By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

Massachusetts Democrat Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr. is making very early preparations to seek the seat of Rep. John W. Olver : he plans to run in 2012.

Nuciforo, a lawyer and former state senator, recently filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission to initiate a 2012 campaign in Massachusetts’ 1st District, which takes in the western part of the state and has been represented by Olver, a Democrat, since 1991.

Nuciforo didn’t respond to a request for comment, but his political director Joseph Engwer confirmed in an e-mail that Nuciforo is targeting 2012 as the year he will run for Congress.

Nuciforo, 45, has had his eye on Congress for some time.

When he announced his retirement from the Massachusetts Senate in March 2006, the Berkshire Eagle newspaper said Nuciforo “has long been considered one of the likely candidates to succeed” Olver, who is 72 years old.

Nuciforo spent 10 years in the state Senate, where his late father also served, and is now the Berkshire Middle District Register of Deeds in his hometown of Pittsfield, the largest city in Massachusetts’ 1st District.

Nuciforo plans to hold a fundraising reception July 16 at a Pittsfield restaurant.

Olver is seeking re-election in 2010 and is heavily favored to win a district he has dominated in most of his elections. But Massachusetts’ congressional districts will be reshaped in the congressional redistricting process that will ensue before the 2012 election. Because of slow population growth, Massachusetts could lose one of its 10 congressional districts in reapportionment.

Jessica Benton Cooney contributed to this story.