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National Democrats are launching a plan today to save vulnerable incumbents like North Carolina's Mike McIntyre.

In a program dubbed "Frontline," the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will target 26 districts to help boost its lawmakers as part of a strategy to win the U.S. House in the 2014 elections. As described in a Politico report, the effort will give the incumbents advice on strategy, get-out-the-vote efforts and fundraising.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan ranks in the ideological middle, according to the latest rankings from the National Journal. The Democrat, who faces re-election in 2014, ranks the 48th most liberal of the 100 senators, or 52 most conservative, depending on how you look at it.

Her Republican counterpart U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is the 23rd most conservative member in the chamber, the nonpartisan national political magazine found. National Journal ranked the lawmakers on 116 votes that showed differences in ideological viewpoint in the 112th Congress.

Among Democrats in the House, Congressman David Price is the most liberal at No. 32, followed by Mel Watt (45), former U.S. Rep. Brad Miller (83), G.K. Butterfield (121). On the Republican side, former U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick was the 32nd most conservative, followed by Reps. Renee Ellmers (43), Virginia Foxx (55), Patrick McHenry (62), Howard Coble (153) and Walter Jones (242).

North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx "chewed out" a House staffer for riding on an elevator reserved for lawmakers, according to The Hill, though Foxx's office is disputing the story.

It apparently happened Tuesday when the elevators at the Longworth House Office Building were clogged. A staffer and the publication's tipster stepped into the members-only elevator; Foxx and an aide stepped in on the next floor.

From The Hill: "The lawmaker, who was recently elected to a House GOP leadership post, asked for whom the pair worked. Then she turned to the female staffer, who had no clue she was on board what was soon to be the elevator ride of doom.

Foxx said to the staffer, “This is a ‘members-only’ elevator; can you read?” She then demanded the staffer’s name before the elevator stopped after going just one more floor up. “Get out here,” Foxx supposedly commanded.

How can a Congress with such wide political differences move forward together for the good of the nation? That’s the question the inaugural Solving It Together forum, presented by The Charlotte Observer and PNC Bank, will tackle.

Former N.C. Gov. Jim Martin, former U.S. Rep. John Spratt  and Congressmen Mel Watt, Patrick McHenry and Mick Mulvaney will participate. More details here.

More political headlines:

--The state Attorney General put on its public case Tuesday charging that a 7.2 percent rate increase approved for Duke Energy should be thrown out on the grounds that it’s causing a public hardship in the midst of a prolonged economic downturn.

Democratic Congressman Mike McIntyre said Sunday he would return to Washington this week even as a recount looms in his re-election.

McIntyre finished 507 votes ahead of Republican David Rouzer in one of the most expensive congressional races in the nation.

His campaign manager said McIntyre would travel to the nation's capital Tuesday for his congressional duties."His commitment to the citizens and communities he represents is strong and solid," Lachlan McIntosh said in a statement. "We have a large team in place all over the 7th District as county Boards of Elections continue to review the provisional and absentee ballots.  We are confident our lead will continue and potentially grow -- and that our victory will stand.”

Marine veteran Ilario Pantano told supporters he’ll run again against U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre in the 7th Congressional District, reports Politico.

“Allow me the opportunity to protect you and your families from the wolves at the door. Our borders must be secured, and our enemies must be made sure of our seriousness of purpose,” Pantano, a Republican, wrote supporters in an email, according to Politico.

Pantano was backed by the tea party but lost by eight points to McIntyre, a conservative Lumberton Democrat, this past fall.

Pantano, a former Wall Street trader, served in Iraq and drew attention in part because of his biography. He was charged with murder after shooting two unarmed Iraqis in a 2004 incident, but the charges were dropped after the Marines decided they didn’t have enough evidence for a conviction. Pantano later wrote a book about his ordeal.

McIntyre was considered vulnerable this past year and might be again. The Washington Post listed McIntyre among its top 10 endangered House members in January.

U.S. Reps. Brad Miller and David Price, both Democrats, canceled a press conference scheduled for tomorrow on the repeal of the federal health care law.

The Republican majority in the U.S. House planned to vote on repeal this week, but U.S. House Speaker John Boehner has postponed votes in light of the shooting in Arizona that left six people dead and Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically injured.

Miller, who represents the 13th Congressional District, and Price, who represents the 4th Congressional District, voted for the health care law.

Incumbent Democrat Mike McIntyre made the Washington Post's endangered House members list today.

"The Fix" political blog calls McIntyre "the one that got away for Republicans." McIntyre looked in trouble early in the 2010 campaign, but ended up beating Republican Ilario Pantano by 8 percentage points. The Fix analysts figure Republicans, who control redistricting, will put the squeeze on McIntyre for 2012.

They say up front that the list should be taken with a grain of salt, since so much is unknown.

McIntyre rings in at No. 6 on the list of 10.

The office expenses of North Carolina’s delegation in the U.S. House are now available online.

Each member of the U.S. House gets a certain amount for his or her office, to be used on salaries, office supplies, rent, mailings to constituents and travel to their home districts, reports Barb Barrett. The amount differs depending on the district’s distance from Washington and the going rate for local real estate.

The document shows the date and cost of office expenditures, from the quarterly salary of a legislative staffer to the price of a magazine subscription. The charts also show when House members and their staff traveled, and at what cost.

The 3,400-page document covers the third quarter of fiscal year 2009. They were made available online at the direction of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi kept her pledge to Walter Jones.

Pelosi just called the U.S. House to order and observed a moment of silence in honor and memory of those killed or injured in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, reports Barb Barrett.

Jones, a Farmville Republican, asked Pelosi several weeks ago to begin each month’s legislative business with a moment of silence to the fallen. Just before the Memorial Day recess, Pelosi told him she would.

At 4:25 p.m., Pelosi gaveled the House to order and asked them to stand. The entire House was silent for a minute.