Now, Dome isn’t sure whether U.S. Rep. Brad Miller got his penchant for witty zingers from his mom, but Margaret Miller did serve on her college debate team more than 70 years ago.

Ms. Miller was featured in her hometown newspaper Sunday with a story about her varsity letter in debate from Mars Hill College, Barb Barrett reports. The college has pledged to replace the long-gone cloth varsity debate letter.

The congressional mom, looking "amazingly fresh for her 95 years," received a visit and a pink fleece jacket from the college’s president last week, according to the Fayetteville Observer. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, was present for the gathering in his mother’s honor.

Three North Carolina congressional Democrats changed their views on U.S. relations with Cuba in recent years, just as they began receiving thousands of dollars in donations from the country's largest Cuban-American political action committee.

U.S. Reps. Brad Miller of Raleigh and Mike McIntyre of Lumberton began to vote a harder line as the Cuban-American organization, a staunch opponent of relaxing restrictions on the Communist regime of Fidel and Raul Castro, was increasing its lobbying work in Congress in 2004. At the same time, President George W. Bush began toughening his administration's enforcement of travel restrictions and a trade embargo against the island nation.

Since 2004, McIntyre and Miller have received $14,500 each from the U.S.-Cuba Democracy political action committee, according to a report released today by Public Campaign, a nonpartisan advocacy group based in Washington that pushes for public financing of campaigns.

A third North Carolina Democrat, U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield of Wilson, has received $21,200 from the group since entering Congress in July 2004. His votes started to harden on the Cuba issue beginning in 2005.

BOOMERANG: As stunts go, the Republican Party's "Conservative Voter Survey" ranks right up there with some of Evel Knievel's work. A wheelbarrow full of surveys was meant to show how many people don't like Gov. Beverly Perdue, a Democrat. Over at Perdue's office, staff members sifted through the surveys and found plenty of irate voters upset with Republicans as well as a campaign contribution that was intended for the Republican Party.

I LOVE YOU, MAN: Republican Sen. Richard Burr's economic development summit in Durham will be remembered as a great moment in political reconciliation. Burr and the man he beat almost six years ago, UNC system President and Democrat Erskine Bowles, traded fawning, appreciative comments about each other. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination next year to challenge Burr will surely be seeing lots of Bowles' comments in TV ads.

PRO, CON: In Washington, Burr decried the stimulus package. In North Carolina, at a fire station that was getting a grant from stimulus funds, Burr celebrated it.

IN OTHER NEWS: Sen. Kay Hagan and U.S. Rep. Brad Miller are pushing for a coin to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro civil rights sit-ins. Perdue says a 20-year old affair by the head of the highway patrol is irrelevant to his job qualifications. The Gallup Poll has found that John Edwards’ standing in the minds of Americans has dropped further than Sammy Sosa's image after the slugger was discovered corking his bat.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan wants the U.S. Treasury to create a commemorative coin to honor the 50th anniversary of the Woolworth’s civil rights sit-ins in Greensboro.

On Feb. 1, 1960, four students from N.C. A&T University sat at the whites-only lunch counter in downtown Greensboro and refused to leave, Barb Barrett reports. The protest sparked a movement throughout the South.

Hagan, a Democrat from Greensboro, plans to introduce legislation ordering the treasury to mint 1,000 U.S. $1 coins to commemorate the anniversary of the sit-ins. The bill would be deficit-neutral, her office said, and would cost the public $11 per coin.

The design would be selected by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, which is being built at the site of the Woolworth’s counter in Greensboro.

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, will take the lead in sponsoring the bill in the House. Miller’s district, which stretches into parts of Greensboro, includes the museum site.

Correction: Post previously misstated how many years are between 2009 and 1960. Dome regrets the error. 

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller has $148,348 in his campaign account.

Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, has raised $235,475 since 2007, according to federal campaign finance records. Miller raised $122,987 from individual contributions and $109,700 from political action committees. 

Notable contributors include Robert Page of Greensboro, president of Replacements, Ltd. ($2,400); Raleigh lawyer John T. Orcutt ($2,400) and the trades union United Association ($5,000).

Republican William Randall II has not reported raising any money.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall has assembled a veteran team of political consultants to help her in her bid for the U.S. Senate.

Her pollster is Celinda Lake of Washington, who has worked for candidates ranging from former President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Harvey Gantt's 1996 Senate campaign, Rob Christensen reports. Lake, who is regarded as expert in framing in issues for women, also worked for Marshall's unsuccessful 2002 Senate campaign.

Her media consultant is Doc Sweitzer of Philadelphia, whose clients have included Al Gore' 1988 presidential campaign and New Jersey Governor Jim Florio's race. He has extensive experience in working for North Carolina Democrats including state Treasurer Richard Moore and Congressmen Robin Britt, Bill Hefner, Martin Lancaster, Brad Miller and Steve Neal.

Marshall's general consultant is Thomas Mills of Chapel Hill, who has worked for the Kerry-Edwards campaign, for Congressman Larry Kissell and Eva Clayton and Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy among other candidates.

Marshall is one of two Democrats who have announced for the seat held by Republican Sen. Richard Burr. Lawyer Kenneth Lewis has also announced his candidacy.

BY THE POUND: The State Health Plan sent information to its 660,000-plus members giving details on its plans to hike rates for smokers and obese people. The mailing probably prompted a series of early New Year's resolutions.

BAD WATER=GOOD POLITICS: U.S. Sens. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, and Richard Burr, a Republican, have been pushing for benefits for Marines and their families who were exposed to toxic tap water at Camp Lejeune in the 1980s. Before long U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Democrat, was ready to introduce a House version of the bill.

NOT NOW: Gov. Beverly Perdue was one of six Democratic governors who did not sign a letter urging health care reform. Turns out there wasn't an ideological reason. Perdue was too busy on a business recruiting trip to give the letter a read.

IN OTHER NEWS: A conservative advocacy group is copying the Amway business model. U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell gets a fundraising boost from Vice President Joe Biden. John Edwards' name causes an awkward moment at the U2 concert in Raleigh.

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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U.S. Rep. Brad Miller is introducing a bill that would give Department of Veterans Affairs benefits to anyone exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.

Miller's bill would be a companion to one already filed by U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, the AP reports.

Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, has held hearings on the issue.

Health officials say it is impossible to know how many people would qualify. They think as many as 1 million people may have been exposed to the toxins before tainted wells were closed 22 years ago.

Previously, Burr and Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, amended a defense spending bill with a provision that would prevent the Navy from ending claims about the contamination until the health consequences are fully studied. 

Reaction from U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, to President Barack Obama's speech on health care:

“President Obama tonight got the chance to tell Americans what his health care proposal really does, and to remind us why we need it. A handful of Americans are getting really, really rich, while middle-class families are paying twice what they should for health care and millions of Americans are one serious illness away from financial ruin. There’s more than one way to reform health insurance, but there shouldn’t be much doubt about the need for reform.”