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OBAMA TO NAME MEL WATT AS HOUSING CHIEF: President Barack Obama intends to nominate Rep. Melvin Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the government regulator that oversees lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a White House official told the Associated Press.  The president was expected to name Watt, a 20-year veteran of the House, on Wednesday, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement.

HOUSE, SENATE STILL APART ON TAX PLAN: Senate Republicans are expected to debut a comprehensive tax plan in coming days -- but don't expect the House to stand at their side. Rep. David Lewis, the lead House tax negotiator, said Tuesday they still haven't found complete agreement. "The two chambers are not yet on one accord," he said. Lewis said he's optimistic the two sides will still unify around a single plan. He wouldn't identify the sticking point but it is likely how to pay for the plan -- with the Senate wanting to tax dozens of new services and the House wanting a more modest approach.

***Click below to keep reading the Dome Morning Memo for more details on Watt's new post -- and what it means in North Carolina -- as well as more political news and analysis.***

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AT LEGISLATURE: Clergy and students will participate in an act of civil disobedience Monday at the Legislative Building "in response to the collective acts of the legislature," said the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP. The action, from 5 p.m.- 6 p.m., will be a "form of a pray-in," Barber said. The House convenes at 4 p.m., the Senate at 7 p.m. The NAACP has opposed the legislative actions reducing unemployment benefits, state House approval of photo voter ID, and other legislative measures.

FOXX TO TAKE OBAMA POST: President Barack Obama on Monday will nominate Mayor Anthony Foxx to be secretary of transportation, a White House official said Sunday on the condition of anonymity. The nomination of Foxx, whose city hosted last year’s Democratic National Convention, would make him the only African-American selected for a Cabinet opening in Obama’s second term. (More below.)

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N.C. Democrats are reveling is the Republican disorder for the 2014 U.S. Senate race.

In a memo Tuesday, N.C. Democratic Party operative Ben Ray argued that Kay Hagan "finds herself in an increasingly strong position" as the GOP struggles to identify a front-runner for the primetime race. "Just over one year from the Republican primary, two things are clear:  Republicans aren’t going to get their strongest potential candidates, and whoever emerges from their primary field to face Senator Hagan will be battered and broke," writes Ray, the party's new rapid response director. "The GOP field has already suffered several setbacks, with Congressmen George Holding and Patrick McHenry each announcing that they would pass on the race.  Holding has substantial personal wealth, and McHenry consistently performed well in public polling.  With the failure of a top-tier candidate to materialize, the NRSC is left facing a cavalry charge of candidates unprepared for the challenges ahead."

McCRORY TO ANNOUNCE MEDICAID SYSTEM OVERHAUL: Gov. Pat McCrory rejected a Medicaid expansion earlier this year saying the system was broken and Wednesday morning he is expected to describe how he plans to fix it. The Republican has talked frequently about the rising costs of the healthcare system for select low-income and disabled residents and issued a video preview Tuesday saying he would create a "partnership" that will help keep costs low. Check Dome later today for more details from the 10 a.m. press conference.

***It's a jam-packed day in North Carolina politics. Get the full scoop on all the big stories from the Dome Morning Memo below. Send tips and news to dome@newsobserver.com.***

GOV. MCCRORY PROMISES BIG CHANGES COMING: Days after releasing a modest state budget and weeks after a tepid State of the State address, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory is promsing big things. "Now we're moving into policy," he told a Chamber crowd Wednesday. The News-Record hits the highlights of what we should expect: "McCrory said the state Department of Transportation will be “revamping” how it finances and distributes money. ... McCrory said he’ll have “major announcements on Medicaid reform” next week, and that his administration is “completely revamping” the state’s commerce department. ... He said his tax plan should be ready within weeks and reaffirmed a desire to cut income and corporate tax rates to the lower levels of neighboring states. ... He said major announcements are coming on the state’s job recruitment efforts at the N.C. Department of Commerce, which new director Sharon Decker said last week may privatize many of its functions."

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The Senate convenes at 11 a.m. to hear a Mecklenburg property tax measure. The House meets at noon to hear a bill to repeal taxpayer funded judicial elections and another bill that favors Blue Cross Blue Shield. At the Capitol, McCrory and Public Safety Secretary Kieran Shanahan will announce at 10 a.m. the new Highway Patrol commander, Alcohol Law Enforcement director and State Capitol Police chief at a swearing-in ceremony.

Also on the political calendar: Mayors Against Illegal Guns is promoting a day of action to push its background-check legislation; a group of area university and college professors host a 5 p.m. forum at Duke University titled, "Save Our State: Scholars Speak Out on North Carolina's New Direction"; and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush appears at Guilford College for a 7:30 p.m. event with former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, hosted by PBS's Gwen Ifill. This is likely Bush's his first visit to the state since the release of his book and open talk about running for president in 2016.

***Good morning! Happy "Friday" to state employees with tomorrow's holiday. Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- the source for North Carolina political news. Send tips and news to dome@newsobserver.com. More headlines below.***

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The voter ID talk continues today at 1 p.m. in a House committee after more than four hours of comments Tuesday about the topic -- but not an actual bill. (More on this below.) Other House committees will consider an immigration measure to restrict the use of Mexican consular documents and a bill to limit lottery advertising. The House convenes at 3 p.m. The Senate at 2 p.m. to take a final vote on the Charlotte aiport authority. A Senate committee will consider UNC Board of Governors nominations at a 4 p.m. meeting. Gov. Pat McCrory lists no public events on his schedule.

McCRORY JOB RATING HOLDS STEADY: The Republican governor's approval rating stabalized in the latest Public Policy Polling survey after a month in which his negatives spiked. The March poll from the Democratic firm put McCrory's approval rating at 49 percent with 35 percent disapproving. Another 16 percent remain unsure. Pollster Tom Jensen previewed the numbers Tuesday on News14's Capital Tonight program with Tim Boynum. Check Dome for more when the full poll is released later Wednesday.

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Democratic strategist Gary Pearce says N.C. Democratic Party Chairman Randy Voller needs to resign after the disclosure Wednesday that he owes back taxes. On his blog Talking Politics, Pearce offers Voller some advice: "The best thing you can do for your party, state and country is resign, go back to work and pay off your taxes."

From AP: Court records show the new head of the North Carolina Democratic Party owes nearly $290,000 in back taxes and penalties.

Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller was elected party chair this month following the stinging defeats for Democrats in the November election.

Records show the North Carolina Department of Revenue in filed a 2010 lien against Voller and his wife with a remaining balance of nearly $99,000. The following year, the Internal Revenue Service filed a second lien with a remaining balance of nearly $190,000.

Voller said Wednesday his real estate development business was a casualty of the national economic downturn, which triggered a credit freeze in his industry. Voller said he is making monthly payments to the state and is negotiating with the IRS to settle his debt by year's end.

Before the State of the State address, Democrats sought to link Gov. Pat McCrory, the de facto head of the state Republican Party, to the legislation the GOP is quickly moving through the legislature, such as measures to block health insurance coverage, curtail jobless benefits and eliminate a tax credit for low-income payers.

“This is a war on the poor and a war on the hardworking taxpayers of this state,” said Randy Voller, the chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party.

Voller put the pressure on McCrory to govern from a moderate stance amid Republican legislative proposals to universally fire Democratic members of state boards and revamp the tax code and make it more regressive. “The question becomes at what point does Gov. McCrory stand up to this radical reactionary legislature,” Voller said.

In his first press conference since taking the helm of the state Democratic Party, Chairman Randy Voller took aim at Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and the GOP legislature, saying they are not fulfilling their campaign promise to focus on the economy.

"All I hear up here is cut, cut, cut and I don't see a lot of things that are creating jobs," he said at party headquarters in Raleigh. "North Carolinians need to have jobs. They need to have jobs that pay. They need to have health insurance. They need to have livable wages."

Voller said the "radical, reactionary" legislature should stop "monkeying around with removing people from commissions and other things that are not focused on creating opportunities in our communities."