By Laura A. Kiernan, Globe Correspondent, 12/19/1999

Where in the world is Pat Buchanan? He has been off the radar screen around here since he quit the Republican Party to pursue the Reform Party's nomination for president. But his New Hampshire campaign director, Shelly Uscinski, just back from a three-week organizing tour for Buchanan, says Buchanan is busy visiting Reform Party conventions around the country in pursuit of enough delegates to win that party's nomination. ''He's building quietly under the radar so to speak,'' Uscinski said last week.

Uscinski said she has been working in California to get Buchananites to join the Reform Party and then run for seats as convention delegates. She said she got a celebrity welcome in the Los Angeles area from supporters who scooped up Buchanan bumper stickers and T-shirts ''like they were candy.''

So, what's happening in New Hampshire with Buchanan (the winner lest we forget of the 1996 GOP primary) and the Reform Party? When last we visited, the Buchananites, led by Uscinski, were in a testy dispute with party officials here over a last-minute change in convention rules about how delegates are chosen. The party alleged the Buchanan forces were planning a takeover. Uscinski, who said Buchanan supporters were unfairly cut out, said now that she doesn't ''have a clue'' what's up with the New Hampshire group.

Their spokesman here, John Talbott, said last week that the state party is focusing on its recruitment efforts and has lined up about 40 town chairmen. Talbott said he believes the Buchanan people intend to line up enough delegates for the August national convention so - if need be - they can override the popular vote for the party's nominee, which will be done by mailed ballots.

Uscinski said once the Feb. 1 New Hampshire presidential primary is over, she expects Buchanan supporters who stayed with the GOP regulars on the staunchly conservative side - backing Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, Alan Keyes and Orrin Hatch - will come back ''to the Buchanan fold.''

How did Democrats spend $55,000?

The state Democratic Party says it spent just under $55,000 between Nov. 11 and Dec. 3, according to records filed last week in Concord. But curious voters will just have to guess if there was some connection between all that spending and the hotly contested District 10 state Senate race on Dec. 7 - which the Democrats ultimately lost. The filing only says the money was for mailings, printing and voter files, and state party chairman Kathy Sullivan wasn't providing any specifics.

But you can bet the Republicans will demand to know exactly how that money was spent. Sullivan says the money went to ''issue advocacy and party building,'' which is crucial language. The GOP says that, according to state law, if the expenditures went directly toward getting Democrat Bill Lynch elected to the Senate, then Lynch could be fined, because he agreed to a $20,000 spending cap.

State GOP chairman Steve Duprey said that the Democrats are trying to ''beat the system'' and that any claim about issue advocacy is a ''blatant lie.'' Said Sullivan ''we did not spend any money that counts toward the cap.''

Meanwhile, the GOP says it spent $8,325 to help Republican Tom Eaton, who beat Lynch by just 100 votes. Eaton, who did not agree to the spending cap, spent $18,440 and had a deficit of $1,861, according to his individual filing. Lynch, meanwhile, spent $12,926 and had $10,190 left in the bank when the race was over.

Ice cream whiz has serious message

Talk about the federal budget on the campaign trail - or anywhere else for that matter - and eyes glaze over. But can you grab the attention of voters and presidential candidates if you use the same kind of marketing gimmicks you used to sell ice cream?

Ben Cohen of Vermont-based Ben & Jerry's ice cream fame is trying it. He has cookies frosted with spending pie charts, ballpoint pens with graphs that pull out form the side like a shade, inflatable sculptures of pie charts, bombs and babies, a huge spotlight to shine his pie chart in the night sky, a chalk stamp to put it on sidewalks, and even a bus called ''the Moneymobile.'' It's all designed to make his point - the United States should spend less money on bombs and fighter jets and more on schools and health care.

''This is a passion for me,'' Cohen told us during a visit in Concord the other day.

He was here to pump up a campaign , called ''Move Our Money,'' to cut Pentagon spending by 15 percent, or $40 billion, shift it to programs that help kids, and still be a super-power.

Cohen is the founder of ''Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities,'' which has teamed up with various military advisers to make this case around the country, hoping to influence both the race for president and for seats in Congress.

A poll commissioned for Cohen's group found that 68 percent of 1,000 men and women surveyed in October wanted to reduce military spending by 15 percent and use it for something else. Cohen admits that people also say ''it will never happen.'' The margin of error was 3 percent.

''I refuse to accept it,'' says Cohen about that attitude. ''Every once in a while, change does happen.''

Credit card groups are big contributors

Here's a Christmas Bulletin from Money Watch 2000: the companies that hold the biggest hunk of credit card debt have made their share of contributions to the various presidential candidates - $611,911 to major presidential candidates and $864,974 to the Republican and Democratic parties in the first nine months of 1999. Texas Governor George W. Bush led the list with $432,971 and former US senator Bill Bradley was second with $104,000 in contributions.

During the presidential primary, in which campaign finance reform has become a much-talked item, Money Watch has focused on educating voters about campaign contributions from groups that have a special interest in major policy issues in Washington. Two previous Money Watch reports covered contributions by pharmaceutical companies and by industries associated with air pollution issues, including utilities, oil companies and automakers. ''This project is completely nonpartisan,'' campaign manager Anne Campbell said. ''The voters can get this information and draw their own conclusions.''

Three more reports are to come before the Feb. 1 New Hampshire presidential primary. Campbell said the Money Watch findings will be available in a voters' guide distributed through the state's major newspapers on Jan. 23.

According to the report, titled ''The Cost of Credit,'' Visa and MasterCard, which hold 50 percent of all credit card debt, gave $574,590 to presidential candidates through individual contributions from employes and their spouses. Another $37,321 went to candidates through political action committees. So called soft-money contributions (unrestricted amounts made to political parties) by Visa and MasterCard, and from the ''trade groups,'' a.k.a. lobbyists who represent their interests, came to $620,600 for the Republicans and $244,374 for the Democrats.

Money Watch, a joint effort by citizen activists in Iowa and New Hampshire, says credit card companies want federal bankruptcy laws changed so they can have a bigger share of whatever funds are to be paid back to lenders. Consumer groups say the trouble is credit cards are too easy to get in the first place.

Scariest of all may be the facts in the report about the impact of flashing plastic money around. Americans will charge an estimated $126.5 billion on credits cards this holiday season, according to the report. And that only covers charges for the top 41 credit card lenders.

A record 1.4 million people and businesses filed for bankruptcy last year, including 5,000 in New Hampshire and 10,000 in Iowa.

Got a tip or a comment from the campaign trail, state government or town hall? the Political Diary wants to hear from you at: The Boston Globe/New Hampshire Weekly, 1650 Elm St., Manchester, NH 03301, or by e-mail at Kiernan@globe.com. Please include home and work telephone numbers.