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Former state GOP chairman Jim Hastings – now a conservative radio talk show host at WATA in Boone – checked in with a Wilmington radio station (WLTT) on Thursday to say a few bad things about Congressman Walter Jones, who is running for re-election in a newly drawn district against fellow Republican Frank Palombo.

An element of the party is trying to outflank Jones on the right – aided by the National Journal’s ranking of the longtime incumbent as the most liberal Republican in the House. “He’s become more liberal the longer he stays up there,” Hastings said.

Pat McCrory is distancing himself from a Wake County GOP leader's remark that Gov. Bev Perdue is "the dumbest governor in America."

A spokesman for the Republican gubernatorial candidate told the Associated Press' Gary Robertson that "Pat doesn't agree with or condone those comments."

McCrory spoke at a Wake County Republican Party event Thursday but left before Susan Bryant, the local party chairwoman, made her remarks. According to the AP report, Bryant told the crowd: "We still have the dumbest governor in America" and the only thing "that she's done right is deciding not to run. Read AP's full story here.

A Public Policy poll from the weekend shows a new front-runner in the nascent GOP presidential race in North Carolina: Herman Cain. Yes, Herman Cain.

Fresh from a bounce in the Florida straw poll, the pizza magnate is getting new attention from potential voters, according to an analysis from Tom Jensen at PPP, the Democratic polling firm in Raleigh.

Cain took 27 percent verses Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich at 17, Perry at 15 and Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann at 6, the poll showed.

(It's unclear if Perry's slide is caused by his impolitic N.C. barbecue remark, or actual policy differences with Republican voters.)

Read PPP's a full analysis of the changing GOP race for president here.

The North Carolina Republican Party has hired a Washington D.C. hand with national TV experience to be its spokesman during the 2012 elections.

The hiring of Rob Lockwood to be the state GOP's communications director, suggests the importance the national party is placing on North Carolina as it tries to win back North Carolina in the presidential race and also capture the governor's race and pick up four congressional seats.

Lockwood was previously deputy executive director and communications director for the College Republican National Committee. In that job, Lockwood, last year appeared on CNN and on Fox News arguing why young voters were turning away from President Barack Obama.

Lockwood, a native of Massachusetts, is an alumnus of St. Johns Prep, and George Washington  University. He interned with the Republican Republican National Committee, Americans for Limited Government, and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

As part of a legal settlement, the North Carolina Republican Party has mailed out an unusual political ad in state House District 51, offering a very public mea culpa to former Democratic Rep. Jimmy Love, Sr.

In late October, 2010 the North Carolina Republican Party distributed a mailer in connection with the contest for the North Carolina House seat in District 51 that accused former Representative Jimmy Love of having abused the power of his office in connection with the North Carolina Department of Transportation's purchases of two tracts of land for a road project. The mailer said Mr. Love had "pocketed" taxpayer money and made a "huge profit" at taxpayer expense.

The accusations made against Mr. Love in the mailer were unjustified and the facts stated in support of the accusations were false. Accordingly, the North Carolina Republican Party hereby retracts the statements made in the mailer, apologizes to Mr. Love, and expresses its sincere regret for any distress or embarrassment caused to Mr. Love, his family, or his supporters.

The Oct. 2010 ad in question said Love owned a piece of land and suggested it was bought by the DOT in a "sweetheart deal." The text called Love a "swindler," featured his photo and quoted him as saying "I Love Gettin' Rich Off The Taxpayers!"  

Love, a seven-term incumbent representing parts of Lee and Harnett counties, went on to lose in November to Republican newcomer Mike Stone by 1,423 votes.

Mark Braden, spokesman for the NC GOP, declined to comment on the false ad.

"An agreement has been reached," Braden said. "On the advice of counsel, I can't say more than that."

Braden referred all questions to the party's lawyer, John Branch of Raleigh.

Branch declined to say how many homes the apology went to and whether there were any other terms of the settlement, such as money paid by the GOP to the Sanford Democrat.

"All I can say is that the dispute has been resolved," the lawyer repeated, regardless of which question was asked.

Still, Dome will wager the deal did not include giving Love his House seat back.

Love, who is an attorney, said Monday he feels some vindication. He said that under the terms of his settlement with the GOP, he can't comment on whether he received any cash.

"I'm satisfied with the way this was resolved," Love said. "I think most of the people who know me knew it wasn't true, but for the people who didn't know me personally, it might have stuck."

Copies of both GOP ads are attached below.

Following through on a campaign promise from last year’s battle for control of the state legislature, victorious House Republicans voted Thursday to repeal North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act.

UPDATE: In a big surprise, Senate leaders said they will not take up the bill before adjournment.

"When we come back in May, I guess we will pick it up then," said Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Republican from Hendersonville. "We had our schedule for tonight, and that was not on it. I want to go to the mountains."

Approved in a 2009 party-line vote when Democrats were in charge, the act allows an inmate facing the death penalty to file an appeal asking a judge to consider whether racial prejudice played a role in his or her sentence. If such evidence is compelling, the law gives state judges the discretion to commute sentences from death to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In a 63-53 vote that fell along party lines, the House passed Senate Bill 9, “No Discriminatory Purpose in Death Penalty,” which repeals the Racial Justice Act. The bill now returns to the Senate.

On Thursday, House Republicans said the new law had resulted in clogged courts as nearly every inmate on death row had filed a Racial Justice appeal.

“This basically put a moratorium on the death penalty,” said Rep. Justin Burr, a Republican from Albemarle. “The legislation will move North Carolina back in the right direction. We are one of only two states who have a law like this, and that’s two too many.”

Democrats countered by citing statistics that blacks convicted of killing whites are 3.5 times more likely to get the death penalty than whites.

The law was a major campaign issue in last year’s election, with the N.C. Republican Party sending fliers to voters in the home districts of Democrats falsely suggesting the the act would result in murderers being released from death row to move in next door.

Rep. Larry Womble, a Democrat from Winston-Salem who was one of the act’s original sponsors two years ago, said Thursday was a sad moment in the struggle for equal rights.

“This is reminiscent of the civil rights era, when efforts to ensure equal treatment and fairness were called threats to order in society,” said Womble, who is black, during the floor debate. “Then, as now, fear is the central theme of these efforts. ... This law is not soft on crime. People who prove they were the victims of racial discrimination will still have to spend the rest of their life in prison. Not a single inmate will be released from prison as a result of this law.”

In a largely party-line vote, the state House approved a Republican-backed bill that rewrites state energy policy to promote and approve of the drilling of natural gas on land and off the coast.

Supporters of Senate Bill 709 said drilling would create revenue for the cash-strapped state government and jobs for North Carolinians by creating a regulatory atmosphere that is more "pro business."

Republican lawmakers brushed aside concerns raised by Democrats about the potential for an off-shore spill to negatively impact coastal tourism and the possible contamination of drinking wells through the use of a controversial gas drilling technique that relies on the hydraulic fracturing underground rock, known as fracking.

"It's time to get crackin' on frackin'," said an enthusiastic Rep. John Blust, a Greensboro Republican. "If we're worrying about tourism, do you think $4 a gallon gas is going to affect tourism. We need more fossil fuels in this country."

Democrats objected to the often-repeated GOP talking point that drilling for natural gas will reduce gasoline prices and reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil. There are not believed to be sizable deposits of oil off the North Carolina coast.

After a study was quoted as saying that increased domestic oil production would have a negligible impact on gasoline prices, Blust countered that such economic analyses were produced by "whackos in an ivory tower."

An attempt by Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, to amend the bill to add renewable energy sources such as wind power and wave power to the list of options for creating new energy was defeated.

Harrison pointed out that tourism generates many more jobs and revenue in the state than even the most rosy of forecast for drilling.

"We have a tourism economy that depends on a clean coast," Harrison said.

Republican supporters countered that the bill designates the first $500 million the state earns through off-shore drilling royalties to a special fund to clean up the environmental damage from any accident or spill.

The bill, a version of which has already passed the Senate, was approved 67-44.

A new poll suggests that the state budget authored by Republican legislators is very unpopular with North Carolina voters, even in the home districts of Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger.

Public Policy Polling surveyed 563 voters from across the state last week, as well as 576 voters in Tillis’ district and 527 voters in Phil Berger’s district.

Only 23 percent of voters across the state support the budget, compared to 41 percent who are opposed and 36 percent who expressed no opinion.

The GOP budget had only marginally more support in Tillis' Mecklenburg County district, with 24 percent of voters in favor and 41 percent opposed. In Berger's district in Rockingham and Guilford counties, there was 27 percent support for the budget with 44 percent in opposition.

According to an analysis by the pollsters, the budget polled as being so unpopular because Democrats and independents are strongly opposed to it, while Republicans are divided. Statewide, Democrats are against the budget by a 36-point margin (15 to 51) and independents are opposed by an 18-point spread (23 to 41), while Republicans support it by only six points (33 to 27).

Cuts to education are at the center of voter opposition to the budget. Statewide only 36 percent of voters think that it's most important to end the temporary 1-cent sales tax compared to 50 percent who think it's more vital to minimize cuts to education spending.

“Governor Perdue’s veto of the budget is likely to be a political winner for her,” Dean Debnam, the president of PPP, said in a release. “Voters agree with her that it’s more important to protect education than make a small reduction in the sales tax.”

PPP typically works for Democratic candidates, but has a reputation for accurate polls that are not biased to favor that party. The full list of questions asked by the pollsters is avaliable here.

Gov. Bev Perdue says the revised budget released by Senate Republicans this morning is a "charade" that tries to shift responsibility for massive classroom job cuts to the local school boards forced to eliminate positions following reductions to state funding.

“With regard to education funding, the proposed budget appears to be a charade," said Perdue, a Democrat, according to a media release. "While the Senate claims to protect teaching positions, they are actually forcing local school districts to make substantial layoffs of education personnel to the tune of more than a quarter billion dollars – meaning thousands of teachers and teaching assistants will be cut. It also appears to take a devastating toll on early education and higher education.

“Instead of taking the responsible course of extending a portion of the sales tax to pay for critical education needs, the Senate seems to have continued to pursue an ideologically driven effort to unnecessarily defund education and other crucial programs.”

A story in yesterday's Washington Post portrayed North Carolina as a key battleground for both parties in the 2012 presidential race.

The state's changing demographics and President Obama's narrow 2008 victory in the state has Republican leaders here worried, according to a report from Washington Post writer (and former N&Oer) Amy Gardner. An Obama victory in North Carolina in 2012 would make it extremely difficult for a Republican candidate to win the White House.

Republicans are poring over the details of how Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since Jimmy Carter. They are trying to pass laws in the legislature to restrict the early-voting system that Obama used to such remarkable effect. And Republicans are preaching to anyone who will listen that those who think Obama couldn’t possibly win here again had better wake up and get to work.

"They turned out voters in record numbers last time, and we need to be ready,” said Robin Hayes, chairman of the North Carolina GOP and a former congressman who was defeated in the 2008 wave that Obama led. “We expect them to be as good and probably better. We know they’ll have more money. And if you think that’s not the case, you’re making a foolish mistake.”

Read the full Washington Post story here.