White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will host a fundraiser for the Senate campaign of Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) by the end of the month, according to Democratic sources with knowledge of the event.Emanuel will headline the Washington, D.C., fundraiser, which will follow all White House guidelines for raising money. The event comes in the closing two weeks of the second fundraising quarter this year — otherwise known as the final push for campaigns to bring in big bucks. Hodes raised eyebrows in April when he announced he had only banked about $260,000 so far this year for his statewide campaign. But with the Democratic field now clear for Hodes, his campaign hoped to significantly ramp up its fundraising in the second quarter.Accordingly, Emanuel is not the first big name to raise money for Hodes this quarter. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) headlined an event for the New Hampshire Democrat earlier this month. Emanuel, who as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006 was the architect of the party’s takeover of Congress, did a fundraiser in Chicago earlier this week for several other Senate candidates. The event featured Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) — both of whom will face voters in 2010. The relationship between Hodes and Emanuel dates back to at least the 2006 cycle, when Hodes was one of Emanuel’s class of “Majority Makers— — freshmen who helped Democrats capture control of Congress. In related news, Republicans are attempting to recruit state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte to run for Senate. A nonpartisan player in state government who is appointed by the governor, Ayotte is arguably the most popular Republican in the state. No major Republican has announced yet for the seat; however, several are looking into a bid. Former GOP gubernatorial nominee Ovide Lamontagne, businessman Fred Tausch and Republican National Committeeman Sean Mahoney are actively looking at running. What’s more, former Rep. Charles Bass (R) and former Sen. John Sununu (R) have not ruled out running. However, Republicans say that Bass is more interested in running for his former House seat — he was defeated by Hodes in 2006 — and Sununu has not indicated that he is interested in running for anything in 2010.