By Larua A. Kiernan, Globe Correspondent, 1/23/1999

At long last, the Iowa caucuses, the warm-up act for the Feb. 1 New Hampshire presidential primary, are tomorrow night. Iowans will get together in church halls, community centers, school gyms and living rooms, in about 2,100 precincts, in 99 counties from Sioux City east to Davenport. They will have their say, hear from the campaigns, and then state their presidential preference on a piece of paper, or a ballot, or just by splitting into groups for a candidate. Anybody who will be 18 years old by election day, Nov. 7, can participate, but must register as either a Democrat or a Republican. The parties hold separate caucuses and then report the results.

Once all the numbers are in, and the candidates launch their spin (mostly making losers look like winners), expect a mad dash back to New Hampshire and seven days of saturation politics leading up to primary day. New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner says that, since the economy is humming and voters are feeling comfortable, there could be low voter turnout. He noted that the highest total turnout in a primary was in 1992, when New Hampshire's economy was reeling. That year, 177,000 Republicans and 170,000 Democrats voted.

But, on the other hand, Gardner said, the unusually tight race on both sides of the political aisle could boost the numbers. The closest primary race so far, Gardner says, was in 1976 when then-President Gerald Ford received 55,156 votes, and Ronald Reagan received 53,569.

Shaheen, Humphrey end up side by side

More than one person - and that includes honored guest Jeanne Shaheen - was taken aback when they showed up last week at the first Martin Luther King Jr. dinner sponsored by the Great Manchester Area Chapter of the NAACP and saw that Shaheen's chief political rival, Gordon Humphrey, was master of ceremonies. Democrat Shaheen, who as governor pushed for the long-denied King holiday and finally signed it into law, was seated at the head table next to Humphrey, an all-but-official candidate for governor who has repeatedly attacked Shaheen and called her a ''timid, feckless leader.''

Democrat activist Mary Rauh, who was at the dinner, said putting Shaheen side by side with Humphrey was ''down right rude,'' although she and others said the event itself was a ''great evening.'' The sold-out affair at the Center of New Hampshire was filled with corporate sponsors and longtime NAACP supporters. The guest speaker was King's eldest daughter, Yolanda. Former governor Stephen Merrill, who put King's name on the holiday by executive order while lawmakers fought over it, also spoke, as did Shaheen. The governor also presented an award in honor of slain civil rights worker Jonathan Daniels of Keene.

Here's how Humphrey's high-visibility role came to be.

The president of the NAACP chapter, Wayne Jennings of New Boston, a conservative Republican and a Humphrey supporter, said Humphrey had expressed interest in the program early on, and Jennings, who has known Humphrey for a couple of months, suggested he be the host. As a state senator in the early 1990s, Humphrey had given what was described as an ''impassioned'' floor speech in support of the King holiday. But, Jennings said, after asking around and getting mixed opinions about the political implications of Humphrey hosting the dinner, he decided to sign up Union Leader feature columnist John Clayton instead.

But Clayton had to bow out just days before the event because of a death in his family. Jennings couldn't reach anyone else over the weekend, he said, so he decided to go with Humphrey ''because I needed somebody.'' Jennings left a voice mail message about the change with Shaheen's chief of staff, Rich Sigel, Sunday night, but it wasn't received before the event.

Jennings said that when Shaheen walked up to the head table and saw Humphrey, ''the look on her face - it was shock.'' Jennings said Shaheen told him it was a good thing she didn't know about Humphrey's role because, ''I would not have shown up.'' Jennings said Shaheen might have been joking and if she was stung by Humphrey's surprise appearance she didn't show it. He said Shaheen and Humphrey talked about their families during dinner ''just like neighbors.''

When Humphrey introduced Shaheen to the crowd, he commended her for her efforts on behalf of the King holiday and described her as ''my good friend from the Senate.'' When Shaheen stepped up to the microphone, she said, ''I'm going to remind you of those words ... as the weeks go on,'' according to people who were there.

Rauhs will focus on Bradley campaign

Mary Rauh had some news herself last week that wasn't totally unexpected - she has decided against another run at the 2d Congressional District seat now held by Representative Charles Bass. Rauh said she and her husband, John, who came close to beating Republican Judd Gregg for a US Senate seat in 1992, want to concentrate their energies on Bill Bradley 's presidential campaign. The Rauhs, who live in Sunapee, were early supporters of the former New Jersey senator's run for the Democratic nomination against Vice President Al Gore.

''What's really important to us is electing Bill Bradley, and you can't do both,'' Mary Rauh said of the demands of running for Congress. All House seats are in contention in the November election, along with the White House.

Rauh, a former director of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, has played a national leadership role within the organization that she hopes she can use to increase support for Bradley among women. She said she plans to talk to women in leadership positions in key states, including California, that are part of the critical March 7 presidential primaries known as ''Super Tuesday.''

Meanwhile, she planned to meet late last week with Lyme Democrat Barney Brannen, who for months has been laying groundwork for seeking the Democratic nod to run against Bass.

Add up the miles, call her 'Tripper'

T ipper Gore stopped at a jammed house party in Concord last week, just before setting out on a 550-mile, three-day barnstorming tour through the North Country, over to Lebanon and then to the Seacoast, to talk up her husband's campaign and emphasize his ''experience'' for the job. Gore, who worked her way around the room greeting individual voters, mostly women, was traveling with a group of congressional wives who came up from Washington to show their support for the vice president.

Saying she was speaking directly to undecided voters, Gore noted her husband's 23 years in government and called him ''a strong partner'' in an administration with an ''extremely strong'' economic record, which included 20 million new jobs since 1992.

''The person who walks into that job needs to know what he's doing right away,'' Tipper Gore said in a later interview. Asked about poll numbers that show a neck-and-neck race between her husband and Bradley, Gore called them ''just a snapshot of the moment'' and said the campaign intends to just continue getting out ''our message'' to voters.

Speaking of polls, Secretary of State Gardner estimates that as many as 15 different polling firms are now surveying New Hampshire voters, trying to track the course of the primary race as it comes down to the final critical days.

Hart worker returns to scene of big win

Short takes: Sue Casey, whose book ''Hart and Soul'' chronicles the stunning primary upset win she helped orchestrate for Gary Hart in 1984, was expected back in the state this weekend (she now lives in Denver) to help out with Bill Bradley's campaign. Former New Hampshire governors Hugh Gregg, Walter Peterson, John Sununu and Stephen Merrill, and maybe former governor Judd Gregg, will offer their collective wisdom on the New Hampshire presidential primary at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. And, just in case you want to hear all the candidates ''debate'' just one more time, the Republicans will go at it from 7-8:30 p.m. on WMUR on Wednesday, and the Democrats will debate from 9-10 p.m.

Finally, from the low-visibility side of the first-in-the-nation primary, from 1-5 p.m., also on Wednesday, at least eight of the 22 so-called ''fringe'' candidates for president, the ones who don't get on the TV debates but have paid the official $1,000 filing fee to the secretary of state's office, will be debate at the State Library.

''We feel they are an important part of Campaign 2000 and should have a chance to be heard as well as the big guys,'' said Trina Purcell, an archivist for the Library and Archives of New Hampshire's Political Tradition, which is sponsoring the event.

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