Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge is going to decide soon whether he’s running for U.S. Senate.

Any day now.

Etheridge figured in August he’d have a decision by September. Earlier this week, he was expected to reach a decision by the end of the week. This morning, he told Dome it would be by this weekend, but not today or tomorrow.

(So, not until after Saturday’s anticipated health care vote, about which Etheridge has yet to take a position.)

He’s heard from supporters. He’s heard from the White House. He’s heard from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He’s heard from his wife and family.

The conversations with his family, Etheridge said, might be the most important. In running for state-wide office, he would be away for the next year criss-crossing the state. Etheridge routinely returns home to Lillington on weekends to spend time with his grown children and grandchildren.

“You’ve got to weigh a lot of factors,” Etheridge said. “And I’m grateful to have the opportunity to be in the position, but I’m also in the position to help people right where I am.”

Etheridge last year was appointed to the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means, a role he has sought for years.

Here's a summary of what members of Congress had in their campaign accounts through September 2009. The remaining members of the state's delegation will be added to the list.

G.K. Butterfield: $231,000. 

Howard Coble: $525,000.

Bob Etheridge: $1 million.

Virginia Foxx: $1.1 million.

Larry Kissell: $244,000. Businessman Lou Huddleston has raised $57,641 from individuals and loaned himself $45,125. Tim D'Annunzio, who owns a skydiving business, has loaned himself $303,000 and raised $8,400. Hamlet resident Darrell Day has raised $30 and loaned himself $3,000. Republican Thomas Sweeney has not reported raising any money.

Patrick McHenry: $158,000. Iredell County Commissioner Scott Keadle has loaned himself $250,000 to challenge McHenry for the Republican nomination.

Brad Miller: $148,000. Challenger William Randall II has not reported raising any money.

David Price: $218,000. Republican challenger Frank Roche has raised $10,879, mostly through individual contributions. Republican George Hutchins has loaned himself $5,000.

Heath Shuler: $1.1 million.

North Carolina's congressional delegation is asking the U.S. Department of Labor to listen to farmers before making changes to the visas used by seasonal farm workers.

Rep. Bob Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, sent a letter (link below) co-signed by the state's other members of Congress to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis Tuesday asking her and her agency to consider the concerns of farm families and agricultural groups about any possible changes to the H-2A visa program.

Those visas are for foreign laborers who work on farms for less than a year and are required to return to their home country. The Labor Department is considering possible changes in wage rates, as well as in transportation and contract requirements, and the agency is seeking public comments on the topic. 

Etheridge warned that some changes being considered could make the visa system more costly and burdensome to farmers and, ultimately, raise the grocery bills for consumers.

With the U.S. House expected to shortly begin debate on health care legislation, most North Carolinians believe some form of reform is needed, according to a new poll released this morning, Rob Christensen reports.

Three out of four Tar Heel residents believe the current system health care system in the United States needs reform, according to the Elon University Poll.

But North Carolinians are divided about what type of changes are needed. The survey found that 54 percent would support health insurance legislation that would include a public option and that 51 percent would use a public option if it became available.

State residents were even more divided on a national insurance plan in which the federal government pays most of the medical and hospital costs for all citizens with 47 percent favoring and 47 percent opposing it.

"Obvious from these results is that citizens recognize that the health system is in need of reform, but like most Americans, are divided over how to do it," said Hunter Bacot, director of the Elon University Poll.

The survey found that the percent of people who said they had some form of private insurance had dropped from 83 percent to 73 percent during the past year. The polls was conducted Oct. 26-29 and surveyed 703 North Carolina residents. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge will hold a tele-town hall on Wednesday at 7 p.m. to discuss the health care plans before Congress.

Second Cistrict residents who want to participate in the call-in can sign-up by visiting Etheridge's Web site by noon Tuesday.

Former Gov. Jim Hunt will probably hear a lot about his initiatives on education and school-readiness when people with big titles gather Friday to celebrate the ceremonial groundbreaking of the James B. Hunt Jr. Library on N.C. State University's Centennial Campus.

The library, set to open in 2012, will house the Institute for Emerging Issues, a Raleigh think-tank Hunt created.

Scheduled to attend the ceremony are UNC President Erskine Bowles, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, and U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge.

Not a place for the kids to flip through the latest issue of Highlights, but the library will include an interactive policy gallery for the grown-ups with big ideas.

With the Senate considering landmark legislation overhauling the health care system, North Carolina groups supporting Democratic proposals are stepping up their lobbying efforts.

The North Carolina chapter of Organizing for America, the grassroots effort of the Democratic National Committee, plans to have phone banks working today in Carrboro, Raleigh, Charlotte, Hendersonville, Asheville, Wilmington and Fayetteville, Rob Christensen reports. The phone banks are part of a national effort by the Obama organization to make 100,000 calls on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama is expected to talk to people working the phone banks by way of a simulcast hook up this evening.

This morning, Congressman Bob Etheridge is holding a health care discussion at the downtown Raleigh YWCA targeted at seniors and retirees. Members of the State Employees Association of North Carolina will be at several college campuses making calls to the office of Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan urging her to pass "real health care reform." Hagan has been vague as to what form of health care legislation she will support.

With the Senate debate on health care reaching a critical juncture, supporters of President Barack Obama's health care proposal plan a phone bank Sunday, Oct. 11 in Raleigh.

The phone bank is being held at the Raleigh headquarters of Organizing for America, the arm of the Democratic National Committee, that is designed to generate support for the president's agenda, Rob Christensen reports.

Those making the calls will receive a pep talk by phone from Jeremy Bird, the national deputy director for Organizing for America.

Earlier this week, Organizing for America held a rally in Harnett County, the home of Congressman Bob Etheridge, a Democratic moderate who is being lobbied by both sides of the health care debate.

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Is it possible that North Carolina voters aren't happy with Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, but still like him a lot better than any of the Democratic alternatives?

That seems to be the message from the latest survey by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm that surveyed 683 voters from Oct. 2-4.

Burr's approval rating was just 36 percent. That's down slightly from last month's survey, which had Burr's approval rating at 38 percent.

But when voters were asked about possible match-ups with some of the possible Democratic candidates, Burr easily came out on top. Here's a look at what the survey found:

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No, not the kind you're thinking about.

In this case, we're talking about what's known as "the other white meat."

Seven of North Carolina’s members of Congress have asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect the pork industry from its economic troubles by buying $100 million worth of meat for the USDA’s federal food assistance programs.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, they say the recession and the recent swine flu outbreak have hurt the industry. The lawmakers thanked Vilsack for his push earlier this year to call the swine flu virus H1N1 to disassociate it from pork products, but they said the impacts of the scare have hurt the industry.

The letter notes that USDA already has announced $30 million in purchases through the end of the fiscal year, reports Barb Barrett.

“We asking for additional help with the economic crisis the U.S. pork industry currently faces,” the letter reads. “Without your assistance, we are putting thousands of rural jobs and businesses at risk.”

The N.C. lawmakers are Democratic U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge, Larry Kissell, Mike McIntyre, Brad Miller and G.K. Butterfield, along with Republican U.S. Reps. Howard Coble and Walter Jones. Fifty-five other lawmakers also signed the letter.

They want Vilsack to use $100 million to buy pork for federal food assistance programs, with an emphasis on sow meat to reduce breeding stock.

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President Barack Obama has named two men to lead efforts in rural North Carolina for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Aaron Martin will serve as North Carolina State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency at the USDA. There, he will help provide loans for equipment, seed and fertilizer, and work to get disaster relief to farmers, Barb Barrett reports. The Farm Service Agency also obtains commodities to help low-income families through food aid programs.

Martin was most recently the district director of the Farm Service Agency for the western region of North Carolina. He also served as a crop disaster specialist and FSA director in Clay County.

Obama also named Randal Gore to be North Carolina state director of Rural Development for USDA. The division manages more than 40 housing, business and community programs to improve quality of life in rural areas.

Gore was area director of Rural Development in Asheboro for 11 years, and served as a multifamily housing specialist in Greensboro from 1990-1994. He previously was a vocational teacher at Whiteville High School and West Brunswick High School.

Gore donated $250 to Obama's presidential campaign and $250 to U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield's most recent campaign, according to federal election records.

Martin gave U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan $500 and U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler $500 in the most recent campaign, according to federal election records. He has given U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge $3,000 since 2007.