BIG MONEY: The Super PACs have dominated the airwaves in the presidential campaign, trashing one candidate or another and leaving a path of bloodied competitors stretching from New Hampshire to Texas.

The Super PACs are new to the political game this election cycle, though outside money pouring into races is not.

Most observers expect the money to continue to flow into New Hampshire for the presidential race, the congressional races, the governor's race and on down the ticket.

The filing period for state and federal office ended Friday, though the political parties can still file candidates for open seats until Wednesday.

Several state Senate candidates say they have already raised considerable amounts of money for their races.

New Boston attorney and longtime Town Moderator Lee Nyquist raised $60,000 for his run for the open District 9 state Senate seat.

Nyquist, a Democrat, faces an uphill fight in the newly redrawn district, which stretches from Bedford to Richmond in the southwestern part of the state, including the Peterborough area.

The district leans Republican, though not as much as did the old district, which was a lock for the GOP.

The two candidates running for the Republican nomination are both Bedford residents: Kenneth Hawkins and Andy Sanborn.

Hawkins has represented Bedford in the House for five terms and was the House point man on state retirement system reform the past two years, earning the wrath of public labor unions.

Sanborn recently moved to Bow from Henniker, where he was the District

6 senator. In the Senate redistricting, Henniker became part of Senate District 15, which also includes Concord, Hopkinton and Warner and is represented by former Senate President Sylvia Larsen of Concord.

Sanborn wouldn't have stood a chance.

Sanborn dumped a considerable amount of his own money into his campaign for state Senate in both 2008, when he lost, and in 2010, when he won.

And the Republican-backed Super PAC money is expected to make its way all the way down to state Senate and even House races, so Nyquist will certainly need all the money he can find.

Speaking to supporters after he filed Thursday, Nyquist said the $60,000 has been raised from 300 individuals and organizations, with additional pledges of support in hand.

“We believe that these figures are historic fundraising figures in New Hampshire for a first-time state Senate candidate before the filing deadline,” Nyquist said. “We will use our generous contributions to mount a vigorous, professional and constructive campaign.”

On the opposite side of the aisle is Republican National Committeewoman Phyllis Woods of Dover.

She served in the House for eight years and was a member of the House's prosecutorial team during the impeachment trial of former Supreme Court Chief Justice David Brock.

She also represented Dover at a time when Democrats dominated the city's delegation.

Now she is taking on a similar battle, seeking the District 4 state Senate seat, which is also open.

The new senator will represent Dover, Somersworth, Barrington and Rollinsford because of redistricting.

Democratic Rep. David Watters of Dover is seeking the seat as well. He is a two-term House member and a University of New Hampshire professor.

While he has to be favored to win the seat, no one is underestimating Woods.

Woods has raised about $35,000 for her run, making sure that Watters knows he is in for a real battle.

Putting both figures into perspective, however, the Committee to Elect Lou D'Allesandro, the longtime Manchester senator's PAC, shows

$198,581.67 in the bank.

Granted, D'Allesandro has always raised considerable sums for his campaigns, but the figure shows what may be needed this time to defend against the outside money expected to pour in to state races, and D'Allesandro is a target for Republicans.

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FLOATERS: The filing period has seen some confusion from House candidates who file for what they believe is their district only to find out it is not.

For example, Bedford, which is currently Hillsborough District 7, will be Hillsborough District 18, and Hooksett, which is currently Merrimack District 9, will be Merrimack District 24.

That is not the only confusion.

Once again — after a 10-year absence — we have what are called floterial districts, which group contiguous communities to reduce the population deviation so federal case law guidelines can be reached.

If, for example, wards in Manchester do not have enough population for three representatives each, but would be shortchanged with only two members, then a floterial district is created with a neighboring ward to “make up” the under-representation.

Such districts were common until 10 years ago, when lawmakers and the governor could not agree on redistricting plans for the House and the Senate and the Supreme Court drew the districts.

The court did not use floterial districts but instead created mega districts, combining several or in some cases six, seven or eight communities to achieve the desired deviation.

This time, candidates had to decide whether they want to run for a House seat from their ward or town, or run for the floterial seat encompassing several wards or communities.

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THE NAME: Republican gubernatorial candidate Ovide Lamontagne was a little late showing up to file his candidacy papers with the secretary of state Thursday, making about 100 people and a dozen reporters and camera folks wait.

Among those waiting in Bill Gardner's office were Lamontagne's parents.

When Lamontagne and his wife and daughter did arrive to file, his father was sitting in the chair reserved for candidates when they file.

“Are you signing up,” he asked his father, who replied he had already taken care of it.

After signing up, Lamontagne acknowledged his mother, his wife and his daughter and then his father, calling him his mentor.

“He set the example for how I should live my life,” Lamontagne said.

“He is also named Ovide, so (we) have him to blame.”

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LET THE FUN BEGIN: The Children's Alliance of New Hampshire will host a gubernatorial forum to address issues affecting kids.

The event will be held Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord.

It is sure to be the first of many such forums in the coming weeks.

Garry Rayno writes State House Dome for New Hampshire Sunday News. E-mail him at grayno@unionleader.com.