State Rep. Dan Blue and U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield know how many homes they own.

The two Democrats held a news conference Thursday at Barack Obama's Raleigh office to criticize John McCain. The presumptive Republican nominee for president had expressed confusion about how many homes he and his wife Cindy own.

"Senator McCain is not in touch with the American people," Butterfield said.

"If you own so many that you can't keep up with them," Blue said, "then you ought to make an effort to see what regular people are going through."

So how many do Blue and Butterfield, both of whom are lawyers, own?

For Blue: one, in Raleigh. For Butterfield: two, a one-bedroom in Washington and a house in Wilson.

And, Butterfield added, the Washington home cost him more.

UPDATE: Linda Daves, chair of the N.C. Republican Party, released a statement in response to Blue and Butterfield. She accused Obama of being out of touch with average North Carolinians, citing his recent vacation to Hawaii and the millions he has made from writing two books.

"No, when it comes to being an out of touch celebrity, Barack Obama has no equal," Daves said. "The only thing Obama and his friends proved today is that they are more interested in raising taxes than in raising the level of debate."

Kay Hagan will not attend the Democratic National Convention.

The Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate has too many other things to do in North Carolina, her campaign told Dome in an e-mail Thursday.

"75 days until the election as of today and there aren't enough hours in the day," Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan wrote.

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is not attending her convention either. Last month, the Salisbury Republican's campaign also cited a desire to spend time in North Carolina.

In 2004, the two major candidates for U.S. Senate split. Democrat Erskine Bowles skipped his party's convention in Boston. Republican Richard Burr attended the GOP gathering in New York.

Hat tip: Politico.

Rielle Hunter pronounces her first name, (REE-elle).

Hunter, the woman with whom John Edwards has admiited having an affair, appeared on the Game Show Network program, Lingo, in 2002, according to an item posted by TMZ.com today. The unusual spelling of her first name has led to various pronunciations.

Fresh images of Hunter have been tough to get since Edwards acknowledged having a relationship with Hunter, who identified herself as Rielle from Florida on the show. She told host Chuck Woolery that she does a lot of yoga and chanting.

A Dome post Thursday afternoon included information from the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research that was not intended for immediate publication. The post will be republished in its original form when the information is available.

Dome apologizes for the mistake.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's recent ad responds to an attack ad from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee featuring two men in rocking chairs.

A report released Thursday by state Auditor Les Merritt found that financial mismanagement at the nonprofit Autism Society of North Carolina led to a $1.5 million deficit and a shakeup of the organization's leadership.

The organization receives $11 million in government funding. according to the audit report. It has offices in ASheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Greenville, Laurinburg, New Bern and Raleigh.

"It's unfortunate to see such a worthy organization that meets so many needs stumble because of poor financial oversight," Merritt said in a news release.

Auditors found that the deficit was caused by an overestimation of contributions, poor planning and false assumptions about what the state mental health program would cover.

The problem surfaced in June 2007 when when organization officials learned they would have trouble meeting payroll. Later that year, the finance director and the executive director were dismissed. Seven employees were laid-off to cut costs.

The auditors also identified what they considered "inappropriate" credit card charges from the former finance director for staff lunches, birthday parties and staff meetings at restaurants.

Auditors recommended tighter financial controls. In a response, officials said they recognized the need to improve.

"Additional improvements and more diligent monitoring of financial performance will be critical for sustained success in fulfilling our mission," wrote F. Whitney Jones, president of the society.

Nearly one-fourth of college-age students are not registered to vote.

A new report from the Young Voters Index found that 200,000 citizens aged 18 to 25 still have not registered, even though about 90,000 new registrations have been recorded since January.

In all 23 percent of young adults have not registered, compared to less than 20 percent of adults over the age of 25.

"Young people are participating more than they did four years ago, but they still have tremendous potential to do so much more," said Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina.

About 134,000 young people voted during the May primary — four times as many as in 2004. But the rate of participation for young people was the lowest of any age group.

Many state universities have early voting sites where students can register and vote on the same day. (N&O)

Kay Hagan's campaign is sticking with 92 percent as well.

The Democratic Senate candidate has argued that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has voted with President Bush 92 percent of the time, citing Congressional Quarterly. But a representative of the Washington news service recently said that the correct figure is 88 percent.

Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said that they weren't counting this year because it's not over yet.

"Quite frankly, if Dole wanted to actually be independent from this President and his failed policies she’s had five years in which to do it before now," she wrote in an e-mail to Dome.

She argued that Dole was "nothing but a reliable rubberstamp" for Bush from 2003 to 2007. 

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue is airing a new ad touting her record in office.

What it says: The ad shows images of Perdue from her early life and her political career. A narrator says, "Bev Perdue. Neither of her parents finished high school, yet she became a teacher and earned a Ph.D. She's spent a lifetime fighting for the middle class — Smart Start for our kids, cutting the sales tax on food, saving our military bases from closure. In these tough times, she'll lead the way — a higher minimum wage, property tax relief for seniors, creating the jobs of the future. Bev Perdue, a governor for us."

The background: Perdue taught in public schools in Georgia and Florida from 1970 to 1974. She received a doctorate in education administration in March 1976 from the University of Florida.

Gov. Jim Hunt and the legislature created Smart Start, a statewide pre-school program, in 1993 when Perdue was in her second term in the state Senate. That year, Hunt appointed her as one of 16 initial members of a board to oversee Smart Start.

Then-Gov. Terry Sanford helped establish a statewide sales tax on food in 1961 to pay higher teacher salaries. It was supposed to be temporary, but it lasted almost four decades. Lawmakers cut it from 4 percent to 3 percent in 1996 and eliminated it two years later.

Perdue was co-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee when lawmakers eliminated the tax. She voted in favor of doing so, but was not a champion of the cause. An unusual coalition of liberal lawmakers and anti-tax Republicans pushed for eliminating the tax, while the Senate’s leadership was less enthusiastic.

"I have long believed it is the wrong item to tax and there should be a total elimination," Perdue told The Charlotte Observer in August 1997. But, she added, "You have to look at fiscal responsibility. The priority, I believe, in addition to cutting the food tax, is to provide adequate funding for teachers and to clean up the environment."

Gov. Mike Easley appointed Perdue, as lieutenant governor, to lead the state's efforts to protect North Carolina’s military bases from closure by the U.S. Department of Defense. The multi-year process is designed to be insulated from political pressure, and it involved work from a large number of people, including the state's congressional delegation.

Perdue has called for increasing the minimum wage in North Carolina by one dollar to $8.25, from the minimum of $7.25 an hour set to take effect in July 2009.

She also says she favors expanding the state’s homestead exemption and freezing the property tax revaluations for seniors who make less than $50,000 and have lived in their homes for at least 20 years.

Is the ad accurate? Yes, though there is no way to quantify how much Perdue helped the state's military bases.

— David Ingram

A recent TV ad attacking U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole was actually filmed in Bynum.

In a recent post, Dome wrote that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had filmed an ad featuring two old men in rocking chairs at an ice cream store near Hillsborough.

That was incorrect. The ad was filmed at the Bynum General Store in Chatham County by Squier Knapp Dunn, a firm with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York.

A follow-up Web video featuring two younger men in rocking chairs was filmed on the sidewalk outside of the Maple View Ice Cream Store in Carrboro.

The Web video was filmed without permission of the ice cream store owners.

Dome regrets the error.