Hillary Clinton's campaign picked up significant local support his week with endorsements by former U.S. Rep. Dick Swett and veteran strategist Judy Reardon.

Swett's and his wife, Katrina, are long-time friends of the Clintons. The former President appointed him ambassador to Denmark in 1998.

Katrina Swett, who intends to run for the U.S. Senate in 2008, is staying out of the endorsement game, at least for now, her husband said.

Dick said he is "eager to work with the Clinton campaign on issues relating to our energy consumption" and how it relates to national security, as he did with his '04 Presidential pick, Joe Lieberman.

Reardon, deputy chief of staff for former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, will keep her position at The Dupont Group lobbying firm and won't hold an official title in the campaign. But she said she'd give "as much help as I possibly can."

Reardon was John Kerry's deputy campaign director for northern New England in 2004. She said she decided some time ago that if Kerry decided not to run, she'd back Clinton.

QUICK TURNAROUND. As UnionLeader.com first reported last night, Hillary Clinton will be back in the state on Saturday, this time to visit the all-important Seacoast.

Campaign field director Karen Hicks said Clinton will hold a house party in Portsmouth in the morning and a town hall-style "conversation" at Dover High School. Doors will open to the public at 2 p.m., and the program will begin at 2:30 p.m. RSVPs are "encouraged" at www.hillaryclinton.com.

Hicks said the campaign understands the importance of the Democratic vote-rich area and had been planning for a while for a return visit.

"We came out of last weekend with having seen close to 7,000 people and brought on board a bunch of support, which we're in the middle of sorting out. I feel really good about where we are."

►UPDATED: Senate vote forces Clinton to alter Saturday schedule in NH

Clinton is also scheduled to return to New Hampshire on March 10 to keynote the state Democratic Party's "100 Club" fund-raiser.

Meanwhile, Democratic contenders Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd is scheduled to campaign in New Hampshire today and tomorrow, while New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson plans to be in the first-primary state tomorrow and Saturday. Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich plans to arrive Saturday and stay through Tuesday.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards plans to be here on Feb. 24 for his One Corps volunteer group's "national day of action," a campaign spokesman says. Details are still being worked out.

DOGGED? It was almost all good and very little bad for Clinton last weekend, even though the national press portrayed it as though every voter question asked was confrontational and about Iraq. One report said Iraq questions "dogged" her here.

Sure, there were questions about Iraq. We asked several ourselves in our interview last Friday on the eve of her visit. But it was certainly not all she was asked about or talked about. At her Concord High School event, for instance, four of 15 questions to Clinton were about Iraq or terrorism in general.

Only one questioner, David Tiffany of Hollis, was clearly confrontational, partially because he was ticked off after having been told to give up his "Bring the Troops Home" sign and told that only "Hillary" signs could be displayed in the gym.

That's a questionable tactic by any campaign. But, considering her high-profile, her visit had far more pluses than minuses.

While the Concord event was tightly choreographed, Clinton did show a spontaneous and humorous side.

She asked audience members how many were current and former Girl Scouts and who remembered singing the old song with the refrain, "Make new friends but keep the old one." She said that was her plan: to make new friends in 2008 and keep her friends from her husband's 1992 campaigns.

She recited the words, joking, "I'm not going to sing it because you go to YouTube, you'll see why."

Clinton also referred to a young man decked out in a funky T-shirt as "Mr. Star Wars." And she started her "conversation" by joking about her misfiring microphone.

"I'm wired," she said, talking as much about her mood as her brief technological mishap.

WHO CARES? Now, while Hillary was reportedly "dogged," Barack Obama, we read somewhere (not here), received "scant scrutiny" during his Monday visit.

Really? He took nearly a dozen question at Rep. Bette Lasky's home in Nashua. When he spoke to the nearly 125 guests packed into her spacious living room, one could literally hear a pin drop.

People were listening intently. They sure looked like they were scrutinizing him.

Since when is scrutiny defined by confrontation?

The fact is, New Hampshire are known for scrutinizing candidates. And 99 percent of the time, they do it in a polite, non-confrontational, but direct way €" without "dogging" them.

BIG ON OBAMA. Manchester Democratic activist Garth Corriveau may have summed up Obama's attraction to young voters.

"I grew up knowing only the politics of division, and I want something new and something very different," Corriveau, 30, told us at Lasky's home. He decided on the spot to back Obama.

A more "seasoned" activist, Ilene Therrien of Merrimack, said Obama reminded her of John F. Kennedy.

ABOUT THOSE REPUBLICANS. There's been relatively little news from the Republican campaigns lately, but we can tell you that yes, John McCain does have a New Hampshire campaign.

"We've been quietly out talking to the activist," said campaign vice chair Steve Duprey. He said that McCain's Senate responsibilities have kept him away lately, "but the core staff is working. We're reaching out to old friends and making new friends."

We've learned that former George Pataki supporter Matt Mayberry has joined McCain, while the campaign says Nashua Mayor Bernie Streeter is also on board.

The only campaign quieter then McCain's in these parts lately has been Rudy Giuliani's, although we understand that Rudy and others are trying to sign up former Jeb Bradley chief of staff Debra Vander Beek.

GOING BIG TIME? McCain is heading to first-caucus state Iowa on Saturday, but there are no plans for a New Hampshire visit anytime soon, according to his state campaign.

Interestingly, Duprey says Granite Staters may not see as much of McCain as they did in 2000, when McCain skipped Iowa and ran a "three-state campaign" in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan.

But now he's a national candidate, and, "Given what's happening with the calendar, it's a 20-30 state campaign," Duprey said.

"We have to make our New Hampshire supporters understand that like any other leading candidate, he can't do 130 town meetings," as he did back in '99 and '00, Duprey said.

Duprey, a former state GOP chairman who fought for the New Hampshire primary's primacy during his tenure in the 1990s, disagrees with the current state Democratic and GOP chairs that the front-loading rush by big state primaries and caucuses behind New Hampshire will enhance the primary. Duprey said the big state moves will enhance the primary's impact only for big-name, well-funded national candidates, but not the little guys.

Most recently, California's state Senate on Tuesday voted to move its primary to early Feb. 5, 2008, which may be only two weeks behind New Hampshire. Its Assembly is reportedly likely to quickly move the bill to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who supports it.

Duprey said the "lesser known" candidates will still spend a lot of time in New Hampshire, but front-runners can't afford to ignore the big early states.

"And even if lightening strikes and one of the lesser-known candidates were to have a great primary, and have their donations suddenly go up dramatically, by the time you process the credit card and check, they won't have time to spend it. It will be all over," Duprey said.

MITT AND THE SNOW. Remember the good old says when candidates were candidates and they were undaunted by a little snow in their quest for support?

Mitt Romney adviser Tom Rath says his candidate was personally undaunted yesterday and wanted to keep his 4:30 p.m. date in Hopkinton for a "meet-and-greet." But Rath says he was talked out of it by more pragmatic advisers.

"Granite Staters prize judgment in their candidates and the best judgment (yesterday) was to do what everyone else in the State is doing -- let Mother Nature have her day," said Rath.

He said a crowd of 400 was expected. There is no "make-up" date, but Rath said a couple of days may be added to Romney's next visit. He is scheduled to address the Derry, Hampton and Portsmouth Republican Committees' joint Lincoln Day dinner on March 1.

TARGET JOHN. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee continues targeting Republican Sen. John Sununu this week.

Viewing him as one of the most vulnerable Senate candidates in the country in '08, the DSCC has purchased a half-page ad in tomorrow's New Hampshire Union Leader saying that while U.S. troops "have to follow Bush's orders, Sen. Sununu doesn't."

"Maybe it's time Sununu started representing New Hampshire," the ad says.

The DSCC raised money for the ad and a similar one in Oregon targeting Sen. Gordon Smith with an on-line fund drive.

DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said a print ad was used because Granite Staters "have just seen a lot of TV ads and are about to see a lot more with the primary starting. We felt this was a good way to reach voters at this time."

SPOTLIGHT ON GREGG. Senior Sen. Judd Gregg was featured in a story this week by Capitol Hill newspaper "Roll Call" in a story headlined, "Point Man or Hit Man?"

It reports that Gregg "has been at the center of nearly every major floor fight this Congress," on non-binding Iraq-related resolutions and an effort to give the President line-item rescission authority over earmarks in spending bills.

Gregg, who has long been close to the Senate GOP leadership, is described as "our best sort of idea guy" by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

KEY NHDP APPOINTMENTS. With Nick Clemons two week away from joining the Clinton campaign as state director, state Democratic Chair Kathy Sullivan has nominated party finance Jennifer Kuzma as acting executive director. The party executive committee will consider the appointment shortly.

Sullivan credited Kuzma with a large role in the Democrats' success in the last election.

Sullivan also appointed party vice chair Raymond Buckley to chair the party's affirmative action committee as officials draw up their 2008 convention delegate selection plan.

Buckley remains under investigation for allegations relating to child pornography and sexual harassment, but Sullivan said, "None of the allegations have ever crossed the credibility threshold. I believe in appointing the best person to do a job, and he's the best."

CAROL'S TOUGH WORDS. Democratic freshman Rep. Carol Shea-Porter took to the House floor late Tuesday night and accused several GOP lawmakers of using "romanticized language" in talking about the war in Iraq.

"What's this talk I have heard tonight about freedom and liberty?" she asked. "This talk of glory that I heard on the floor....this talk about Davy Crockett? There is no Davy Crockett. Our troops need clear-eyed leaders, not this romantic rabble that we have been hearing."

State GOP chair Fergus Cullen yesterday accused Shea-Porter of "undermining our troops," and said, "It is outrageous that a member of Congress would scoff at freedom and liberty as American values worth fighting for."

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