As President Barack Obama continues to ponder the future of American troops in Afghanistan, U.S. Rep. David Price stressed this week that the matter isn’t just one for the military.

"Nobody thinks this should be a rushed decision – or a decision that should just be about the military,” Price said. “We have to be aware of the security requirements to back up national policy – not military action for its own sake.”

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, returned Monday from a week-long swing through the Middle East, reports Barb Barrett. While there, he spent three days in Afghanistan meeting with troops, generals and Afghan government officials.

Price said in an interview he doesn’t expect to brief the White House on the visit, but he did speak with the State Department before the trip, and he stressed afterward that Obama shouldn’t rush into a decision on Afghanistan.

"He should take the time and consideration he needs to to make the decision in a careful and responsible way,” Price said.

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GOING CHILLY: Former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin didn't appreciate having to share a campaign bus with U.S. Sen. Richard Burr when she was stumping the state. Palin is scheduled to appear at Ft. Bragg next week to promote her book, which could make for an awkward moment if Burr shows to get a book signed.

POLITICAL PRENUP: Presidential candidate John Edwards offered to quit his campaign and endorse President Barack Obama in exchange for a guaranteed spot on the ticket. Hillary Clinton got the same offer. This reminds us of a time when Edwards' political value meant more than a cheap joke, such as this one.

LIGHTWEIGHT GOVERNOR: At a women's health conference, Gov. Bev Perdue shared stories about her days as a lawmaker when she would scarf a whole bag of Doritos. On a stage in front of a crowd, Perdue challenged her transportation secretary, Gene Conti, to slim down. Woe to any Perdue cabinet members who still smoke.

IN OTHER NEWS: Former Gov. Mike Easley's campaign manager appeared before a federal grand jury this week. Members of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission are heavy political contributors. An African American artist unveiled a portrait of U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

President Barack Obama has nominated North Carolina’s top consumer advocate for a position on the Federal Trade Commission.

Julie Brill became the senior deputy attorney general and chief of consumer protection and antitrust for the N.C. Department of Justice in February. Before that role, she spent 20 years in a similar role in Vermont.

If confirmed, Brill would become a commissioner on the FTC, responsible for enforcing antitrust legislation and protecting consumers from anti-competitive practices.

Ahead of the South Carolina primary last year, a high-level aide to then-candidate John Edwards made an offer to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

He would quit the race and back whoever agreed to add him to the ticket, Obama's campaign manager writes in a new book. Talking Points Memo calls the revelation a "shocker," but is anyone really surprised? David Plouffe's book has also revealed that Plouffe was the source of the tip that led to coverage of Edwards' $400 haircuts.

But then right at the end of the conversation, the Edwards rep added a new wrinkle: "Just to be clear, we're going to talk to the Clinton people too. That's not where John's heart is, but he is at a point of maximum leverage now. We want to see what each of you is thinking."

My initial reaction was that this was a nonstarter. Of course we wanted Edwards's support and his message was certainly closer in spirit to ours than it was to Hillary's. But political deals like this rarely work: people see right through them.

Plus I couldn't imagine Obama agreeing this far out to lock in his running mate without going through any process or even being certain that we would be the ones making a selection.

Obama's answer was quick and firm: he would cut no deals. If he won, he did not want to be locked in to any personnel matters, and he had little interest in deciding on a vice presidential pick in the heat of the primary campaign.

The Edwards aide later said that Clinton's campaign seemed to want it more, an assertion Plouffe didn't believe. Edwards eventually endorsed Obama.

Hat tip: RTB

Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee sees big gains for Republicans in the U.S. House next year.

Huckabee will be in Raleigh Thursday night to sign copies of his new book "A Simple Christmas" at Quail Ridge Books and Music on Wade Avenue and the N&O's Ray Martin caught up with him.

Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, and is considered by many to be the early favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. He also hosts his own Fox News show that airs on weekends at 8 p.m. In a brief interview, Huckabee reflected on his book, playing the guitar and the state of the Republican Party. He remained ambivalent about a potential White House run.

This is your seventh book. What motivated you to write a book about Christmas?

It was mentioned by my publisher, and I kicked the idea around and decided to go with it. It's turned out fabulously. This has been by favorite book. When people read it, it makes them think of their own lives and their own Christmas stories, which was exactly my intention.

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The infamous $400 haircuts that also undercut John Edwards presidential message of reducing poverty started with a tip from the campaign of then-candidate Barack Obama.

Reporters don't like to talk about where they get their stories. But Dome isn't giving away a big secret by revealing that during pitched campaign battle, campaigns will feed bad news about the other guy to reporters.

That's how the nation learned that Edwards, running on a platform of reducing the gap between rich and poor, billed his campaign $400 each for two haircuts.

Politico's Ben Smith wrote a brief item on the haircut which became a big national story and a running joke on late night TV. Smith's brief began with a tip from Obama's campaign, according to a new book by Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. Smith confirms it.

"We did much less of this [opposition research] than other campaigns did," Plouffe writes a bit self-servingly, "but there were times we indulged — it was our researchers who found John Edwards's infamous $400 hair cut expenditures."

It's maddening when people assume political reporting is driven by opposition research when you've actually dug up something yourself, but in this case, I'm in no position to contradict Plouffe's account.

RAND OUT: State Sen. Tony Rand is quitting the Senate. The news that the chamber's chief Democratic enforcer and most formidable political gamesmen is leaving likely thrilled liberal Democrats and conservatives alike. Rand is one of the great characters in state politics and the legislature just got a little more boring.

HOW MANY IS THAT: Gov. Bev Perdue's communications director David Kochman has resigned as her approval numbers remain in the sub-basment. From her days as lieutenant governor, Perdue has had four communications directors in six years, making the job a little bit like being the drummer for Spinal Tap. With luck, Perdue's approval rating will go above 11.

REP. HYPERBOLE: U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx said the Democrats' health reform proposals are more dangerous than terrorists. Republicans may have more to fear from Foxx's own mouth than anything Democrats have to say.

IN OTHER NEWS: President Barack Obama has nominated two North Carolina judges to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has had only six Tar Heels since 1801. With the election of a new mayor in Charlotte, Pat McCrory will be out of elected office, but his loss to Perdue is apparently still gnawing at him, so don't expect McCrory to be out of politics. N&O political cartoonist Dwane Powell has retired after 35 years of skewering politicians.

The N.C. Republican Party is bringing in Doug Hoffman, the defeated conservative New York congressional candidate who helped spark a national debate about the party's future, to speak at a political fund raiser in Raleigh later this month.

State GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer said that Hoffman would be a good fit for Tar Heel Republicans, Rob Christensen reports.

"His candidacy in New York inspired conservatives across the country, and he will reach out to North Carolina conservatives to help us reclaim our government," Fetzer said in a statement.

Hoffman has been part of a national debate about what should be the party's stance toward moderates. The GOP leadership had nominated Dede Scozzafava for a U.S. House vacancy after President Barack Obama named Republican Congressman John McHugh as Army Secretary.

But her conservative credentials were criticized her because she favored abortion rights and same sex marriage. Hoffman, a local businessman, ran as a conservative party candidate, picking up the endorsement of such conservative luminaries as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and TV personality Glenn Beck.

Scozzafava ended up withdrawing from the race and throwing her support to Democrat Bill Owens who won a congressional seat that had been in Republican hands for 100 years.

The N.C. Republican Party has long been a conservative party associated with the late Jesse Helms, and Fetzer said he had personally supported the Hoffman candidacy.

Hoffman will speak at the party's Hall of Fame Dinner on November 21 at the North Raleigh Hilton.

Sen. Tony Rand is known for his pointed and colorful style. His quips are delivered in a deep, scratchy drawl, and impersonating him is an unofficial sport around the halls of the legislature and at Dome's office.

Over the years, he has provided plenty of memorable lines. "It is blindingly clear," he would often say during floor debates.

Here are some Rand moments:

To Sen. Ed Jones, about Jones' bill this year to regulate possession and handling of venomous snakes: "If we get a cobra loose in Fayetteville, will you come down there and catch it?"

Describing negotiations with prosecutors and defense lawyers over a 2003 bill to require prosecutors to turn all evidence over to defendants: "They argued, they prayed, they kicked, they gouged. ... We bled right smart on it."

Explaining in 2008 that the top issue for then-candidate Barack Obama was not a flag lapel pin but creating jobs, energy independence and solving the problems in the Middle East:

"If we can do those things, you know, he could walk around naked as far as I'm concerned and it would be fine."

Telling why he would not take a question on the state budget in 2008: "Because we're going to adjourn in a few minutes, and that's what it says."

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One poll says North Carolinians are increasingly opposed to health care reform proposals advanced by Democrats.

Another poll says more than half of state residents support those proposals. A third national poll says 45 percent of Americans oppose President Barack Obama's health care plan.

Dome isn't an expert on these sorts of things, but it's a safe bet that how the questions were asked and how the polls were conducted has something to do with the difference. Here's a quick roundup of what the October polls asked and what respondents said. Percentages may not add up to 100 because of rounding.

Civitas Institute: (600 North Carolina voters) "Do you approve or disapprove of the health care plan being proposed by Barack Obama and Congress?" 49 percent opposed, 40 percent supported, 10 percent no opinion.

Elon University Poll, (703 state residents) "As you are likely aware, the public option is a health insurance option provided by the federal government...so, with this in mind, would you [support or oppose] health insurance legislation that would offer a public option?" 54 support, 38 percent oppose and 7 percent don't know.

Public Policy Polling (766 American voters) "Do you support or oppose President Obama’s health care plan, or do you not have an opinion?" 42 percent support, 45 percent oppose and 13 percent no opinion.