GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU’S presidential exploration tour gets a big boost Sunday afternoon when he leads a discussion on the “Future of Conservatism” at the South by Southwest Music Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas.

THE RECORD-SETTING final numbers are in for the Rochester Ward 4 special election. The fundraising advantage that Democratic state Rep. Chuck Grassie had over Republican challenger and ex-Mayor David Walker dwarfed his 12-point victory at the polls.

SENATE PRESIDENT Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, last week helped keep alive a controversial bill to legalize online gambling.

THE WINNER of Tuesday’s special election for a House seat in Rochester Ward 4 will make national news.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU will get the first turn at bat on the state budget Tuesday when he presents his proposal for the next two years.

THEY REPRESENT a small slice of the electorate, but the New Hampshire Libertarian Party rarely fails to entertain.

EXPECT A VIGOROUS debate over a New Hampshire legislative campaign aimed at ending incarceration of women and girls.

PROMINENT NEW HAMPSHIRE Democrats continue to use national media outlets that the White House follows closely to deliver the not-at-all-subtle message that President Joe Biden’s mission to take away the state’s first-in-the-nation primary will have consequences.

THE CAT IS OUT of the bag: The state-owned Hampstead Hospital property is the clear front-runner to become the home for a new treatment complex for juveniles, replacing the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester.

THE AUDIENCE for Gov. Chris Sununu’s inaugural address included not just Granite Staters, but national Republicans who could be willing to give him a look as he considers the prospect of a White House run in 2024.

HOUSE SPEAKER Sherman Packard is promoting two young Republicans to lead new special committees that he hopes will break policy logjams.

LAST WEDNESDAY’S Organization Day confirmed what House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, already knew: How many bodies are in seats will matter every minute the House is in session.

THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL refused to rubber-stamp Gov. Chris Sununu’s nomination of Assistant Commissioner Lori Weaver of Concord to serve as acting commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services.

HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER David Cote of Nashua quickly moved to call for a special election to resolve the tie vote of a House race after a recount in Rochester Ward 4.

IF NOT FOR REDISTRICTING, Democrats would have a bigger share of power at the New Hampshire State House after Tuesday’s election.

ALL SIGNS POINT to the state’s Special Committee on Voter Confidence completing its final report after the Nov. 8 election.

DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE for governor Tom Sherman continues to trail Gov. Chris Sununu significantly in the polls, but he is matching the incumbent dollar for dollar in campaign cash.

SENATE REPUBLICAN nominee Don Bolduc said the most-asked question he gets on the campaign trail is how his personality as a retired brigadier general would translate to Capitol Hill, where junior senators are often better off seen than heard.

IT SURE LOOKS as if the governor elected on Nov. 8 will inherit a state revenue surplus to play with in 2023.

AFTER THE VOTES are counted Nov. 8, there will be another election at the State House.

IN THE CLOSING scene of “The Aviator,” the 2004 Oscar-winning biopic, Leonardo DiCaprio, as the brilliant but disturbed millionaire Howard Hughes, looks into a bathroom mirror and repeatedly chants, “The way of the future.”

WHEN A BAND of seven very conservative House Republicans moved last December to impeach Gov. Chris Sununu for government overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic, you had to know this controversy would reverberate in the GOP primary.

A SHADOWY Arlington, Virginia, special interest group has made a big down payment on electing constitutional conservatives to the State House in Concord.

THERE’S BAD TASTE, and then there’s the official Twitter account of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (LPNH).

WHERE WOULD WE be without private-sector censors of free speech?

REPUBLICAN U.S. SENATE candidate Bruce Fenton of Durham is hoping his aggressive tax cut plan sets him apart from his opponents with less than a month before the Sept. 13 primary.

THE LEGISLATURE WILL return to session at the State House on Sept. 15 to take up the bills Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed and to handle other pressing business.

ONE OF THE NEWEST and least-known Republican candidates for U.S. Senate fears a Sept. 13 primary win will be meaningless if the carping between opponents continue.

NOT SHYING from picking sides in the Sept. 13 party primaries, the fiscally conservative Americans for Prosperity-New Hampshire issued their first round of candidate endorsements.

THERE CAN BE no doubt that Gov. Chris Sununu is a solid favorite to win a fourth term this fall.

SO MUCH FOR ONE of the first rules in electoral politics:

WHILE IT IS EARLY in the 2022 campaign season, Democratic candidate for governor Tom Sherman surely will get some notice for outraising Gov. Chris Sununu, according to the latest campaign finance reports.

MONEY ALONE does not win elections, but rarely does someone suffer for having more cash than the other guy.

IF GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU decides to veto the voter affidavit ballot bill (SB 418), he will have lots of backup.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU says he has vetoed very few bills, but none so far has upset conservatives more than his rejection of one that would have curbed the power of governors during future states of emergency.

THE STATE SENATE won’t be the only place at the State House with many new faces in seats after this fall’s elections.

IT SURE LOOKS LIKE the Legislature will be getting a new parking garage for lawmakers kitty corner to the State House, but it wasn’t easy.

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU did it again.

LEAVE IT TO Senate President Pro Tem Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, to describe the state of affairs in the Legislature last week.