A year after Pat McCrory ran a statewide campaign as the Republican candidate for governor, 45 percent of voters say they don't have an opinion of him, according to a new poll.
Public Policy Polling asked 593 likely North Carolina voters for their opinion of McCrory, who [...]
Free name recognition may end up costing Kenneth Lewis.
Lewis, a Chapel Hill lawyer and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate has a lot of work to do to establish name recognition across the state, according to poll numbers by Public Policy Polling.
A Dec. 11-13 survey [...]
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall said it's a good time to think about giving money to charity.
The pitch, sent in an e-mail to her U.S. Senate campaign mailing list, comes as a time when Marshall needs some contributions of her own to win the Democratic nomination [...]
Former state Sen. Cal Cunningham figures he needs $8.5 million to win the U.S. Senate race.
Cunningham, a Lexington Democrat, lawyer and Iraq war veteran, described his fundraising needs and chances in the election in a prospectus. His budget is based on Democratic U.S. Sen. [...]
Former Gov. Mike Easley's downfall began shortly after he was elected governor, writes one of Easley's fraternity brothers.
In an article in Raleigh Metro Magazine, Jim Hughes writes that Easley was an impressive young man, although at times he seemed secretive and remote. He was a rising [...]
The state lottery commission is switching ad agencies.
The commission, sensing that the economic climate might make for a little healthy competition, decided to see if it could get a better deal than it was getting from Charlotte-based Wray Ward, which was receiving a fee of 10 percent for every [...]
LIQUOR MONEY: Officials in charge of liquor stores in cities and counties across North Carolina received raises and, in many cases, bonuses last year regardless of their profit margin. In a few cases, raises were doled out even when the operations lost money.Salaries, bonuses, personnel guidelines, ethics rules [...]
Gov. Bev Perdue is taking flak over an annual holiday party for the inmates who work at the Executive Mansion.
WTVD-TV first reported that Perdue appeared at a holiday party at the mansion in which a group of 18-20 inmates, some convicted of murder, were in attendance.
The [...]
The N.C. Supreme Court agreed this afternoon to keep two convicted murderers behind bars for now.
Attorneys for the state had asked the Supreme Court to block their release and review a superior court judge's order to free them, Mandy Locke reports. The Supreme Court agreed to keep Faye Brown [...]
Gov. Bev Perdue wants the state's members of Congress to support measures she said would ease the credit crisis facing small business.
"Small businesses are the backbone of North Carolina’s economy,” Perdue said in a news release. "It is critical that we get credit flowing back to [...]
U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat, is in Copenhagen for the U.N. Conference on Climate Change.
Butterfield joined the U.S. congressional delegation because he is vice chairman of the subcommittee on energy and the environment within the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Barb Barrett reports.
The 20-member, [...]
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx was one of just 12 House members and the only one from North Carolina to vote against a bill protecting freedom of the press worldwide, but her office says it was a procedural opposition rather than one based on the legislation’s merit.
The [...]
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr has mailed his annual holiday card. This year's card features a photo of Burr and his family in front of the Old Well on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill.
"Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season," [...]
A new poll shows that voters are almost evenly split on whether to vote for Democrats or Republicans in the legislature.
Public Policy Polling asked 593 North Carolina voters which party they would prefer if legislative elections were held today. According to the poll, 43 percent would vote Democratic, 42 [...]
The FBI scrutinized John Hope Franklin in the 1960s because investigators were concerned about links to communism.
Talking Points Memo obtained the file the FBI kept on Franklin, the celebrated historian who died in March at 94.
"Dr. Franklin is an apologist for the late [...]
Bill Ross, former secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, has accepted a gig as a visiting scholar at Duke University.
Ross will hold a joint appointment in the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Nicholas School of the Environment. His work will focus [...]
ANYTHING WILL DO: Gov. Bev Perdue had to amend her campaign finance reports because of more undisclosed flights, a fact Republicans compared to the transgressions of embattled former Gov. Mike Easley. Later in the week, Perdue had a spokeswoman explain that Perdue stayed completely [...]
IF YOU SAY SO: A report released Thursday by Law Enforcement Associates found no evidence of wrongdoing by company Chairman Tony Rand, who has been accused by two former board members of hatching an insider trading scheme and other potential crimes.
The report was commissioned by the company's [...]
Ruffin Poole is no longer a lawyer for the McGuireWoods law firm.
A spokesman for the firm, Will Allcott, said that as of today Poole is gone. He would not say if he was fired or resigned, J. Andrew Curliss reports.
The firm had said that Poole should cooperate [...]
Ruffin Poole, a key aide to former Gov. Mike Easley, asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to answer any questions of the State Board of Elections on Thursday.
Poole has become a central figure in the investigation against Easley. His lawyer, Joseph Zeszotarski Jr., at [...]
The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources squandered nearly $700,000 this year buying environmental restoration from a company that had already been paid for the same work by another state agency nine years earlier, according to a state legislative review released today.
The state legislature's Program Evaluation Division [...]
Carter Wrenn, who for decades struck fear into the hearts of North Carolina Democrats, is getting back into the political consulting business.
Wrenn has signed on as general consultant and chief strategist to help Renee Ellmers, a registered nurse and Republican who plans to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. [...]
President Barack Obama has the approval of 48 percent of North Carolinians compared to 47 percent who disapprove of his job performance, according to a new poll by Public Policy Polling.
PPP surveyed 593 North Carolina voters from Dec. 11-13.
On the issue of Obama's job approval, 5 [...]
The state Lottery Commission wants to know whether it's getting its money's worth from the state Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement.
Currently, ALE provides background checks, investigates complaints and ensures stores don't sell lottery tickets to minors. ALE also checks for illegal activity at lottery retail locations. For those [...]
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A collection of photographs documenting the life and career of political giant Terry Sanford is on display at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy.
Sanford, as governor, U.S. Senator and Duke University president, was a champion for civil rights and public education.
The photographs illustrate some [...]
Democratic Senate candidate Elaine Marshall attended a White House Christmas Party Tuesday night.
Marshall, who is secretary of state, was one hundreds of state officials from across the country invited, Rob Christensen reports. Other Democratic North Carolinians attending included state Rep. Verla Insko of Chapel [...]
ABOUT THOSE PERMITS: A top aide to then-Gov. Mike Easley contacted a top state regulator about a permit for the residential development where Easley bought a waterfront lot at a special price. Records show a flurry of activity involving the proposed 525-acre development in Carteret [...]
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is neck-and-neck with a generic Democrat in a new poll released by Public Policy Polling.
PPP asked likely North Carolina voters who they would pick between Burr, a Republican, and an unnamed Democrat. The poll found that 42 percent would pick Burr [...]
Still burning over Rep. Larry Kissell's health care vote, some Democrats in North Carolina's 8th Congressional District are courting a Charlotte attorney to mount a primary challenge.
The courtee is Chris Kouri, a former Ivy League football player who ran for the seat in 2002, upsetting a better known Democrat [...]
Bernie Reeves, a well-known Raleigh editor, publisher and conservative commentator, is considering challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Miller next year.
Reeves, 62 said he has been approached about running for the 13th district by a number of Republicans, and he may enter the contest if he can make satisfactory [...]
Gov. Bev Perdue has sent her holiday card to 23,000 of her closest friends.
The card's front features an image of the holiday decorations at the Executive Mansion. The card's inside includes a portrait of Perdue's extended family.
"Wishing you and yours a joyous holiday and a [...]
U.S. Rep. David Price says huge federal stimulus spending was necessary, but the growing national debt does give him pause.
Speaking at a congressional jobs roundtable this week, Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, said that with the country caught in the worst recession in memory, Congress had no [...]
Gov. Bev Perdue has the support of 27 percent of state residents, according to a poll by Public Policy Polling.
Perdue's approval rating hit 30 percent in November, but slipped back into the 20s for the new poll, the last PPP will conduct on Perdue this year. [...]
BY SPECIAL INVITATION: Federal investigators want more answers about coastal real estate developments assembled by two brothers with ties to former Gov. Mike Easley and whether anyone made payoffs or gifts to state regulators. Three Department of Environment and Natural Resources employees have been subpoenaed to appear [...]
The state's trial lawyers association lambasted Gov. Bev Perdue for her public criticism of a judicial decision involving inmate sentenced to life terms in the 1970s.
Perdue attacked the state court system Monday, hours after a Superior Court judge ruled that two inmates sentenced to life in the 1970s [...]
Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr leads potential Democratic challenger Elaine Marshall by eight percentage points, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
Civitas' poll of 600 likely North Carolina voters was conducted Dec. 1-3, before former state Sen. Cal Cunningham entered the [...]
Democratic political consultant Mac McCorkle picked the right time to study an obscure theologian.
Reinhold Niebuhr, who among other things is credited with writing the "Serenity Prayer," has become a subject of interest since scholars have begun to focus on Niebuhr's influence on President Barack Obama. The New Republic [...]
Gov. Bev Perdue sat out the recruitment of a Louisiana company to the Research Triangle because her son was involved in efforts to get the company to move its headquarters here.
As a result, Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco made all the decisions in the recruitment [...]
Renee Ellmers says fear is preventing an economic recovery.
Ellmers, 45, is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat.
"I'm running for Congress because I'm a mom and I'm very afraid of where our country is going and where the [...]
ZIG ZAG: Two inmates serving life terms won their freedom from a judge Monday only to have it revoked by the N.C. Court of Appeals. The political and legal tug-of-war over a group of inmates sentenced in the 1970s continues with Gov. Bev Perdue vowing to oppose release. The inmates [...]
Good government watchdog Joe Sinsheimer says Tony Rand must go.
Sinsheimer, a Democratic consultant who has emerged as campaign finance and transparent government watchdog, says Gov. Bev Perdue should reconsider appointing Rand to run the state's parole board.
Sinsheimer noted in a news release that Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat who [...]
Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand has ruled that two inmates sentenced to life in the 1970s should be freed.
His order comes less than a week after Alford Jones and Faye Brown, both convicted of murder, argued that they were being illegally detained by North Carolina prison officials, Mandy [...]
Republican Tim D'Annunzio, a wealthy Hoke County businessman running for Congress in Democratic U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell's district, has hired former N.C. Republican chairman Jack Hawke as a top strategist.
"It's obviously a wide-open race," Hawke said today. "Tim has the resources to be a formidable candidate."
D'Annunzio is one [...]
Senate Leader Marc Basnight may not have a favorite political analyst, but he has a least favorite: John Davis.
Davis is the former director of the North Carolina Forum for Research and Economic Education who last year incorrectly predicted a Republican takeover of the state senate, Mark [...]
Gov. Bev Perdue has been visiting the state's military installations.
Perdue visited Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro Friday, and she is scheduled to visit Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville this morning.
Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said Perdue has been thinking a lot lately about military families. [...]
POLITICAL PONG: Thomas Walker, a Charlotte defense attorney who has stood by the side of fallen political figures, is learning about the trouble of standing at the crossroads of law and politics.
President Barack Obama has nominated Walker to the post of U.S. attorney in North Carolina's Eastern District, [...]
Democratic Senate candidate Elaine Marshall said today that she opposes President Barack Obama's move to send additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
"I acknowledge that there are no easy answers in Afghanistan and I respect the time and consideration that the president took in making his decision," Marshall [...]
State Rep. Verla Insko plans to attend a White House reception next week that is being held to recognize state lawmakers working on health care reform.
Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat, is one of 40 lawmakers participating in the White House State Legislators Working Group on Health [...]
The law and press release collided in a Wake County courtroom Friday when lawyers for the state tried to explain the significance of an avalanche of news reports in October over the release of dozens of murderers and rapists.
On Friday, one of the prisoners, Faye Brown, asked a judge to [...]
Cal Cunningham has been all over the blogs and newspapers this week since he announced he was entering the race for U.S. Senate.
Another "Cal Cunningham" also got his name in print this week. This Cunningham, also a lawyer, was involved in a messy dispute over six-figure legal fees, [...]
As he strode through the North Raleigh headquarters of Law Enforcement Associates Inc. on Thursday, Tony Rand didn't act much like the chairman of a publicly traded company.
Rather than trying to impress visitors with how hands-on and knowledgeable he is about the security device manufacturer's operations, [...]
Frank Roche, a Republican who wants to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. David Price next year, is making an issue out of charges brought against three Navy SEALs stemming from an allegation of prisoner abuse.
The SEALs have been charged in connection with an incident [...]
PARTY OF THREE: Lexington lawyer Cal Cunningham jumped into the race for U.S. Senate, prompting sharp rebukes from the two other contenders already in the hunt. Cunningham, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Chapel Hill lawyer Kenneth Lewis seemed poised for a tough [...]
FILE AGAIN: About 78,000 jobless people in the state who have exhausted their unemployment benefits are about to receive letters urging them to apply for the latest round of extended benefits approved by Congress.
The N.C. Security Employment Commission has heard frustrations for months as it plows through a [...]
A grand jury in Columbus County has found probable cause to indict state Sen. R.C. Soles Jr. on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury in connection with an August shooting at Soles' Tabor City home.
Soles, 74, a Democrat, is the longest-serving [...]
What goes around comes around: Andrew Young is scheduled to talk about his tell-all book Jan. 29 on ABC's 20-20 with Bob Woodruff.
Last August on ABC's "Nightline," Edwards categorically denied to Woodruff that he fathered Rielle Hunter's baby, Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer.
"Absolutely not true," [...]
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr does not plan to return his "blue slip" on U.S. attorney nominee Thomas Walker until the current investigations into two of the state’s most prominent Democrats are completed.
Burr informed President Barack Obama of his decision through the White House counsel’s office, Barb [...]
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan specifically mentioned Cary-based SAS as a company that could provide the federal government with software designed to prevent health care fraud.
Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, said the company doesn't have an inside track on getting a federal contract. She said she was using [...]
Former State Sen. Cal Cunningham has made a splash in the race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
Cunningham entered the race this week after months of consideration and announcing he would not run. But all that dithering may have paid off because it's Cunningham that the [...]
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said from the Senate floor Tuesday that software could prevent billions in Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
It was part of a package of amendments Senate freshman advanced that were meant to lower health care costs by eliminating fraud, abuse and waste.
In [...]
N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall said Wednesday she is committed to next year's U.S. Senate race despite the death of her husband and a key national group's backing of another candidate.
"I'm in this race to stay," Marshall, a Democrat, said in interview Wednesday [...]
GOV. REFORMER: Gov. Bev Perdue has sought to reshape her image into that of a reformer. On Wednesday, she signed three executive orders to strengthen ethics requirements for members of state boards and commissions. Critics say Perdue hasn't done enough, but many have to acknowledge that her [...]
Two Florida senators have joined U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan in urging the Navy to fund a study on water contamination at the Marines’ Camp Lejeune.
The Navy has not committed to fully funding a 2010 work plan on the contamination by The Agency for Toxic [...]
The State Board of Elections will call Ruffin Poole to testify next week about the campaign finances of former Gov. Mike Easley.
Poole was called to testify in the board's October hearings, but a judge quashed the subpoena. The N.C. Court of Appeals overruled that decision [...]
State Rep. Paul Stam's proposal to buy anti-fraud software for Medicaid was included in the state's budget.
Early in the legislative session, Stam, an Apex Republican, pitched the idea that buying software meant to prevent fraud before Medicaid payments are made could save millions every year.
Dome [...]
State Sen. David Hoyle, one of the most powerful lawmakers in the Senate, plans to retire.
Hoyle, 70, a Gaston County Democrat who has been in the Senate for 18 years and is consistently placed near the top in effectiveness rankings of legislators, said he will [...]
As health care reform legislation makes it's way through the Senate, Dome will track votes by the state's Senators, Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Kay Hagan.
ABORTION LIMITS: Limit insurance companies that are participating in a federal insurance exchange from covering abortions. The Senate voted to table, [...]
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday blocked an amendment that would restrict insurance companies’ ability to pay for abortion coverage for women.
The vote, a procedural move, was to table, or set aside, the amendment, Barb Barrett reports. It passed 54-45, meaning the amendment won’t come back up again.
Gov. Bev Perdue may be winning over critics.
In a poll conducted Dec. 1-3 for the Civitas Institute, 32 percent of likely state voters said they viewed Perdue favorably compared to 38 percent who saw her unfavorably. Another 28 percent of voters had no opinion.
While [...]
These are headlines no Democratic candidate wants to see:
A former governor under investigation for corruption, a top Senate Democrat accused of insider trading, a current governor with approval ratings in the 40s and a big tax increase to cope with the biggest budget shortfall [...]
Ruffin Poole, a top aide to former Gov. Mike Easley, resigned Tuesday from the board of a state foundation that dispenses millions of dollars in grants for economic assistance.
Poole's resignation from the Golden LEAF Foundation board comes just as Gov. Bev Perdue is expected to [...]
Gov. Bev Perdue said she has asked the state Department of Transportation to look into the purchases of expensive high-tech surveillance equipment from a private security firm with ties to Tony Rand, her incoming parole board chairman.
"I think we need to get to the bottom [...]
In addition to two amendments she promoted Tuesday morning, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan has two others she plans to introduce as the Senate continues debating health reform.
The first amendment would require health insurance companies to report at least once a year on their reimbursement rates paid [...]
Gov. Bev Perdue's topic Tuesday was like the 1987 movie: "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" — or how to move people and goods around more efficiently.
So the governor showed up at a football field-size warehouse near Raleigh-Durham Airport, to sign an executive order creating The Governor's Logistics [...]
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan's amendments to the health care bill are part of a package offered by a group of Democratic freshman senators.
Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, spoke on the Senate floor this morning about two of the group’s amendments which she submitted, Barb Barrett reports. [...]
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan says the nation needs software to prevent health care fraud.
The pitch by Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, is probably going to make state Rep. Paul Stam mutter something about already telling us so.
Stam, an Apex Republican and House minority leader, [...]
Former state Sen. Cal Cunningham launched his campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate on Monday with a Web video.
As Dome expected, it includes plenty of references to Cunningham's military service. Cunningham takes a few digs at Republican Sen. Richard Burr and notes that [...]
A new poll shows that 48 percent of North Carolina voters oppose the Democratic health care reform proposals.
The poll conducted Dec. 1-3 for the Civitas Institute found that 40 percent of voters supported the proposals while 12 percent were undecided. The numbers are similar to Civitas' October polling, which [...]
BUY TWO, GET ONE: A Maryland company has two separate contracts from the state to do the same work. The N.C. Department of Transportation awarded a $1.8 million contract to EBX to clean up nitrogen in the Neuse River Basin. The N.C. Department of [...]
PROSECUTOR TROUBLE: President Barack Obama announced his pick to replace U.S. Attorney George Holding, a Republican who is currently investigating two of the state's most prominent Democrats. The announcement puts Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, who has lobbied to let Holding finish his work, in the [...]
The U.S. Senate took another vote on health care today, again on an amendment.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, proposed an amendment that would require insurers to follow doctors recomendations on which women’s preventive health services to cover, Barb Barrett reports.
Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr voted [...]
The U.S. Senate took its first vote a few minutes ago on the massive health reform bill being considered now on the Senate floor.
The amendment — from U.S. Sens. Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat from Maryland and Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine — would protect coverage of mammograms [...]
State Rep. Larry Hall is holding a reception and fundraiser tonight in Durham.
Dome's collective eyebrows rose when we saw a copy of the e-mail invite addressed to "Legislative Liaisons," the title generally given to lobbyists for state government agencies. Lobbyists, of course, are forbidden by [...]
U.S. Sen. Richard Burr was feted Wednesday night at a $2,400-a-plate reception and dinner at one of Washington’s popular fundraising locales, Bobby Van’s Steakhouse.
The fundraiser was hosted in part by Charlie Black, a Charlotte native and former Jesse Helms adviser who was a top [...]
N.C. Republican Party chairman Tom Fetzer surprised some editors and reporters at The News & Observer recently when he said he had some positive feelings for the paper.
Executive Editor John Drescher noted on The Editors' Blog that Fetzer got his start in the Jesse Helms organization, which [...]
State Sen. Tony Rand was accused of sharing inside information about a company with other state politicians, an allegation he vehemently denies.
A review of ethics disclosure forms for a handful of notable political figures shows that former Gov. Mike Easley and current Gov. [...]
Apparently shouting an insult at the president makes one a star on the GOP fundraising circuit these days.
The star guest at Rep. Patrick McHenry's Christmas party on Friday will be South Carolina Congressman Joe "You Lie" Wilson, Rob Christensen reports.
Wilson got national attention when he interrupted [...]
Anyone not see this one coming?
Amid a torrent of Tiger Woods jokes Wednesday night, Jay Leno couldn't resist.
"This Tiger Woods thing is having an effect on a lot of people. In fact earlier today, Elizabeth Edwards went out and bought a new set of golf clubs."
HIYOO OO!!
U.S. Rep. David Price said the public debate over American policy in Afghanistan has been too narrowly focused on troop levels.
Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, gave his perspective in a column that was published in The Charlotte Observer. Price recently led a delegation to Pakistan and [...]
Did a new law cure the sick?
State Rep. Dale Folwell, a Winston-Salem Republican, sponsored the State Health Plan/Taxpayer Recovery Act, because a few members of the State Health Plan called for ambulances as many as 25 times in a year.
Before the law, [...]
Employees of the N.C. Department of Correction tend to be unhealthy.
They are often overweight or depressed. Many smoke. Diabetes and chronic disease rates run high, said Jack Walker, executive administrator of the State Health Plan. DOC employees have stressful jobs. They don't make very much money. Those factors [...]
The former president of a publicly traded Raleigh company is accusing state Sen. Tony Rand, one of the state's most powerful lawmakers, of insider trading and other illegal actions.
In a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Labor, Paul Feldman, who claims he was illegally [...]
H1N1 flu is contributing to the state's Medicaid spending running over budget.
N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler said a mix of forces is pushing the program's spending such that, on its present course, it would be $160 million or more over [...]
HOLDING ON HOLD: The Obama administration declined to say Tuesday whether Republican U.S. Attorney George Holding will be allowed to complete his investigations into two of North Carolina's most prominent Democrats, former Gov. Mike Easley and two-time presidential candidate John Edwards. U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat from [...]
Former state Sen. Cal Cunningham of Lexington has apparently changed his mind, and is moving toward entering the U.S. Senate race next year.
Cunningham, an Iraq war veteran, last month announced he was ending an exploratory effort and would not challenge Republican Sen. Richard Burr [...]
N.C. Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer said President Barack Obama should keep U.S. Attorney George Holding.
Fetzer, in a statement, said that Obama's nomination of Thomas Walker is an example of putting politics first.
"You'd be hard pressed to find someone who had put more [...]
