Nashua Republican Jennifer Horn yesterday formally announced her candidacy for New Hampshire's open 2nd Congressional District seat, setting up a likely primary with former U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass, R-N.H., and former state Rep. Bob Giuda, R-Warren.

Horn, a former radio host who was the GOP nominee in 2008, embraced a small-government philosophy as she fired a red-meat shot at Democrats in Washington.

“Congress lacks the leadership to tackle the problems we are facing. We were promised jobs and a growing economy, but instead we got a takeover of the auto industry, a job-killing cap-and-trade bill and health care legislation that threatens the very foundation of our democracy,” Horn said in a statement accompanying her announcement.

She also released a list of supporters that seems to signal that Bass, if he does seek his old seat, will have to work in the primary. Among the Horn backers are Orford Republican Tom Thomson; state Rep. Beverly Rodeschin of Newport; Ernie Bridge of Newport; former U.S. Rep. Chuck Douglas; and Cheshire County State's Attorney Peter Heed.

But Horn has her own work cut out for her. She had more than $243,000 in campaign debt as of June 30.

On the Democratic front, attorney and activist Ann McLane Kuster of Hopkinton raised $180,000 in the third quarter that just ended, and has raked in more than $343,000 since entering the race in May, according to her campaign. Kuster also got a boost on the Web site of Emily's List, the political action committee that backs female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights.

Kuster can use the help on the money front, considering former candidate Katrina Swett, who has an $881,000 war chest, is also expected to enter the Democratic primary.

It looks like U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., will face a primary in his bid for a seventh term in 2010. Daniel Freilich, a 45-year-old Navy captain and physician, plans to announce his candidacy in Wilmington, Vt., today.

“The reason I am doing this is because I believe we need transformational change in a number of key issues, and not accept incrementalism,” said Freilich. “It seems few people in the Senate are fighting on behalf of this.”

Freilich, who grew up in New York and Israel and did his medical residency at University of Vermont, is transitioning from active duty in the Navy to the Navy Reserve.

He first moved to Vermont in 1992 and has been a registered voter in Westford, Vt.

Freilich specialized in internal medicine with a co-specialty in infectious diseases, and has been working as a professor at the Uniformed Services University at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

Franklin, N.H., Mayor Ken Merrifield, the main cheerleader for that city's tax cap, handily won re-election to a second term Tuesday, as did two other city councilors who support the cap.

Franklin was the subject of a study commissioned by anti-cap groups concerned about similar proposals in Manchester and Claremont. The study asserts that Franklin lags most other cities in economic and demographic measures, in part because of the cap.

But Merrifield yesterday said Franklin voters clearly feel otherwise.

“My experience has been in the city of Franklin, this measure has become more popular with people over time as they gain experience and confidence with it,” Merrifield said yesterday. “Truly, if the people were unhappy with the tax cap, I doubt I would be talking to you as a re-elected mayor this afternoon.”

Meanwhile, Claremont's leading spending cap supporter, City Council candidate Cynthia Howard, got in hot water with the Moose lodge for not making clear in her application to use the facility that it was both a fundraiser for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and a political event on Saturday.

Was her event, moved to Carmella's Restaurant in Claremont, a success? You be the judge. Here's what Howard wrote on her Claremont Citizens for Lower Taxes Web site: “The first Claremont Tea Party was a tremendous success with approximately fifty people in attendance … We raised $93.25 for Crohn's.”

A Valley News colleague says there were clearly more people at the anti-cap Save Our Services rally in Claremont that same day.

* U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., will hold two public forums on health care reform in the days to come. The first one is on Saturdayin Williston, Vt. The biggie for the Upper Valley will be Oct. 17, also a Saturday, at 3:30 p.m. at Hartford High School.

* State Sen. Doug Racine, the Chittenden County Democrat running for governor, was campaigning in the Upper Valley yesterday, including a house party at former state Rep. Hilde Ojibway's home in Wilder. State Rep. Margaret Cheney, D-Norwich, was introducing Racine to area activists, but is not committed to any candidate yet.

* The Claremont Zoning Board showed some horse sense this week. It granted a use variance to allow Iraq vet Adam Dumont and his fiancee to keep two horses at their 7.25-acre home. The Timson Street home, near Maple Avenue, is zoned residential, but the secluded parcel includes a meadow and borders a beaver pond. Three neighbors interviewed last week said they liked the idea of keeping horses there.

* An anti-stimulus sign along Route 120 in Cornish: “What Comes After A Trillion? No Child Left A Dime.”