Nine people are running for former Sen. Vernon Malone's seat.

N&O education reporter Keung Hui forwarded this list of candidates who will speak at the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association meeting this weekend:

Rosa Gill, 64, chairwoman of Wake County School Board

Marlowe Foster, 38, lobbyist for Pfizer Corporation, ran unsuccessfully for Winston-Salem City Council in 2002.

Alexander Killens, 54, former director of N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles

Bernard Allen Jr., 44, son of former North Carolina representative

Dan Blue, 59, state representative, former speaker

Jay Holloway, Jr., 47, director of Learning Ventures, UNC Public Television

Kim Luckes, 52, executive vice president of St. Augustine's College

Carol Dalenko Bennett, 66, real estate broker, ran against Malone in 2008

Bruce Lightner, 61, president of Lightner Funeral Home

Candidates for Sen. Vern Malone's seat will speak at a forum May 2.

The Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association, a local civil rights organization, is sponsoring the forum with the Wake County Democratic Caucus.

Among the people who have been mentioned as replacements: State Rep. Dan Blue, a former House speaker; Bernard Allen Jr., the son of a former representative; and former DMV commissioner Alexander Killens, according to local activist Bruce Lightner.

The forum will be held at 10 a.m. at the Seby Jones Fine Arts Building at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh.

The Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association will make a recommendation to the Wake County Democratic Party after the meeting.

"In the past such recommendations have been given great weight as to the will of the people," Lightner wrote in an e-mail to Dome.

About 50 seats have come available on the buses going up to Washington for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.

Bruce Lightner of Raleigh, who is organizing the trip, said seats remain on buses leaving from three North Carolina cities. Lightner said there are 15 seats left on the Chapel Hill bus, 10 on the Kinston bus and 25 on the Winston-Salem bus, Barb Barrett reports.

The buses leave at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 19. Travelers will stay for one night in the Washington area; and return Tuesday, Jan. 20, after the inuaugural festivities.

Prices for the trip are:

* two people to a hotel room, $200 each
* four people to a hotel room, $160 each
* one person to a hotel room, $250

For details and to buy tickets, call Bruce Lightner at 919-834-6264.