We're calling a truce this weekend. Today - and today only - there'll be no talk of budget bills, school funding plans or Medicaid reform. We got enough of that last week, and there will be plenty more hot air steaming out of the State House to keep us busy next week.

Instead, let's revisit some old friends: the Free Staters. It has been 18 months since the Free State Project chose New Hampshire as its home, with the hopes of fostering a libertarian-friendly atmosphere by moving its members here en masse.

So how's the plan progressing?

FSP leaders say about 100 people have made the move so far. Add the 250 or so native project members, and about 350 Free Staters call New Hampshire home. Those who have settled here like what they see.

Take Keith Murphy, a Baltimore native active in the FSP for nearly two years. He moved to New Hampshire in February after finding a managerial job in Manchester. Since settling here, Murphy has taken an active role in the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, a lobbying group that shares some membership and political outlook with the Free State Project. But mostly, he's been reveling in New Hampshire's pro-liberty atmosphere.

"There's not a day that goes by I don't do something I couldn't do in Maryland,"Murphy said.

Last week alone, he said, he drove to work without a seatbelt and purchased beer at a supermarket - two activities verboten in Maryland.

"And in Baltimore, if I go around and say things like, 'I wish my taxes weren't so high,' I'd be in the minority. Here in New Hampshire, I fit right in. By and large, I think we're all blending in just fine."

The FSP's goal is to bring 20,000 freedom lovers to New Hampshire. Amanda Phillips, FSP president, says she's happy with the progress the group is making.

"We're still trying to spread word about the project around the rest of the nation,"Phillips said. "It's definitely a long-term perspective."

Welcoming committees across the state meet regularly to introduce new arrivals. And some members are taking a more diligent approach, participating in weekly political seminars organized by the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance. Don Gorman, a former Libertarian state rep from Deerfield, has been leading State House tours since January. Thursday was Meet Your Senator Day.

The goal, Gorman said, is to give NHLA members "an understanding of how the real Legislature works. Half the pieces of that place are invisible."

Gorman takes his pupils to committee hearings, introduces them to lawmakers and urges them to pick up tactics from more experienced lobbyists. He's a stickler for protocol. He has sent away a couple of attendees who show up in jeans or T-shirts. And he wants to allay any fears that libertarians are fire-breathing anarchists.

"I'm not in for rabble-rousing or protesting or burning flags," he said. "I want to channel this energy in a positive way. These Free Staters are coming in with a strong desire to learn and become better citizens."

Dawn Lincoln of Winchester moved with her two daughters to New Hampshire a year ago. She's been overwhelmed

by what she's learned on Gorman's tours, and even testified on one bill. She may run for office herself one day.

Her most recent trip to the State House left her with a new appreciation of the citizen legislature. She popped into Sen. Tom Eaton's office last Thursday, hoping to introduce herself. Eaton was in a meeting, so Lincoln left her name and hometown -"just to let him know one of his constituents had come to visit."

When she arrived home an hour later, a message from Eaton was waiting on her answering machine. The senator was sorry to have missed her.

"He took the initiative to look up my phone number," Lincoln said. "I was so impressed and pleased. These legislators are so approachable."

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State troopers signed a new two-year contract, but the State Employees Association is mired in increasingly tense negotiations. The word around the water cooler is that the troopers made some concessions on health benefits -something the employees' union isn't willing to do. (next page »)