In the race to woo local politicians in the run-up to the 2008 presidential contest, Arizona Sen. John McCain has won the support of the Republican Coos County delegation. The county's senator - John Gallus - and four Republican representatives (Fred King, Eric Stohl, Bill Remick and John Tholl) just signed on, according to McCain's staff.

On the national front, McCain has also been making friends. On Saturday, when former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani entertained the crowd at the annual state GOP meeting, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman held a lunch at the Merrimack Restaurant on McCain's behalf.

Meeting with reporters before the lunch, which drew between 125 and 150 Republican delegates, according to McCain's staff, Huntsman explained why he took the time to travel across the country to sing McCain's praises.

"I thought it was important for at least one governor - a western governor - to share his impressions about somebody I have a lot of admiration for," said Huntsman, who spent Saturday meeting with local Republican leaders.

Although former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney did "an admirable job" overseeing the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Huntsman is smitten with McCain's "sense of leadership."

As for those conversations with local Republicans: "Some are choosing to keep their options open. Many recognize the strength of a McCain candidacy, and I would say he has a natural head start here in New Hampshire."

McCain also has the support of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, vice chairman of the National Governors Association.

Internal conflicts

Giuliani announced this week that he'd tapped former state GOP chairman Wayne Semprini to lead his New Hampshire operations (Giuliani had already hired Semprini's son, Jeff).

That caused us to reflect on Semprini's introduction of Giuliani on Saturday. Semprini mentioned an unusual fact to highlight Giuliani's crime-fighting prowess as mayor of New York.

"I realized that prior to your administration there were more injuries and murders as a result of guns in New York than we were able to kill deer that particular year," Semprini said.

As for Giuliani, it seems he's a conflicted man. During his speech, he made this statement: "All of us have some disagreements with candidates about this or that or the other thing," he said. "My great hero was Ronald Reagan. I have tremendous admiration for President Bush. I don't agree with him on everything. I don't agree with myself on everything."

Nothing but net

With her video announcement and online live "conversations," New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is proving to be an internet-savvy candidate. This week, her campaign staff revealed just how effective her website has been. Here are the numbers:

• More than 140,000 supporters (more than 1,000 from New Hampshire) signed up on the website in the first five days of her campaign.

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