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.

MORE D.C. MONEY. It may not be the most popular place to raise money, but it's where the big money is, so U.S. Senate candidates Kelly Ayotte and Paul Hodes continue to raise campaign funds in Washington, D.C., at events hosted by lobbyists and political action committees.

Republican Ayotte, the frontrunner in a four-person party primary campaign, was scheduled to be feted at four Washington fundraisers hosted by lobbyists during the next six weeks.

One of them, scheduled for last night, was canceled due to a snowstorm in the Washington area, with no makeup date scheduled, said Ayotte campaign manager Brooks Kochvar. Another is scheduled for later this month and two for mid-March.

Ayotte's four fundraisers are among 66 such GOP events scheduled over the next 50 days that were promoted in a widely distributed National Republican Senatorial Committee list reported on by the Washington-based Politico.com.

The New Hampshire Democratic Party says the four events show Ayotte's continued ties to the D.C. elite. Yet the Democrats' own candidate, Hodes, continues raising money in Washington, as well.

Ayotte's canceled event for last night had been planned as a $1,000-per-PAC and $500-per-individual reception at Morton's Steakhouse near K Street. One of the hosts was to be Jeff Walter, who formerly lobbied for AIG and whose 2009 clients included JP Morgan Chase, Lockheed Martin and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

On Feb. 25, Exxon Mobil lobbyist Mark Boudreaux and American Gas Association lobbyist Rick Shelby will host a fundraising lunch for Ayotte near Capitol Hill. The cost is $500 a person and $1,000 a PAC.

On March 15, Ayotte will pick up campaign funds at the home of longtime GOP operative and former Bush White House assistant Mary Matalin in Alexandria, Va.

Among those listed on the host committee is Brad Card, the brother of former Bush White House Chief of Staff Andy Card and a former New Hampshire state police officer who is now listed as managing principal at the Dutko Worldwide lobbying firm. Prices range from $250 to $2,000.

The next day, Ayotte is scheduled to raise money at a $500 to $1,000 fundraiser in Washington hosted by seven prominent Capitol Hill women, including lobbyists Missy Edwards of the Washington Group and Mary Pat Lawrence of Sonnenschein, Nath and Rosenthal LLP.

The state Democratic Party's Emily Browne said the series of events indicates that "Washington's Republican establishment is getting nervous about their golden girl, and her increasingly competitive primary."

But Ayotte's campaign pointed out that Hodes today is scheduled for a $500 to $1,000 fundraising luncheon with "special guest" Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, at a Washington restaurant. Last week, a Washington fundraiser benefitting Hodes was sponsored by the Americans for the Arts Action Fund PAC, and on Feb. 23 Hodes, who is a musician, will raise money at a fundraiser at the office of the Warner Music Group at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.

Browne, asked if it was also unacceptable for Hodes to raise money in Washington, said the locations of the fundraisers is besides the point.

"It's about the hypocrisy of the NRSC and (chairman) John Cornyn trying to claim that they're not endorsing Kelly Ayotte while hosting four fundraisers for her in a row and not one for any of the other candidates in her primary. It's about Kelly Ayotte trying to pretend she's not the establishment candidate and not beholden to special interests and the Washington GOP."

But Ayotte campaign manager Brooks Kochvar said the NRSC is not hosting any of the four fundraisers. And, he said, any GOP candidate is free to list upcoming events with the NRSC, including Ayotte's primary competitors. Kochvar also said that Hodes has raised far more money than Ayotte from PACs.

"Paul Hodes is a hypocrite and has never met a special interest he doesn't like," said Kochvar. "Hodes has to rely on Washington to keep his campaign going because the voters of New Hampshire don't support his plans for a government takeover of health care and higher taxes on working families.

KELLY, OVIDE GET GOOD NEWS. A poll commissioned by the liberal Daily Kos web log shows signs of trouble for Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes at this early stage of the 2010 U.S. Senate campaign, but it also shows that Republican frontrunner Kelly Ayotte is in a competitive race for her party's nomination with Ovide Lamontagne.

Daily Kos hired Research 2000, which says it polled 600 likely Granite State voters between Feb. 1 and 3. The poll has a margin of error of 5 percent.

In general election matchups, Ayotte leads Hodes, 46 to 39 percent, while Hodes leads both Lamontagne, 46 to 36 percent, and Bill Binnie, 45 to 35 percent.

Since its last poll in July, "Ayotte has moved up while Hodes is stalled out; surprisingly, Lamontagne and even Binnie remain contenders," Daily Kos reports. Its says Hodes needs to show that he is not merely " a worthy candidate trying to move up from the House whose numbers plateau in the low 40s."

In a GOP primary question, Ayotte led Lamontagne, 36 to 27 percent, with Binnie at 4 percent. Jim Bender was not included.

The poll also indicates that both political parties are unpopular in New Hampshire, with the Republican Party slightly more unpopular than the Democrats. It puts President Obama's favorable rating at 55 percent, 7 percentage points higher than a poll released on Thursday, conducted by the University of New Hampshire.

The poll also showed Gov. John Lynch in a strong position as 57 percent said they would vote to reelect him, while 25 percent said they would consider another candidate and 18 percent said they would vote to replace him.

Click here for the Daily Kos report and the full poll results.

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Text of Granite Status as published Feb. 4 follows.

JOHN'S GETTING SERIOUS. For months, John Stephen has done nothing to encourage, or discourage, talk that he may run for governor.

The Republican former state heath and human services commissioner and two-time congressional candidate has played his cards pretty close, but now, it appears he's beginning to show his hand.

Stephen confirmed yesterday that he'll make a decision on whether to run for governor in the next few weeks.

He also disclosed that he met in Washington last Friday with Republican Governors Association Chairman and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to talk about New Hampshire.

Stephen said he wanted to "get a sense of (Barbour's) commitment to the state, and found that no matter who the candidate is, the RGA is very interested in New Hampshire."

Stephen said Barbour "knew a lot about me and made it clear that they think this race is winnable should I decide to run."

Barbour also was "encouraging about what the RGA could do to help in the future," Stephen said. "He pointed out that when there is an open U.S. Senate seat, often it is won by the same party that wins the governorship."

Stephen said he told Barbour "I'd be nearing my decision shortly and appreciated his encouragement."

He said he and Barbour believe that Gov. John Lynch is vulnerable this year because of his support for the tax on LLCs, "the massive increase in unemployment and the budget deficit."

Stephen said the state's priority should be job creation, which, he said, can't be done "when you have massive hikes in taxes, especially this LLC tax. It's heading in the wrong direction."

He said that the Business Profits Tax, Business Enterprise Tax and the LLC tax "make us the highest business tax climate in the entire Northeast."

Sound like a future candidate to you?

RICH IS IN. Rich Ashooh has been exploring a candidacy for the 1st District U.S. House seat for the past two months.

Today, the Republican Bedford business executive will make it official, joining former Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta, Newmarket businessman Bob Bestani as well as Peter Bearse and Mike Castaldo in a primary race to face Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter in the fall.

Ashooh, 45, knows that his lobbying role as vice president of government relations for defense contractor BAE Systems may be the source of criticism from primary foes and Democrats, but he looks at it as a plus, not a drawback.

"I embrace working for an incredibly important company," he said, "and the work I've done there has helped to save lives, create hundreds of New Hampshire jobs and make our nation a safer place."

Ashooh said he will focus on "the economy and jobs, the fiscal crisis and national security" as a candidate.

He said that while he realizes he has to work on name recognition, he found during his exploratory effort that Granite Staters share his concerns.

Ashooh said his decision is unrelated to Guinta or any other GOP candidate.

Still, it's hard not to ignore the fact that his announcement will come just a few days after Guinta disclosed raising a less-than-impressive $60,892 in the fourth quarter of 2009, although he did raise $277,056 since becoming a candidate last spring and ended the year with $173,394 on hand.

KELLY ON THE AIR. She's not exactly matching Bill Binnie's $160,000 television ad buy but GOP Senate hopeful Kelly Ayotte goes on the air today with a 60-second radio ad that portrays her as "New Hampshire's strong and conservative voice."

The ads will air statewide with an initial two-week buy of $15,000, but it will of course be extended.

The ad combines an announcer with Ayotte's own words alternately, promoting Ayotte as a woman of "new ideas, experience and conservative values."

Ayotte cites her experience as chief of the homicide division and then being appointed Attorney General by two governors.

The announcer says that the New Hampshire Union Leader named Ayotte Citizen of the Year "for her successful prosecution of the case where a Manchester police officer was murdered in the line of duty _ a case Kelly personally prosecuted."

The ad goes on to talk about her husband's service in the Iraq war, Ayotte's self-described fiscal conservatism and her refusal of a state pay raise in 2009.

Ayotte yesterday announced her endorsement by101 GOP legislators.

BENDER ON TV. As we reported first on UnionLeader.com yesterday, Hollis businessman Jim Bender will soon join Bill Binnie in television advertising.

Bender, a Hollis businessman, says he intends to begin airing television ads next week as part of an overall campaign ramp-up.

While Binnie's ads show him at work, as a student and with his father, among other settings, Bender, in his first ad, looks straight into the camera for 30 seconds and makes a case for one of the key messages of his campaign: term limits.

He says that many congressmen "have never had a real job" and decries "the elitist ruling class who are out of touch with America."

He promises to fight for term limits if elected.

Bender hasn't immediately disclosed the size of the buy or what stations will air the ad.

He's also working on a DVD mailing to go out in the next week or so that will feature a speech he delivered in Bedford last month and dozens of his friends talking about who Bender is, what he stands for and why he'd make a good senator.

Bender has immediate plans for six more ads on various issues.

WHICH IS IT? Ayotte and Binnie have changed positions on key fiscal issues recently. What do you think of their explanations?

At last Saturday evening's GOP Senate candidates forum at a conference hosted by Fred Tausch's STEWARD organization, Ayotte said that to begin to reduce the federal deficit and national debt, "We're going to need a balanced budget. We're going to have to get rid of pork barrel spending, including earmarks, and we're going to have to look also at what Congress gets."

In an interview last November, she told us she was not in favor of eliminating earmarks, but called for "more transparency in the process," including posting earmark requests on line.

Ayotte campaign manager Brooks Kochvar acknowledged that Ayotte has changed her mind on earmarks.

"She always said (the earmarking process) should be reformed and part of a balanced budget that's open and transparent, but with recent developments, she thinks it should be eliminated," he said.

"Given the corruption in Washington, using special deals and earmarks to buy votes, like the ‘Cornhusker kickback,' Kelly thinks we should end the earmark process.".

Kochvar noted Ayotte is the first candidate in the race to sign the Citizens Against Government Waste "No Pork Pledge," promising not to request "any pork-barrel earmarks.".

The state Democratic Party noted her shift came shortly after Senate candidate Rep. Paul Hodes came out against earmarks. The party called the Ayotte shift more evidence that she "will say anything to get elected."

Binnie, meanwhile, seemed to reverse course on Sen. Judd Gregg's proposed bipartisan deficit-cutting commission in the course of just three days.

A week ago, Binnie opposed it.

"The Washington politicians shouldn't need a commission to tell them how to reduce the debt," he told us then in an emailed statement. "It's simple, they need to cut spending. President Obama is our leader. He needs to lead."

But on Saturday at the STEWARD forum, Binnie was quoted by The Telegraph of Nashua endorsing the Gregg plan, saying, "I think it was a very good idea and I heartily support that but I think we need to put everything on the table."

Asked for an explanation, Binnie's camp sent this statement from the candidate:.

"The President should have cut the deficit. He didn't. The Congress should have cut the deficit. They didn't. If you lack the leadership to cut the deficit, if you need to punt it over to a deficit commission, then let's have a commission.

"I would endorse any blue ribbon panel which includes Senator Judd Gregg. It's a shame we need a commission to make a decision regarding the biggest financial challenge our country faces," Binnie said.

OBAMA CLEAN-UP. A few notes from the Obama town hall:

- Sen. Jeanne Shaheen arrived with the President on Air Force One, while Hodes and Rep. Carol Shea-Porter returned with him to Washington.

- Former U.S. Rep. and Clinton administration ambassador Dick Swett's question to the President elicited a response that indicated the Senate may pass an energy bill this year without the cap-and-trade component.

The New York Times picked up on the question and answer, noting that Obama "has long put (cap-and-trade) the center of his environmental agenda."

"We may be able to separate these things out," Obama told Swett. "And it's conceivable that that's where the Senate ends up. But the concept of incentivizing clean energy so that it's the cheaper, more effective kind of energy is one that is proven to work and is actually a market-based approach."

- And as Presidents tend to do, Obama began the town hall by reminiscing a bit about his time in New Hampshire during the campaign leading to the 2008 first-in-the-nation primary.

"I've had beers at the Peddler's Daughter," he said. "I manned the scoop at ice cream socials from Dover to Hudson. I've walked Main Street in Concord, visited with folks in all 10 counties.

"I even once flew into the airport in Milan, which has got to be one of the only airports with a functioning wood stove. We spent a bunch of times in this (Nashua High School North) gym, caused traffic jams several times.

"And just have a lot of good friends here in this state, here in this city."

QUICK TAKES:

- The Associated Press reports that state Rep. Frank Emiro, R-Londonderry, is exploring a run for governor.

- U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., chairman of the House Republican Conference, will be the keynote speaker at the Hillsborough County Republican Committee's 2010 Lincoln-Reagan Dinner at CR Sparks in Bedford on March 19.

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