It's not only possible to become a state legislator without getting elected, but 31 of the 170 members of the legislature have done it.

Those lawmakers first took office after being selected by a small group of their party's leaders and then being appointed by the governor.

Since the current legislative term began in January, six lawmakers have taken office after their predecessor resigned or, in one case, died. A seventh new legislator will be selected soon to replace Sen. David Weinstein, D-Lumberton, who resigned in September. When a lawmaker leaves office early, his or her party leaders select a replacement who is appointed by the governor.

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Gov. Beverly Perdue is not alone in China and certainly not in terms of elected officials from North Carolina, since 11 legislators are also there.

Senators Malcolm Graham (right with Alfred Liu, general manager of SAS' Beijing R&D) and Bob Rucho, of Charlotte; Floyd McKissick, of Durham; Joe Sam Queen, of Waynesville and Tony Foriest, of Graham, along with Representatives Lucy Allen, of Louisburg; Bill Owens, of Elizabeth City; Joe Tolson, of Pinetops; Jane Whilden of Asheville; Margaret Dickson, of Fayetteville and Wil Neumann, of Belmont are visiting as part of a program organized by the University of North Carolina’s Center for International Understanding. All are Democrats except for Rucho and Neumann, Republicans.

Graham said no tax dollars are being used to pay for the trip. Funding comes from Duke University as well as corporate sponsors AT&T, Longistics and SAS.

The group is participating in a few events during Perdue's trade trip, such as Wednesday's visit to a middle school, but also are making their own stops, such as SAS' Beijing R&D operation. Lawmakers are aiming to learn more about a country and culture with which North Carolina must compete for jobs and business.

"We don’t live in an isolated world anymore," Graham said. "We’re not just competing with South Carolina, Tennessee and Florida. We’re competing in a worldwide economy."

The state may give back local road responsibilities.

During the Great Depression, North Carolina's state government took over the duties of paving and repairing local roads.

But facing high demand to fix the state's highways and bridges, the N.C. Department of Transportation is considering giving up that responsibility.

In most other states, county taxpayers are responsible for secondary roads.

A solution to move toward that system has been proposed by state Sens. Bob Rucho and Dan Clodfelter of Mecklenburg County. Their bill would have the counties take over about 64,000 of the 79,000 highway miles now maintained by the state.

Local property taxes would have to be raised to cover the expense. (N&O)

"Which Republicans voted for the Democratic leadership in the legislature?" — Caller

Members of the state House of Representatives and Senate select their own leaders on the first day of session.

The majority, which is Democratic in both chambers this year, typically votes for one of its own, while the Republican minority puts forward its own candidate.

Still, legislators can cross over to vote for the other side.

This year, Republican Sens. Fletcher Hartsell of Concord and Richard Stevens of Cary both voted for Democratic Sen. Marc Basnight as president pro tem on the first roll call.

Before the votes were totaled, however, Republican Minority Leader Phil Berger, who was also running, moved to elect Basnight by acclamation — essentially a unanimous voice vote.

This next part is a little tricky. In order to prevent anyone from calling another vote in the future and toppling Basnight, his chief lieutenant, Sen. Tony Rand, asked for yet another vote, known as a "clincher."

Twelve of the 20 Senate Republicans voted for Basnight on that vote: Sens. Austin Allran, Stan Bingham, Harris Blake, Debbie Clary, Don East, James Forrester, Hartsell, Neal Hunt, David Rouzer, Bob Rucho, Stevens, and Jerry Tillman.

In the House no Republicans voted for Speaker Joe Hackney, a Democrat. House Republicans voted for the minority leader, Rep. Paul Stam.

The Skip and Phil Show has been renewed for another year.

Legislative Republicans decided to keep their current leadership team — House Minority Leader Paul "Skip" Stam of Apex and Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger of Eden — in place for another session.

Stam faced no challengers, but Berger beat back Sens. Bob Rucho of Charlotte and Pete Brunsetter of Forsyth County, who had argued the GOP had problems with fundraising and elections.

In the House, Stam will be assisted by Republican Whip Thom Tillis of Mecklenburg County. In the Senate, Berger will get help from Deputy Republican Leader Harry Brown of Jacksonville and Republican Whip Jerry Tillman of Archdale.

"The 72 Senate and House Republicans are ready to offer constructive, positive directions for state government," Stam said in a statement. "These are challenging times. Working together, we can bring out the best alternatives based on conservative principles."

Republicans chose Eddie Goodall of Union County as their joint caucus leader, a position that helps the two chambers reconcile legislation. He takes over from state Rep. Dale Folwell.

Related: Winners and losers in the decisions.

N.C. House and Senate Republicans will select their leadership at caucus meetings Sunday afternoon in the law offices of Crumley and Associates in Greensboro.

Rep. Dale Folwell, a Forsyth County Republican who is wrapping up his two-year term as the leader of the joint legislative Republican caucus, will convene the meeting and then the House and Senate Republicans will split into separate groups to vote on their leaders, Dan Kane reports.

The meetings will be closed to the public, but Folwell said he will report the results immediately after.

On the Senate side, two are challenging Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republican seeking a third term, to be minority leader. They are Sens. Bob Rucho of Charlotte and Pete Brunstetter of Forsyth County.

On the House side, Folwell said so far there are no challengers to House Minority Leader Paul Stam of Apex, who is seeking his second two-year term. Rep. Thom Tillis of Mecklenburg County is the sole announced candidate for Republican whip. The current holder of that job, Rep. Bill McGee of Forsyth County, is not seeking a second term, Folwell said.

A new joint caucus leader will also be selected from the Senate Republicans. Folwell said he is only aware of one candidate, state Sen. Eddie Goodall from Union County.

The Senate class of 2008 has some big shoes to fill.

For the most part, the freshman senators are taking the seats of lawmakers who went on to higher offices — or at least ran for higher office.

The five (or six, depending on your definition) may face higher expectations as a result.

Here's a quick look at the new senators-elect:

Don Vaughan (D): A politically active Greensboro attorney who served seven terms on the City Council will be taking the seat of U.S. Sen.-elect Kay Hagan.

David Rouzer (R): A former aide to U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms from McGee's Crossroads will take over the Johnston County seat of unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Fred Smith.

Debbie Clary (R): The state representative from Cherryville, the sole Republican win from its November wishlist, will take the seat of Lt. Gov.-elect Walter Dalton.

Josh Stein (D): A well-connected Raleigh lawyer who worked for John Edwards' in D.C. and served as deputy attorney general will be taking the Raleigh seat of Treasurer-elect Janet Cowell.

Don Davis (D): An Air Force veteran, college professor and the popular (and youngest ever) mayor of Snow Hill will be taking the seat of retiring Sen. John Kerr III.

Bob Rucho (R): A former four-term state senator, appointed to unsuccessful lieutenant governor candidate Robert Pittenger's seat in June, is already running for a leadership role.

Correction: An earlier version misstated the length of Vaughan's tenure.

Related: The House Class of 2008 

Two Republican state senators are challenging their party's Senate leader for his job in a vote next weekend.

Sen. Bob Rucho, of Charlotte, and Sen. Pete Brunstetter, of Winston-Salem, both plan to run against Sen. Phil Berger, of Eden, the current Senate Republican leader. Berger is seeking a third term in the post.

The GOP caucus is scheduled to meet and vote on their leadership team on Sunday, Dec. 7 in Greensboro.

The challenge to Berger comes despite Republicans' gain of one senate seat in this year's election, pushing back against a national Democratic tide that pummeled Republicans elsewhere and in other N.C. races. Republicans will hold 20 seats in the N.C. Senate next year to Democrats' 30 seats.

"We're the only Republican legislative caucus in the nation that's in the minority in a state Obama carried and still picked up seats," Berger said. He and Sen. Tom Apodaca, of Hendersonville and the Deputy Republican leader, have headed the caucus since 2004.

Rucho, who once roomed with Berger in Raleigh, is retiring from his dental practice next month. He said he will have more time to devote to a leadership position, particularly raising the money that Republicans lacked in this year's campaigns.

"We just can't afford to continue to lose by 3 to 1 in fundraising," Rucho said.

Brunstetter said it's natural for the caucus to talk about new leadership every two years and especially after the GOP has taken a beating nationally.

"The question is not what happened in 2008," Brunstetter said, "but what needs to happen in 2010."

Senate Republicans did not have a chance to speak about the budget on the floor this year.

With a Web ad attacking Democratic Senate nominee Kay Hagan's record, Dome is taking a closer look at her record of bipartisanship as budget co-chair.

The ad highlights this year's state budget process, when Hagan served an advisory role. For the previous five years, Hagan was a co-chair of the Senate Appropriations committee.

Here's what happened this year: The House sent a budget bill to the Senate on June 5. It was amended in Appropriations and passed two other committees before heading to the Senate floor on June 18.

On the floor, eight amendments were offered by Hagan and three other Democrats and by Republican Sens. Jerry Tillman, Phil Berger, Harry Brown and Bob Rucho. Tillman and Brown's amendments were tabled, Berger's ruled out of order and Rucho's came to a vote, where it passed.

After 38 minutes, Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand then made a motion to end debate. It passed 30-18 along party lines, with Hagan voting for it.

For comparison's sake, debate on the budget took 4 hours and 36 minutes over two days in the House.

More after the jump.

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For awhile there during today's Senate budget debate, it became hard to figure out who was who.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, who presides over the Senate, repeatedly referred to state Sen. Bob Rucho as state Sen. Phil Berger. Both are Republicans, while Perdue is a Democrat and gubernatorial candidate.

She apologized after Rucho finished speaking on an amendment he successfully made to the budget, Dan Kane reports. But her apology had a sort of backhanded quality to it.

"I actually kind of stopped listening," she said.

How do you dig yourself out of that hole?

"That's no disrespect to you," Perdue continued, "if you sat up here and heard some of this you'd stop listening too."

State Sen. Linda Garrou, a Winston-Salem Democrat and chief budget writer, quickly spoke up.

"I support Senator Berger's amendment," she said, moving for its adoption. Then she had to apologize to Rucho.

Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat, then asked, dryly, "to second Senator Hagan's motion."