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A business group with strong North Carolina ties Monday released a poll that found that small business owners feel that Washington is creating a more hostile environment to growth.

The group, Job Creators Alliance, released a survey that found that 70 percent small business owners believed Washington was becoming more hostile to free enterprise, while only 19 percent thought it was becoming less hostile. The group includes a number of prominent North Carolina businessmen including Robert Luddy of Raleigh, retired banker John Allison, and Fred Eshelman of Wilmington.

WAXHAW--The pavement steamed in the summer heat as Dan Forest’s campaign bus rolled into this small town along the state’s southern border for a Fourth of July parade.

On the route, a man wearing a sweat-drenched baseball hat appeared confused. “I thought elections were in the fall. Anyone know who Dan Forest is? What does the lieutenant governor do?” Such is the life of a candidate in North Carolina’s runoff election. It’s lonely – and hot.

Read about the runoff election and see a breakdown on all the races here.

More political headlines: 

--Rob Christensen: When Andy Griffith helped rescue the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Easley in 2000, it was dubbed the “Mayberry Miracle.” Griffith, who died last week, was Tar Heel Democrats’ political ace in the hole, helping them remain competitive in the state while most of the South went Republican.

John Allison, a prominent North Carolina conservative and former CEO of BB&T, is taking the helm of the Cato Institute, a leading libertarian think tank in the nation's capital.

Allison assumed the role after a major shakeup at Cato involving billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. The Koch brothers, who are major conservative moneymen and Cato board members, agreed to drop two lawsuits against the institute if current chief executive, Ed Crane, left. (Read more on the controversy here.)