U.S. Reps. Howard Coble and Brad Miller are part of a group of seven congressmen heading to Russia for four days.

The trip will focus on relations between the two countries, including arms control, missile defense and European security. Iran will also be a major topic of conversation when the group meets with counterparts in the Russian legislature.

The congressmen will also meet with various governmental and non-governmental groups to discuss other international issues.

“I am particularly interested in learning more about Russia’s efforts in cracking down on illegal Internet piracy and copyright violations," Coble, a Greensboro Republican, said in a press release. "Russia is one of the world’s hotbeds of such illegal activity, and I am hoping to have some serious conversations about Russia’s official efforts to thwart piracy and other violations.”

The trip will run from June 27 through July 1.

Bill Randall, an unsuccessful candidate for state GOP chairman, plans to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Miller of Raleigh next year.

Randall, 42, a retired Navy meteorologist from Wake Forest, plans to announce his candidacy July 1, reports Rob Christensen.

“I believe the current representative is out of touch,” Randall said. “With his voting record he does not represent the average constituent in the district along with the so-called stimulus plan.”

Randall moved to North Carolina last fall and became involved as a volunteer in the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

He became known in GOP circles across the state when he campaigned for party chairman.

Miller, a four-term Democrat, has never had a close race in the Democratic-leaning 13th District, which starts in Raleigh and arcs northward along the Virginia border before ending in Greensboro.

The triangle region would receive more than $10.6 million in earmarked money from the spending subcommittee in Congress les by Chapel Hill Democratic Rep. David Price.

The House Committee on Appropriations passed the homeland security bill Friday. The earmarks are spending projects directed to home districts. The spending bill for th 2010 fiscal year must still pass the full House, and then goes to the Senate.

Nearly half of Price's total, $5 million, would go to a new joint center at UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University, Barb Barrett reports. The N.C. Collaboratory for Bio-Preparedness would conduct suveillance of biological threats for the state. Democratic U.S. Reps. Brad Miller, of Raleigh, and Bob Etheridge, of Lillington, also sponsored the earmark.

Price also sent: $3.5 million to Research Triangle Institute, a non-profit organization, for a cyber security testing project; $1 million to LOGTECH in Chapel Hill, which provides Department of Defense training; $1 million to the N.C. Emergency Operations Center and $165,000 for the N.C. Division of Emergency Management.

It's time to refresh the old cup of Senate tea leaves.

The Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 2010 continues to be completely wide open, though it's increasingly clear that most of the major state officials will pass on it.

Here's the latest conventional wisdom:

THE LAST BIG HOPE: Washington Democrats and national political pundits continue to search for a brand name. U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre is still toying with a run, and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall has lately dipped her toe in the water. A definitive "no" has not come from state Sen. Dan Blue yet.

DARK HORSES: Former state Sen. Cal Cunningham leads the pack of dark horses, though former Obama fundraiser Kenneth Lewis can't be counted out. Marshall's legislative liaison, Robert Wilson, told the Insider he was flirting with the idea, but he never returned Dome's calls and he would not likely run against his boss.

WHO'S NOT RUNNING: U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler, Bob Etheridge and Brad Miller, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, Attorney General Roy Cooper, state Sen. Malcolm Graham, state Reps. Grier Martin and Tricia Cotham, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, and Elizabeth Edwards have all said no. Of course, so did Kay Hagan in 2008.

In Dome's view, Marshall may actually make a run for it: 1) She's interested, since she ran for Senate in 2002; 2) she wouldn't lose her day job (unlike McIntyre or Blue); and 3) at 63, this is probably her last chance to do it. 

That said, Cunningham has a good biography and seems to be exciting the netroots. 

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler has shot down a Senate bid again.

Speaking at a groundbreaking in Asheville, the Waynesville Democrat said he would not run against U.S. Sen. Richard Burr in 2010, according to the Hendersonville Times-News:

"I am not running for Senate," the second-term Democrat said after a ground-breaking ceremony for a new building at the Bent Creek Experimental Forest Station in Asheville. "I am not running for Senate. I am not running for Senate. I have said that a thousand times, and I don't know why they keep coming up (with the idea). Of course they keep coming up and running polls."

Shuler previously pondered — then rejected — a run for Senate, but some Democrats had floated his name again after Attorney General Roy Cooper declined to run. 

Others who have said no to a run on the Democratic side: U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge and Brad Miller, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, state Sen. Malcolm Graham, state Reps. Tricia Cotham and Grier Martin and Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker.

Cal Cunningham got some more favorable press.

The former state senator is mentioned prominently in an article in the Washington-based Roll Call newspaper about prospects for the 2010 Senate race:

Former Tar Heel state Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek said this week that if Cunningham were to enter the race, he would be someone who would have to be taken seriously.

"He's got an excellent profile in terms of his biography," Meek said. "He's perceived as being a little bit more liberal than, say, Mike McIntyre and Heath Shuler."

If one of the Congressmen decides to run and the DSCC and local party leaders can’t clear the field, Cunningham could be a dark horse in a primary where the electorate would be mostly hard-core Democrats in a midterm election.

"There's certainly going to be some folks who perceive Shuler or McIntyre as being too conservative," he said.

The article also notes that U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler or Mike McIntyre would be considered frontrunners if they jumped in the race, and says state Sen. Dan Blue, former Obama fundraiser Kenneth Lewis and Rep. Brad Miller are also "being mentioned." 

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller is still feeling a little defensive about a ribbing he took two years ago.

In a guest post on the liberal TPM Cafe Web site, the Raleigh Democrat writes that "people laughed" at him when he argued in 2007 that innovation in the financial sector can be a bad thing.

During an off-the-cuff floor speech about predatory lending, Miller compared loans unfavorably to a stain-resistant silk necktie he was wearing, saying the tie was an "important innovation." He was mocked for the metaphor by a Capitol Hill paper.

"Serious economists are now arguing that we should not reflexively celebrate 'innovation' in the financial sector as we do innovation in the real economy," he writes. "I was ahead of my time. I said the same thing almost two years ago, and people laughed at me."

He noted that New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, economist James Kwak and Harvard law profess Elizabeth Warren have made similar arguments in recent months, with Warren saying the government should regulate financial instruments just like toasters.

"So why did my comparison of a mortgage and a necktie provoke snickering, and Elizabeth Warren's comparison of a mortgage and a toaster was seen as serious, scholarly insight?" he wrote.

Scratch another name off the Democratic list.

State Sen. Malcolm Graham of Charlotte shot down rumors this morning that he was considering a run for U.S. Senate in 2010.

"No way," he said.

He had previously told the Fayetteville Observer he was taking "a casual look" at running against U.S. Sen. Richard Burr.

Others who have said no to a run on the Democratic side: U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge and Brad Miller, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, Attorney General Roy Cooper, state Reps. Tricia Cotham and Grier Martin and Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker.

A former financial staffer for former GOP Sen. Elizabeth Dole's re-election campaign plans to launch a new website this week to track the doings of her opponent, Kay Hagan.

Hagan, a Democrat and former state senator, defeated Dole in November, Barb Barrett reports.

Matthew Bales, 24, has worked five months to develop his site, KayHaganTracker.com. He says it will go live Wednesday and feature Hagan's legislation, her positions on issues and her voting record.

"It will track all the promises she made on the campaign trail," said Bales, who worked for Dole's re-election campaign last year.

He said he will hold Hagan accountable when she doesn't live up to her pledges, but congratulate her when she does. He sees his site as a resource for constituents.

"I'm not trying to be a bad guy," Bales said. "It's not a partisan issue; it's an accountability issue."

More after the jump.

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U.S. Rep. Walter Jones stood on stage behind President Barack Obama today as the president signed a sweeping credit card reform act into law.

Jones, of Farmville, was a co-sponsor of the reform bill and the only Republican House member to have a seat on the stage at this afternoon’s White House ceremony, Barb Barrett reports.

He won re-election to his 8th term last year after a tough GOP primary battle in which some Republicans said Jones wasn’t conservative enough on some issues.

Among those in the audience were Democratic Reps. Brad Miller of Raleigh and David Price of Chapel Hill. Miller also co-sponsored the bill.

And Price inserted a key disclosure requirement in the bill that forces credit card companies to tell borrowers how much it would cost them to make just minimum payments on their debts.