Barack Obama will practice for his next debate in Asheville.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that the Democratic presidential candidate will spend some time in Western North Carolina before his debate Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn.

Obama will spend "a couple of days" in the Asheville area, Obama spokesman Paul Cox told the paper.

"He needs to focus on his debate preparation, so we're not releasing the location," he said. 

Kathleen Sebelius stumped for Barack Obama again this weekend.

The Kansas governor previously toured North Carolina on behalf of the Democratic presidential candidate in April during his primary battle with Hillary Clinton. She returned in June for a fundraiser for Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan.

On Friday, she made two stops in the western part of the state, arguing that Republican John McCain had ties to Wall Street's current problems and rallying women, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

"It isn't just a string of bad luck that produced the tumult that we see on Wall Street," Sebelius said at a stop in an Asheville coffee shop. "It's a stream of bad policy and a stream of deregulation of the financial services industry."

The stops were part of a ramped-up effort by Obama to bring surrogates to North Carolina. His wife, Michelle, and running mate, Joe Biden, have made recent stops, and former Missouri Sen. Jean Carnahan will visit Tuesday.

Hat Tip: Laura Leslie 

Carl Mumpower's son has left his campaign.

The Republican Congressional candidate's son, Matt, stepped down after he was involved in a bar fight in Asheville Thursday night, the Hendersonville Times-News reports.

Matt Mumpower said the other man involved in the fight was intoxicated and attacked him first. He did not believe the fight was connected to the campaign.

"It had nothing to do with anything," he told the newspaper.

Mumpower, 24, was charged with simple assault and released on a $300 bond.

He had been volunteering as something close to a campaign coordinator for his father, who does not have any paid staff in his bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the newspaper.  

An Asheville reporter says Pat McCrory told him he opposed a minimum-wage increase earlier this year.

An article written by Asheville Citizen-Times reporter Jordan Schrader on May 4 noted that the Republican gubernatorial nominee said he would "probably oppose" a minimum wage hike.

The article was cited in a TV ad attacking McCrory, who argued the ad was inaccurate.

On his Capital Letters blog, Schrader has posted the full quote from his interview with McCrory:

"For right now, I'd probably keep it the way it is. I think the market conditions, especially during recessionary times, must protect the jobs, not lose the jobs."

"I want to encourage employers to give summer jobs, not discourage them, especially to our at-risk youth."

Schrader writes that the ad "oversimplies his position" but is "reasonably accurate."

New York's (likely) next governor is a fan of Beverly Perdue's.

With Gov. Eliot Spitzer weighing a resignation in the wake of a prostitution scandal, Lt. Gov. David A. Patterson is set to become the chief executive of the Empire State.

According to campaign finance records, Patterson gave $2,500 to Perdue, a fellow lieutenant governor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate here.

She also received a donation from Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor.

Other local connections: Spitzer's wife, Silda, graduated from Meredith College in Raleigh; and Spitzer gave the keynote speech at the N.C. Bar Association meeting Asheville in June.

Spitzer once hosted a New York fundraiser for Perdue's rival, Richard Moore, according to the Charlotte Observer. According to campaign finance records, Spitzer and his wife each gave Moore $4,000 last May.

In Asheville, he praised Moore for using his position as state treasurer to fight investment firms.

"In a world where there was no enforcement," Spitzer said, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times, "we had to step in to ensure the integrity of the marketplace."

Moore was frequently compared to Spitzer for his Wall Street crusades, but both Moore and political reporters will avoid the comparison now.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina is running ads against Richard Moore.

The group, which represents 55,000 state workers, ran a full-page ad in the News & Observer, the Charlotte Observer and the Asheville Citizen-Times today.

"State employees to Treasurer Richard Moore: Where are our pension fund documents?" the ad reads. It is signed by all 12 members of the executive committee.

The ad references a recent fight that SEANC has had with the Democratic gubernatorial candidate over a public records request. The group has also filed a lawsuit against Moore's office.

Erica Baldwin, SEANC's assistant director of communications, said that it was the first time in recent memory that the group had taken out such a large ad, but she said it has nothing to do with the ongoing Democratic gubernatorial primary.

"It's not a political statement at all, but a statement about public accountability," she said.

A full-page ad in the front section of the N&O on a Wednesday for a political organization would cost around $7,800, according to this rate card. It could be as much as $10,900 for the Asheville Citizen-Times, according to this rate card. A full-page ad in the Charlotte Observer would cost from $9,855 to $37,125. 

Amanda Martin, general counsel for the N.C. Press Association, said it was an unusual move.

"I have never known of a public records requester bolstering his or her request by an ad in the newspaper or anywhere else," she said.

Update: A spokeswoman for the treasurer's office said in a statement that the ad is incorrect.

"We are disappointed by this move by SEANC, as the Department of State Treasurer has followed both the spirit and the letter of the law in providing documents requested by SEANC," said Sara Lang.

The Asheville Citizen-Times may be thinking about secession of late.

In a question-and-answer session with the four Republican gubernatorial candidates, the newspaper kicked things off with this query:

In the western part of the state we all feel that the executive and legislative branches of state government end in Hickory, and western Carolina should actually belong in Tennessee or South Carolina. What is your position on this perception, and what will your administration do about it?

The four candidates wisely avoided advocating for secession. Bill Graham said he would continue visiting, Pat McCrory said he'll create jobs, Fred Smith noted he's had barbecues there, and Bob Orr pointed out that, well, he's from Western Carolina.

Or the future Eastern Tennessee, Northern South Carolina or Franklin, as the case may be.

Pat Smathers wants his hometown to live up to its name.

The longtime mayor of Canton, who is running for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, thinks that North Carolina should give more power to its local governments. (Just as Switzerland has granted power to its cantons...)

In an interview with the Asheville Citizen-Times, Smathers said local government is "hamstrung" by "Raleigh-centric" policies.

"There's not much that we're able to do in Canton that we don't have to come hat in hand to some agency (or) the legislature," he said.

In particular, he favors giving local government more options to enact new taxes. He also said he would make the lieutenant governorship "the office of ideas."

"It needs to be a bully pulpit," he said.

Carl Mumpower is running for Congress.

The Asheville City Council member announced today that he will run for the Republican nomination to run against U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a freshman Democrat from Waynesville.

In his announcement, Mumpower called himself an"independent conservative voice on the Asheville's liberal City Council."

He said some of the issues for his campaign would be security the borders, reducing the national debt, and cutting "bureaucratic strangulation" of business, education and health care.

He also said he would redirect the War on Drugs away from creating new laws and towards enforcing existing laws, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.

In recent weeks, Western Carolina Republicans had been searching for a challenger to Shuler. State Sen. Tom Apodaca and Brevard District Attorney Jeff Hunt have ruled out runs, but former Rep. Charles Taylor, who lost to Shuler in 2006, has not yet announced his plans.

We here at Dome are used to getting hammered.

But it's got to be a different experience for a Congressman to receive unfiltered comments from the public. Take U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat who's had a blog on the Asheville Citizen-Times Web site since earlier this year.

Shuler's posts are fairly standard press releases, explanations for controversial votes and general political boosterism — the kind of material you might find on a Congressional Web site.

But a few of the comments are downright acidic:

From Fred: "Typical EXAGERATION of politicians and others to try to advance their cause. Try tellin ghe TRUTH for a change."

From Outspoken: "cONGRESS IS AIDING AND ABETING THE TERRORIST. the people of the us will suffer because of your mistakes."

From Screwy Hoolie: "Well done, Congressman. You've sided with the Ku Klux Klan, Vanguard, Stormfront,Charles Taylor, and Tom Tancredo."

Welcome to our world, Congressman.