Dome makes its own share of blunders and in no way means to demean our distinguished colleagues at the Associated Press ("A deadline every minute.") A recent correction, however, was too humorous to refrain from sharing. It also requires no additional comment.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) In an Oct. 9 story about state and local incentives used to lure a Dell Inc. plant to North Carolina, The Associated Press misspelled the surname of the president of the Golden LEAF fund. The correct name is Dan Gerlach, not Girlish.

Who else might run for Senate in 2010?

After U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler dropped out yesterday, the Associated Press checked in with the top Democratic prospects to face Sen. Richard Burr two years from now. 

Their answers:  

Attorney General Roy Cooper: Political consultant Morgan Jackson said he won't decide "for a few more months." 

Former Treasurer Richard Moore: Said he has no plans but isn't ruling it out.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall: Said she wasn't seeking the job but wouldn't rule herself out for good.

Schools Superintendent June Atkinson: Said she had "absolutely no intention" of running.

* Bills would set up state and local funding options for rail and transit improvements, including a half-cent sales tax.

* Gary Robertson and Mike Baker of the capital press corps were awarded the 2008 North Carolina AP Staffers of the Year for election coverage.

* A tiny mouse named "Scoop" shuts down political reporting for an hour as reporters scramble to humanely remove him from the legislature.

* President Obama tells Camp Lejeune Marines that he wants to make sure they have 12-month deployments to Afghanistan, not 15-month ones.

Richard Moore is not going gentle into that good political night.

Despite losing the Democratic gubernatorial primary and facing the end of two terms as state treasurer, Moore has taken a number of bold steps lately:

LENDING PAY DAY: During an appearance on CNBC in September, Moore offered to lend money to the Federal Reserve from the state's pension fund to help banks.

WATCH OVER WACHOVIA: In November, Moore backed a shareholder lawsuit protesting Wachovia's agreement to be bought by Wells Fargo and said he'd vote against it.

FREDDIE MAC LAWSUIT: Moore butted heads with Attorney General Roy Cooper over which agency should lead a lawsuit against mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

The Associated Press' Mike Baker writes today that the Moore-Cooper quarrel could "foreshadow a coming Democratic primary" to challenge Republican Sen. Richard Burr.

After a painful defeat to Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue in May, some speculated that Moore might leave politics behind, but it was not his first setback.

Moore came back from an unsuccessful Congressional race in 1994 to run again.

The Associated Press has called for Kay Hagan. 

North Carolina's chief campaign finance investigator says two national party groups seeking to influence elections are breaking state law.

Kim Strach, deputy director of the State Board of Elections, testified Tuesday in a board hearing. The board is examining how the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and the Republican Governors Association raise and spend money for North Carolina, the Associated Press reports.

Strach said the two groups are raising money on behalf of sister organizations registered in North Carolina but aren't disclosing the contributions properly. The groups disagree.

The Republican sister group has spent $3 million to support GOP nominee for governor Pat McCrory. The Democratic group is supporting General Assembly candidates.

The elections board could order the groups to comply with the law or block them from spending in the state.

Kay Hagan tried to end the temporary taxes in 2007.

Two recent ads have attacked the Democratic Senate candidate over her votes for temporary taxes instituted in the 2001 budget and later extended, so Dome is taking a closer look at her record.

As a budget writer in 2007, Hagan pushed to let both taxes expire, according to an Associated Press article on May 30 of that year:

In what's likely to be a sticking point in final budget negotiations with the House and Gov. Mike Easley for the new fiscal year starting July 1, the Senate plan lets expire two "temporary" taxes first agreed to in 2001, but extended twice since. A portion was removed last year.

The House's two-year budget approved earlier this month keeps a quarter-penny on the sales tax and a higher income tax bracket for the state's top wage-earners for another two years. Those moves add about $300 million to the government coffers next year to pay for education and health care needs. Easley's budget proposal also retained the taxes.

"We want those to sunset," said Sen. Kay Hagan, D-Guilford, one of the Senate's chief budget-writers.

On June 4, the Greensboro News & Record quoted Hagan on the taxes: "It's time for them to go."

The final budget negotiated by House and Senate leaders and the governor allowed the temporary tax on higher income earners to expire at the end of the year, but made half of the sales tax increase permanent.

Hagan voted for the final budget.

Barack Obama likes his chances here.

In an interview with the Associated Press, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee argued that he's expanded the map for November.

"Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia are all states where we are competitive," he said.

That doesn't mean he's ahead, though.

As we noted here, Republican John McCain has a marginal lead over Obama in eight polls taken since the May 6 primary in North Carolina, though he's often within the margin of error.

We at Dome can sympathize with the Associated Press.

Much like our abbreviated headlines here on the blog, they only have so many words to get across the subject of a particular story in the slugs they use. So legislature becomes "XGR" and verbs are dropped.

But when they run a slug like this one, they have to figure folks might get the wrong idea:

AP-NC XGR MARY EASLEY DRINKING

Of course, the story is about the first lady's efforts to curb underage drinking, but they really had us there for a minute, didn't they?

Hat Tip: Charles Jeffries