Ten North Carolina mayors are going to Washington this weekend.

The group will join over 250 mayors from across the country to call for local help in the upcoming Congressional stimulus package.

Expected to attend are Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the former GOP gubernatorial candidate; Durham Mayor Bill Bell; Fayetteville Mayor Tony Chavonne; Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines; Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy; and the mayors of Asheville, Concord, Gastonia, Salisbury and Waxhaw.

They will be attending the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The conference will release a report this weekend on projected job losses in metropolitan areas, a particular concern for McCrory, who founded the N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition to concentrate on urban issues.

Hampton Dellinger is lobbying to become a U.S. attorney.

As previously noted on Dome, the former candidate for lieutenant governor and legal counsel to Gov. Mike Easley is one of a number of names that has been put forward for federal prosecutor.

Over the weekend, The Durham Herald-Sun reported that Dellinger is lobbying to become U.S. attorney for either the Middle or Eastern districts of North Carolina:

Dellinger — the son of Duke University law professor emeritus and former acting U.S. Solicitor General Walter Dellinger — recently contacted Durham Mayor Bill Bell to ask Bell for help in securing the appointment.

"I've known the mayor and think highly of him and know he's highly regarded," Hampton Dellinger said on Friday. "I wanted to let him know of my interest and relevant experience."

Bell, an early supporter of Barack Obama's, said he didn't see any reason not to support Dellinger.

"I'm sure other people are going to be looking at it, too," he told the paper.

A coalition of mayors and law enforcement agencies urged state lawmakers this morning to create new penalties for gang activity and to devote money toward prevention and intervention.

"What it's about is saving the youth of North Carolina," said Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy. "The insidious nature of gangs is that it destroys our communities."

The state Senate is scheduled to take up two bills later today that address many of the concerns of the mayors and police agencies, reports Dan Kane.

There are differences, though, with House legislation passed last year, so it is likely that both sides will have to work out compromise legislation in a House-Senate conference committee.

A recent Governor's Crime Commission report found that there are nearly 15,000 gang members in the state and more than 550 gangs. Gastonia Police Chief Terry Sult said there are more gang members per capita in communities of less than 75,000 residents than in larger cities.

Some lawmakers, particularly Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat, have been pushing for anti-gang legislation for several years. But debates about the cost of incarceration and whether prevention was being adequately addressed have stalled their efforts.

Michaux and others are optimistic legislation will pass this session. Michaux said more needs to be done before he will sign off on a final package. He wants $10 million in the state budget for prevention.

Others, including the sponsor of the Senate legislation, Malcolm Graham, a Charlotte Democrat, and Durham Mayor Bill Bell said the final legislation should include a provision that gives rehabilitated gang members the ability to expunge their records of their gang activity.

The mayor of Winston-Salem is leaning toward Barack Obama.

According to James Romoser's Trail Mix blog, Democratic mayor Allen Joines said he is not yet ready to formally endorse Obama, but he is leaning toward it.

Joines said he has talked with Durham Mayor Bill Bell (who endorsed Obama last year) about forming a group of North Carolina mayors in support of Obama. Obama will visit Greensboro tomorrow, but Joines said he has not heard anything from the campaign about an Obama visit to Winston-Salem.

Obama already has the endorsements of the mayors of Durham and Greensboro, plus the likely endorsements of another half-dozen mayors of mid-sized and large cities in North Carolina.

And Hillary Clinton? Not so much. 

Barack Obama's campaign has announced only one mayoral endorsement in North Carolina.

More announcements will roll out in the next few weeks, however.

According to a March 11 story in the Durham Herald-Sun, Durham Mayor Bill Bell has taken the lead in persuading other mayors to back Obama.

That's probably in part payback for Obama's endorsement of Bell before the November mayoral race.

Along with Bell and Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson, the story also quotes Bell saying Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy, Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson and Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton have endorsed Obama.

"Bell said there are other mayors who have 'committed but not come out publicly yet' for Obama, in towns both large and small," wrote reporter Ray Gronberg.

Pat McCrory founded the N.C. Metropolitan Coalition of Mayors in 2002.

But when the group meets Thursday in Chapel Hill to tackle the issue of global warming, McCrory will be leaving early.

Mayors of some of the 25 biggest cities in the state, including Bill Bell of Durham, Allen Joines of Winston-Salem, Tony Chavonne of Fayetteville and Bill Saffo of Wilmington, will meet Wednesday and Thursday.

McCrory, who is the immediate past chairman of the group, will be there all day Wednesday, but he'll head out after just a half hour Thursday morning.

The mayor's office told Dome that McCrory has "other meetings" that day. They would not say whether that includes, say, a trip to Jamestown.

Beau Mills, director of the Metropolitan Coalition, said that he did not know why McCrory was leaving early.

"I'm not sure about that," he said, laughing. "You'll have to ask him."

Dome left a message for the mayor to call us back.

More bad news for Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards:

One of Edwards’ most important New Hampshire backers in the 2004 race, state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, endorsed New York Sen. Hillary Clinton today, reports Rob Christensen.

"In my opinion, the person who can do the job as the next president of the United States is Hillary Clinton," D'Allesandro told a New Hampshire crowd. "She brings to this campaign a sincere interest in all of the items that we’re concerned about."

D’Allesandro was often at the side of John and Elizabeth Edwards during the 2004 campaign. And he introduced Edwards at a Democratic dinner in Manchester in early 2005, urging him to make another run for president.

This comes one day after Durham Mayor Bill Bell, who held an event for Edwards at his home in 2004, endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama has endorsed Durham Mayor Bill Bell — and vice versa.

The Illinois senator announced his endorsement of Bell's re-election campaign came the same day as his visit to N.C. Central University, which is expected to draw major crowds, Matt Dees reports.

"Barack Obama believes Mayor Bell has served Durham well, and he is encouraging Durham residents to turn out to the polls for him next week," said Obama representative Ben Labolt. 

The endorsement echoes Bell's 2001 campaign, when former President Bill Clinton recorded a pro-Bell phone message that was sent primarily to black households in Durham.

That propelled Bell to the mayor's chair over popular incumbent Nick Tennyson.