If it was attention that state Republican officials were seeking, they certainly got it.

The new ad by the N.C. Republican Party linking Democratic gubernatorial candidates Beverly Perdue and Richard Moore to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has yet to air.

But it's already been condemned by countless people, including officials at the Republican National Committee and Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee for president.

The ad, entitled "Extreme," has also become a YouTube favorite. As of this morning, it has been viewed 76,991 times. That puts it behind a video of David Cook's performance on "American Idol," but ahead of a video of a soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea.

It's not doing so well, though, in YouTube's rating system - averaging only 2.5 out of five possible stars in ratings by viewers. Cook and Liverpool vs. Chelsea have both scored 4.5 stars.

The N.C. GOP also hoped the ad would help them raise money. No word on how that's going.

A bill to essentially abolish the Electoral College continues to rankle Republicans.

On the N.C. Republican Roundtable group blog, Kat Haney compares a national popular vote to "American Idol," noting that the best candidate doesn't always win:

Since our President will now be 'elected' the same way Idol winners 'win' (popular uninformed vote), you can expect all sorts of good candidates to NOT be elected.

Meantime, Gideon comes up with a worse-case scenario in which four major candidates split the vote in North Carolina, but the state's electoral slate goes to the one who came in last.

THAT candidate would get ALL of North Carolina's electoral votes no matter how the people of North Carolina feel about that candidate ... All thanks to Sen. Dan Clodfelter.

The bill has passed the Senate and is in a House committee.