and getting to continue the message. Potentially this is a way to put a voice to what I think a lot of people would want a voice put to.”

Johnson said he is not sure when he will decide whether to run as a Libertarian. He said he will be “letting it run its course and seeing if, against all odds, anything changes.”

As for his GOP presidential aspirations, “There's not going to be any surprise ending here.” Johnson said he thinks the process has been unfair.

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LOBBYING WHILE RUNNING. Republican candidate for governor Kevin Smith says until he becomes governor, he has to make a living.

And so, less than two weeks after announcing his candidacy for governor, Smith filed this week as a lobbyist for the National Organization for Marriage, according to the Secretary of State's website.

“It's not a departure from what I was doing previously” while heading the Cornerstone Action group, he said, “and I think NOM sees some value in having me on board for its efforts on the marriage restoration issue.”

Smith said he will also be working with clients in the telecommunications industry and the health care technology field, but NOM is the only client for which he is registered as a lobbyist.

Smith said his lobbying role on the key social issue “is not inconsistent at all” with his campaign focus on jobs and the economy.

His campaign is “going very well,” he said. “We are reaching out and signing on a lot of volunteers. I'm encouraged.”

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OVIDE STAFFING UP. Smith's fellow GOP gubernatorial candidate, Ovide Lamontagne (who, by the way, as an attorney is not required to disclose his clients), is also moving to organize and build support.

We've learned that J.P. Marzullo has begun to work for Lamontagne's campaign as a field organizer.

A Deering selectman, Marzullo is known as a top grass-roots organizer and two years ago helped revitalize the Contoocook Valley Republican Committee, which now has more than 140 members. He will resign from that post and as an area vice chairman of the Republican State Committee, to help Lamontagne.

Lamontagne drew about 150 people, including former Boston Red Sox player Rico Petrocelli, to a fund-raiser in Nashua on Tuesday

Similar events are planned for Stratham, Manchester, Concord and other cities and towns.

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