Trawling through presidential candidates' third quarter fundraising filings, several trends emerge.

The best-known Democratic candidates have dozens of staffers sporting New Hampshire addresses on their payrolls (Barack Obama, for example, had upward of 90), while the Republicans trend more toward consultants. (Disclaimer: Here at the Capital Beat, we searched for payments made to individuals with New Hampshire addresses - many campaign workers come from elsewhere in the country, and might not necessarily use a local address.)

While Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards have scores of state staff (many of whom earn little more than a stipend), Mitt Romney's New Hampshire staff spending included payments to Tom Rath's Rath Group ($12,500 in each of the three third-quarter months) and Elevare Communications. Rudy Giuliani's campaign was good to the Semprini

family: Both Wayne and Jeff Semprini are on the payroll, as was James Wieczorek. John McCain's filings, meanwhile, included more than $6,000 to Rep. Maureen Mooney for get-out-the-vote consulting.

Peppering the filings were the occasional interesting tidbits: Clinton's campaign gave $500 to the Hopkinton State Fair, which she and Bill Clinton visited last month. Obama spent $200 on the New Hampshire Jewish Reporter, while Romney paid a $90 registration fee to New Hampshire Right to Life.

Closing the gap

Obama isn't taking his third quarter fundraising loss to Clinton lying down. Urging supporters to "close the gap," Obama sharpened his attack on Clinton. "The results are clear," Obama wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "We continue to build the largest grassroots movement in history, but Washington lobbyists and special interests rallied to help Hillary Clinton out-raise us for the first time." The campaign compounded the effort by circulating e-mails from donors, urging other supporters to give.

As of Friday morning, the campaign had raised more than $1.9 million through the "close the gap" effort, with a goal of $2.1 million. Obama out-raised Clinton in the first two quarters of the year. But in the last quarter, Clinton raised $22 million for the primaries, compared with $19 million for Obama.

And in New Hampshire . . .

Obama may have lagged behind Clinton in national fundraising last quarter, but he won the New Hampshire money race. According to a breakdown by Beth LaMontagne on campaignsandelections.com/nh, Obama raised $125,538 last quarter in the state, far more than any other candidate. Clinton, in contrast, took in $28,170.

Among GOP contenders, Romney was the winner, taking in $85,400. The Republican runner-up, however, was a surprise: Ron Paul beat out Giuliani, McCain and Fred Thompson in state fundraising, with $46,146. According to Andrew Sullivan's blog The Daily Dish, New Hampshire is Ron Paul country: The state ranks first in the nation for per capita Paul donors.

Free agent now

Nothing drove the man who was until last month Thompson's de facto spokesman and leading supporter New Hampshire to ditch that campaign. Absolutely nothing, says former state representative Dan Hughes.

"Nothing happened. That's why I left. If something happened, I'd still be there," Hughes said. "What they need me for if they weren't going to do anything?"

Hughes was the go-to guy for Thompson through the summer and last month, when Thompson became an official candidate. But Hughes has been disappointed with the showing from Thompson, who's come to New Hampshire just once as a candidate and once before he came.

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