MASSACHUSETTS ON HER MIND — Chuck Morse, who?

Kelly Ayotte is getting a mountain of free press for her nascent New Hampshire gubernatorial campaign by pummeling Massachusetts.

It’s a savvy strategy. Good or bad, every headline and tweet is priceless attention on Ayotte in the pricey Boston media market that covers a large swath of her home state.

In just over a week, she’s gotten free airtime on WBZ for blaming Massachusetts’ border cities for pumping opioids into New Hampshire (and spun it into a multi-day news story by calling out host Jon Keller online).

She’s received above-the-fold coverage in the Eagle-Tribune (which also covers southern New Hampshire) and prominent play in the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald twice over. She’s led the MASSterList and WBUR Today newsletters and seen plenty of ink in this one, too.

Her tweets warning that New Hampshire is “one election away from turning into Massachusetts” have racked up 1.5 million views on the platform formerly known as Twitter. That’s more than the number of people who live in her state.

Meanwhile, her rivals, including Morse, the former state Senate president and failed U.S. Senate candidate, and Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, who’s eyeing the race, have drawn nary a headline here.

“I’m never going to be popular in Massachusetts,” Ayotte said. “And that’s perfectly okay with me.”

Ayotte’s ploy is a win on both sides of the state line. As the New Hampshire Journal’s Michael Graham put it, the only thing “better for a New Hampshire Republican than taking shots at liberal Massachusetts” is “when Massachusetts shoots back.”

The more Bay State pols pile on Ayotte (Auditor Diana DiZoglio, who lives in border-city Methuen, is the latest), the more she gets to rally a Republican base that’s already primed against Massachusetts.

And it’s not just over the opioid crisis. New Hampshire Republicans love to mock Massachusetts for its high taxes and liberal leanings. GOP candidates from Chris Sununu to Donald Trump have riled up their supporters by claiming Massachusetts voters are bused across the border to interfere in their elections.

Long story short, there’s little downside to Ayotte using Massachusetts as a political punching bag — until she needs campaign cash, that is.

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. The bickering doesn’t stop at the border.

A new battle is brewing in the interchamber war engulfing Beacon Hill, this time over a multimillion-dollar supplemental spending bill.

And the House and Senate continue to butt heads over the budget. The annual spending plan is now on track to be the latest state budget in 22 years, save for the first year of the pandemic. Keep scrolling for more.

TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll have no public events. Sen. Ed Markey reintroduces the HEAT Act at 11 a.m. in Chelsea. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu co-hosts the NAACP Welcome Reception at 5:30 p.m. at the BCEC and speaks at the Culture Nights Music Festival at 6:30 p.m. in the Seaport.

THIS WEEKEND — Vice President Kamala Harris addresses the NAACP convention Saturday at the BCEC. Rep. Ayanna Pressley hosts a “Democracy for the People” town hall at 3 p.m. Saturday at Roxbury Community College.

SUNDAY SHOWS — MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale is on WBZ’s “Keller @ Large” at 8:30 a.m. Sunday. Former state Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry is on WCVB’s “On the Record” at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Tips? Scoops? Bets on when lawmakers will pass a state budget? Email me: [email protected].

— TIME IS MONEY: Gov. Maura Healey is buying Democratic legislative leaders more time to strike a budget deal — again. Her second interim budget, which lawmakers returned to her desk within hours of her filing it, will keep the state running through August.

Little else is running so smoothly under the golden dome. Let’s take a look at where some big bills stand just days before August recess traditionally begins:

— DEAL: Lawmakers have now passed $200 million for road and bridge repairs after the annual Chapter 90 bill languished behind closed doors for four months. They also tacked on another $175 million in transportation-related grants.

— NO DEAL: The budget. Tax relief. The supplemental spending plan that would aid financially strained hospitals and extend horse race simulcasting. Gun regulations.

House Republican Leader Brad Jones said the Democratic dysfunction “shows that one-party government doesn’t work for the citizens of the commonwealth.”

But the Democrats don’t see it that way. “The public’s not asking me” about the budget, Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues, the chamber’s chief budget negotiator, told reporters yesterday. “I’ve had no constituent call me.”

His counterpart, House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz, said the budget delay is not for “lack of trying.” He pledged to keep “working through the weekend” with more formal sessions scheduled for Monday. But how close a deal could be remains unclear: neither lawmaker will divulge the areas of disagreement.

And Healey isn’t publicly pressuring lawmakers to get moving even as they hold up some of her biggest priorities. “This is all part of policymaking,” she said earlier this week. The Boston Herald’s Chris Van Buskirk and the Boston Globe’s Matt Stout have more on the budget standoff.

— “Supp Budget Procedure The Source of Latest House-Senate Squabble,” by Chris Lisinski, State House News Service (paywall): “The Senate had not yet voted to approve a $513 million spending bill when House Speaker Ron Mariano cried foul, arguing that the procedural steps his counterparts across the hall took will slow down final passage of legislation designed to inject funding into financially strained hospitals, revive a hydropower transmission project, prevent a lapse in simulcasting wagering laws and more. Senate President Karen Spilka retorted by effectively dismissing his concerns and pointing out that the House had already deployed the same technique it now criticizes.”

— “State Senate passes bills on gender-neutral birth records, ID access for homeless people,” by Katie Lannan, GBH News: “With a pair of unanimous votes on Thursday, the Massachusetts Senate approved bills that would make it easier for homeless youth and adults to access state IDs, and for Bay Staters to make sure their state identification documents accurately reflect their gender identity.”

— “Mom Files Petition To Strike High-Stakes MCAS,” by Sam Drysdale, State House News Service (paywall): “Someone has officially filed a petition to put on the statewide ballot the question of whether students should be required to pass a standardized test in order to graduate — but it wasn’t the state’s large teacher’s union, which has been publicly considering whether to bring the question to voters. Shelly Scruggs, a Lexington resident and mother to a 15-year-old boy, told the News Service Thursday she filed the petition on behalf of her son.”

— More: “Poll finds wide support for standardized testing as Mass. teachers try to upend them,” by Alvin Buyinza, MassLive: “Across party lines, the majority of Bay State residents support school standardized tests, according to a new poll of likely general election voters released Thursday.”

— “Massachusetts lawmakers may require hybrid meetings for most public boards,” by Kinga Borondy, Telegram & Gazette.

— “Now arriving from New York: ‘Reinforcements’ to bolster MBTA executive ranks,” by Taylor Dolven, Boston Globe: “Four veterans of New York’s transportation system are headed to top roles at the beleaguered MBTA in new general manager Phillip Eng’s most public shake-up of the agency since taking over in April after a career in New York.”

— “MBTA overpaid for transit ambassadors, did not set performance metrics, report finds,” by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: “The MBTA overpaid a Tennessee-based company by more than $5.3 million to outsource in-station customer service agents and did not set clear goals to track their performance, Massachusetts’ top government watchdog found in a new report.”

— “FBI arrests Swansea man who was at the Jan. 6 Capitol riots,” by Dan Medeiros, Herald News: “The Swansea man who admittedly took part in the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol building has been arrested by the FBI and accused of a felony offense of civil disorder.”

A federal judge also sentenced Somerville’s Noah Bacon to 12 months in prison, two years of supervised release and $2,000 in restitution after he was found guilty of illegally entering the Capitol and the Senate Chamber on Jan. 6, 2021.

— “Trump charged with new crimes in classified documents case,” by Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein, POLITICO.

— SURVEY SAYS: Republicans still don’t have a candidate to take on Sen. Elizabeth Warren next year. So the conservative-leaning Fiscal Alliance Foundation had Republican-aligned pollster Advantage Inc. test how the Democrat would fare in a hypothetical matchup against former Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito.

Warren got 41 percent support to Polito’s 29 percent. Another 30 percent of the 750 likely voters surveyed were undecided.

But anyone dreaming of drafting Polito is about to have those hopes dashed. A spokesperson for the Republican told Playbook that “Polito will not be a candidate for office in 2024.”

— “Elizabeth Warren and Lindsey Graham want a new agency to regulate tech,” by Brian Fung, CNN.

— “Avangrid resuming construction of Mass.-financed hydro line,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: “The top official at Avangrid said construction of the Massachusetts-financed transmission line carrying hydroelectricity from Quebec into Maine is slated to resume next week, and his presentation suggested the project could be up and running this year.”

— “Report shows interest in solar rooftops rising,” by Christian M. Wade, Gloucester Daily Times.

— “Pittsfield politics are heating up with a preliminary election scheduled for September. Here’s who is running,” by Meg Britton-Mehlisch, Berkshire Eagle: “City Council president Peter Marchetti, at-large councilor Karen Kalinowsky and former City Council vice president John Krol all received more than the necessary 300 signatures to make it on the ballot.”

— “Councilor’s absence raises questions,” by Ethan Forman, Gloucester Daily Times: “For much of his term, Councilor at-Large James W. ‘Jamie’ O’Hara Jr. has been living and working out of state, in Pensacola, Florida, and other places. The issue is not about his lack of attendance at meetings, as the council has been mostly meeting on Zoom since the COVID-19 pandemic, and O’Hara has been on screen. But O’Hara’s being out of town so much has irked some residents who believe he should be present to represent them. O’Hara even pulled his nomination papers to run for reelection this fall by proxy.”

— “Amid voter fraud accusations, West Bridgewater residents call for criminal investigation,” by Ryan Kath, NBC10 Boston: “An NBC10 Boston investigation raised questions about whether the Select Board chair in West Bridgewater lived in the community. Anthony Kinahan resigned from his elected position before our story published earlier this month, but some residents are now calling for a criminal investigation into voter fraud allegations.”

— “MA could allow cities to regulate costly broker fees for tenants,” by Drew Karedes and Marina Villeneuve, Boston 25 News.

— “Acton will give $3,000 toward child care costs to each eligible family,” by Maggie Scales, Boston Globe.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Beata Coloyan, Ayla Brown and to retired Daily Hampshire Gazette editor and Northampton City Councilor Stanley Moulton.

HAPPY BIRTHWEEKEND — to former state Rep. Byron Rushing, Shelby Ashline, Hayley Fleming and Hirak Shah, who celebrate Saturday; and to Sunday birthday-er Brendan Roche.

NEW HORSE RACE ALERT: DRAG US — The Dorchester Reporter’s Gintautas Dumcius breaks down the latest Boston City Council chaos. Host Jennifer Smith pulls back the sequined curtain on “drag queen story hours.” Hosts Steve Koczela and Lisa Kashinsky talk new polling on Gov. Maura Healey. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud.

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