The atmosphere was more Thunderdome than Under the Dome at the annual House vs. Senate milk-chugging for charity contest Wednesday.

Pages and legislative assistants hollered for their favorite chamber ("Go Senate! Come on House!) and specators jockeyed for a view of six distiguished public officeholders sucking on straws jammed into tiny plastic milk bottles.

Rep. David Lewis, a Dunn Republican, was not above a little pre-chug smack talk.

"This is the sound of your defeat," he said to his Senate opponents as he silently popped off the plastic cap of one of his milk bottles.

The contest was sponsored by the state's dairy industry and the Department of Agriculture.

Reps. Lewis, Arthur Williams (D-Washington) and Roger West (R-Marble) challenged Sens. Joe Sam Queen (D-Waynesville), Bob Atwater (D-Chapel Hill) and Andrew Brock (R-Mocksville).

It appeared to be a fair contest, although there were some rumblings about non-regulation straws and early chugging. The Senate team finished first, earning $200 for their favorite, as yet unnamed, charity. The House team will get $100 for charity.

(News & Observer photo by TAKAAKI IWABU).

A bill that requires boating safety classes for young boat operators cleared the House. 

The House changed the Senate bill to exclude anyone 26 or older from the requirement. The Senate version would have grandfathered boaters who are now 24. Eventually the Senate version would have required safety classes, or passing a test, for everyone.

The House version now returns to the Senate which can agree with the House changes or send the bill to a conference committee.

The House version applies to vessels with at least a 10-horsepower motor, including personal water craft. The House bill allows a young boater to skip the classes if he or she can pass a test.  

"It's about safety education," said Rep. Arthur Williams, a Washington Democrat.

Rep. Marilyn Avila, a Raleigh Republican, said the bill didn't do enough.

"We're asking people to go online and take a test and get the right to put a vehicle or vessel or personal water craft on a lake or in the river that is in some cases horsepower equal to a Mustang GT," she said.

State lawmakers got their first look today at a brewing crisis in the Correction Department as projections indicate the state will not be able to build its way out of a surge in the inmate population over the decade.

The large print in the report delivered to lawmakers said it all: "The State faces a serious prison bed shortage in the next year, and a huge deficit in the long term," Dan Kane reports.

They learned:

* They can not build or expand space fast enough to house the roughly 2,300 additional inmates expected to arrive by the end of the next fiscal year;

* Counties do not have enough jail cells to house the projected backlog; and

* That adopting some sentence-reduction suggestions that have been offered in recent years also may not slow the growth soon enough.

More after the jump.

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Who's in the Tobacco Growers' Caucus?

After Dome noted which legislators represented major cigarette manufacturing employers in North Carolina, a reader noted that others represent tobacco growers.

According to records at the N.C. Department of Agriculture, 11 counties each produced more than $20 million worth of tobacco in 2007: Sampson, Johnston, Wilson, Wayne, Nash, Pitt, Lenoir, Harnett, Greene, Edgecombe and Duplin.

That means the following members represent growers:

In the House: Reps. Larry Bell, James Langdon, Leo Daughtry, Jean Farmer-Butterfield, Joe Tolson, Van Braxton, Efton Sager, Lucy Allen, Angela Bryant, Randy Stewart, Marian McLawhorn, Edith Warren, Arthur Williams, William Wainwright, David Lewis, Jimmy Love, and Russell Tucker.

In the Senate: Sens. Charlie Albertson, David Rouzer, A.B. Swindell, Don Davis, Clark Jenkins, and Harris Blake.

During a 2007 House vote, Reps. Bell, Farmer-Butterfield, Allen, Bryant, Wainwright, Love, and Tucker voted for a smoking ban, while Langdon, Daughtry, Tolson, Braxton, McLawhorn, Warren, Williams, and Lewis voted against it.

Sager and Stewart were not in the House at the time.

The House overrode Gov. Mike Easley's veto nine minutes after the session started.

Rep. Arthur Williams, who sponsored the wide boat bill, spoke before calling for a vote.

"I think this bill stands on its own merit and the people have spoken out," said Williams, a Democrat from Washington.

Members agreed to cut off debate and the vote to override was 92 in favor and 7 against.

The issue now goes to the Senate.

Correction: A previous version of this post misstated Williams' hometown. Dome regrets the error.

Update: After the vote, four more voters were added bringing the final, official vote tally to 95 to 8.

State Senate leader Marc Basnight wants to bring the legislature back to Raleigh to override Gov. Mike Easley’s veto of a bill allowing wider boat trailers on state roads at night.

Easley vetoed the bill on Sunday, saying it would be dangerous to let 9.5 foot wide boat and trailers travel after dark on roads and bridges as narrow as 18 feet. He warned of collisions with other wide boats, and with school buses on pre-dawn routes, reports Bruce Siceloff.

"He doesn’t impress me on this issue,” Basnight said Monday. “I would certainly be for an override. I believe the bill is valuable to the economy, and it’s a very safe, well-constructed piece of legislation.”

The measure originated in the House, so Basnight is waiting for House Speaker Joe Hackney to make the first move. A spokesman said Hackney is checking to see whether House members want to come back to Raleigh for an override vote or let the veto stand.

Read more after the jump.

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Which House Democrats are in Republican-leaning districts?

According to the N.C. Partisan Index, 10 Democratic representatives are in districts that lean Republican.

The index was created by the conservative Civitas Institute, using results from the 2004 elections. Ratings were based on how the district voted in Council of State races when compared to state as a whole.

Five of the blue fish in red ponds are on House Republican's wish list.

Below, the representatives and their district ratings, from most Republican to least. 

Rep. Ray Warren (R+11), Rep. Alice Graham Underhill (R+6), Rep. Bob England (R+6), Rep. Walter Church Sr. (R+4), Rep. Jim Harrell III (R+4), Rep. Cullie Tarleton (R+3), Rep. Ty Harrell (R+2), Rep. Arthur Williams (R+1), Rep. R. Van Braxton (R+1) House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman (R+1).

In addition, one Republican is in a Democratic-leaning district. Rep. Bill Daughtridge, who is running for state treasurer, is from a D+3 district.

His seat is on the Democrat's wish list. 

Earlier: Blue fish, red pond, Senate edition 

Beverly Perdue has received $60,300 from other politicians campaign funds since 2005.

According to campaign finance reports filed since her 2004 re-election as lieutenant governor, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate received donations from 38 campaigns.

The top contributor was state Rep. Bill Owens of Elizabeth City, who gave $6,000.

She received $4,000 donations from former Sen. Pete Bland of Craven County; Sens. Clark Jenkins of Tarboro and Dan Clodfelter of Charlotte, Rep. Jim Harrell of Surry County; Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand; Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines; and Rep. Arthur Williams of Beaufort County.

She also received $2,500 from New York Lt. Governor David Patterson.

Perdue got $2,000 each from state Sens. Linda Garrou, Julia Boseman and Bill Purcell; New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey and former Gov. Jim Hunt.

She received $1,700 from former Rep. Pete Cunningham, $1,500 from Asheville District Attorney Ron Moore, and $1,000 apiece from Bob Atwater, Mark Jones and A.B. Swindell.

Other donations came from Sens. David Hoyle, Katie Dorsett, Charles Albertson and R.C. Soles; Orange County Commissioner Mike Nelson; Madison County Sheriff John Ledford; Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Catherine Baker Knoll and lieutenant governor candidate Hampton Dellinger, among others.

Richard Moore has received $18,400 from other politicians' campaign funds since 2005.

According to campaign finance reports filed since his 2004 re-election as state treasurer, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate received donations from 14 campaigns.

The top contributors were state Rep. Pryor Gibson and Rep. Gordon Allen, who each gave $4,000. Former Gov. Jim Hunt gave $3,000. Rep. Drew Saunders and Sen. Doug Berger gave $2,000 apiece, and Pitt County Commissioner Bob Ramey gave $1,000.

Moore received $500 donations from Rep. Arthur Williams, Rep. Lucy Allen, Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand and Cumberland County school board member Frank Barragan.

He also received money from Surry County Sheriff Connie Ray Watson, District Attorney Howard Boney and Fayetteville City Council members Curtis Worthy and D.J. Haire.

Supporters argued incentives would help smaller businesses too.

Rep. Marvin Lucas, a Cumberland County Democrat whose district is home to the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plant, said that the incentives will help the spin-off companies that work with them.

"The many food vendors that benefit from large operations will benefit," he said. "Yard maintenance companies will benefit. Janitorial operations will benefit. Small mechanical operations will benefit."

Rep. Margaret Highsmith Dickson, a Fayetteville Democrat, said the loss of Goodyear jobs could hurt convenience store owners, appliance salesmen and real estate agents. She noted her brother-in-law sells cars in Harnett County.

"He called me over the weekend to express his concern about what the failure to support Goodyear will mean to him and to his quality of life," she said.

Rep. Arthur Williams, a Washington Democrat, reminded his colleagues that natural rubber from Malaysia and Indonesia comes through the ports in Wilmington and Morehead City for Goodyear.

"Let's keep the jobs in North Carolina in rubber in Morehead City," he said.