WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20: NHDP BEEFS UP. The state Democratic Party is building up its communication team as it prepares early for the 2014 elections.

Harrell Kirstein will return as NHDP Communications Director. He had been with the party for two years before leaving to become state press secretary for the campaign of President Barack Obama.

Also, the party will soon build a "local rapid response and letter to the editor teams across the state, highlighting the work Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Gov. Maggie Hassan and the rest of New Hampshire's strong Democratic office holders are doing for Granite State families."

The party says it is holding grassroots message trainings with activists, increasing its already aggressive online and social media presence to reach out to the voters who don't always vote in mid-term elections. It says it will soon add more staff "to hold Republican elected officials accountable not just for what they say but also for their irresponsible actions like the Republican's $40 million budget deficit.

The party says that since January the it has held more than 85 local committee caucuses, electing town officers to organize their local communities.

"They will be having the same person to person conversations that were the cornerstone of New Hampshire Democrats' victories in 2012 and had been for years before, the part says.

"We are building on the momentum from our second straight special election victory yesterday, yet another example of New Hampshire voters' rejection of the Republican Party's Tea Party agenda," said NHDP Chairman Raymond Buckley. "The NHGOP has become the home of reckless and irresponsible theories and the voice of the 'Birthers' and other fringe right-wingers who have no connection to reality or vision for improving the state."

(For earlier Granite Status reports, click on "Granite Status" above.)