As a piece of political theater, state Representative Peter Kilmartin’s announcement yesterday for attorney general had a bit of something for everyone. Playing to a crowd of more than 150 friends and relatives at the Portuguese Social Club in Pawtucket, Kilmartin paid homage to his family and home city. Kilmartin attributed his first win for state representative, in 1990, to his late father, who was a well-known former principal in Pawtucket.

UPDATE, 2:01 pm: Lynch calls it "a private conversation"

I just heard back from state Democratic chairman William Lynch, who confirmed he talked this morning with Jeremy Kapstein. "All I'm going to say was that it was a personal conversation," says Lynch, "and I'm not going to get into what Jerry and I discussed."

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This just in:

State Senator Lou Raptakis, who recently announced his campaign for Secretary of State, has hired Erin Arcand to serve as his Campaign Manager.  For the past four years, Arcand served as a campaign manager for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, directing fundraising efforts and organizing a range of special events, such as the annual Light the Night campaign.

WPRI-TV (Channel 12) is getting ready to release some early indicators on this big political year (disclosure: I'm a weekly panelist on the station's Newsmakers show). The poll, billed as the station's largest, includes the following questions:

The Moderate Party of RI has said it's waiting until April to unveil its gubernatorial candidate, but some hopefuls will be announced later this month:

After only five months of official recognition as a political party, the Moderate Party of Rhode Island is proud to announce we have recruited great candidates for local city councils, the General Assembly, and several state wide offices, including the office of the Governor.

A big increase in the House Finance chairman's war chest fuels thinking that he will become the third candidate in the Democratic field for treasurer, but Steven Costantino tells the ProJo's Steve Peoples that that's not necessarily so.

Costantino, who is considering a run for state treasurer, had $89,037.44 in his campaign account on Oct. 1 and $267,274.71 on Dec. 31, according to his filing with the state Board of Elections made public Thursday.

As expected, raising campaign cash hasn't proven a challenge for venture capitalist Gina Raimondo in her Democratic campaign for general treasurer:

State Representative Peter Kilmartin, who wasn't ready to talk specifics when we recently looked at campaign fundraising in the AG's race, now says he pulled in more than $65,000 during the last quarter of 2009 -- an amount that roughly ties him with one of his rivals, Joseph Fernandez.

It attracted notice last week when Attorney General Patrick Lynch recommended a rate hike slightly less than that sought by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. Now, one of the Democrats seeking to succeed Lynch, is taking a different approach:

State Representative Peter Kilmartin has some fresh hires:

Pawtucket, RI – House Majority Whip and former Pawtucket Police Captain Peter Kilmartin (D-RI), while weighing a run for the office of Rhode Island Attorney General, announced today the hiring of Brett Broesder and Chris Farrell – two staffers that will serve as his management team.