Former House Speaker Dan Blue of Raleigh has been named to a 37-member commission that will examine the Democratic Party's rules for the 2012 presidential nominating and delegate selection process.

Blue, a state lawmaker and attorney, was appointed to the commission by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, the national Democratic party chairman, Rob Christensen reports.

Kaine wants the commission to examine three issues: changing the window of time during which primaries and caucuses can be held, reducing the number of super delegates, and improving the caucus system.

The Democrats last year survived a prolonged primary fight between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The long competition resulted in an intense courtship for the support of the super delegates — the elected and party leaders — who potentially could have decided a close contest at the national convention.

The co-chairs of the Democratic Change Commission are South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.

North Carolina has played an important role in the past in helping shape the presidential primary system. In the early 1980s, Gov. Jim Hunt headed a commission that created the super delegates. The chief staff person on the committee was Congressman David Price.

Price also co-chaired the Democrats' 2008 presidential nominating commission. Raleigh attorney Ed Turlington served on the commission.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan has joined a group of moderate Democrats.

The Greensboro Democrat announced Wednesday that she will joing the Moderate Dems Working Group, a group of 15 moderate Democrats that will meet regularly to talk about major issues.

"Working with the Moderate Dems, I look forward to finding common-sense solutions to the greatest challenges we face and breaking the political gridlock that, for too long, has characterized politics-as-usual in Washington," she said in a statement.

The group met for the second time Tuesday to discuss the upcoming budget negotiations. It's leader is Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, who was on the shortlist for President Obama's vice presidential slot.

Other members of the group include Sens. Claire McCaskill, Joe Lieberman, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark Warner and Mary Landrieu, among others.

Julie Dwyer, Congressman Bob Etheridge's longtime chief of staff, is leaving this week.

She is moving up to become chief of staff of Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, Rob Christensen reports.

Dwyer had been Etheridge's chief of staff since Etheridge was elected in 1996.

Russ Swindell, Etheridge's district director, will serve as acting chief of staff, splitting his time between Etheridge's Raleigh and Washington offices.

Swindell has also been with Etheridge from the beginning of his House career.

Sen. Kay Hagan is co-sponsoring an amendment that would limit the pay of CEOs whose companies are receiving federal bailout money to the salary of the U.S. president.

Hagan said top executives receiving money from the bailout were receiving an average of $2.6 million in salary and bonuses, Rob Christensen reports.

"This is a slap in the face to millions of Americans who can’t understand why the same companies who sought out taxpayer dollars to bail them out were in turn paying their top executives more money than many folks will make in a lifetime," Hagan said in a statement. "It's unacceptable, it's unconscionable, and by co-sponsoring this measure, I'm joining the chorus of Americans who have said, 'Enough.'"

Hagan joined with Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Tom Harkin of Iowa to sponsor the amendment to the Senate’s economic recovery package.

The president makes $400,000 per year.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, has sent out a fund raising letter criticizing her colleague, Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

"You deserve more from your U.S. senator — you deserve someone who will represent North Carolinians," said McCaskill in an email mailed out by the campaign of Democrat Kay Hagan, Rob Christensen reports.

"Elizabeth Dole registered to vote in North Carolina just two days after it was announced that Jesse Helms' seat was up for grabs," McCaskill writes. "She even ran for president as a Kansan well before she thought about running for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina. Just like you, I'm ready to join you in handing her a pair of Ruby Red Slippers so she can click her heels three times and go back to Kansas."

McCaskill also criticized Dole, while speaking to a North Carolina delegation breakfast at the Democratic convention.

Previously: McCaskill stumps for Hagan

DENVER – Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan may have skipped the Democratic National Convention, but her challenge to Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole continues to generate interest here.

“I'm adopting you,” U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, told North Carolina's delegates this morning. “I'm sold, totally 100 percent sold, on Kay Hagan."

McCaskill compared her own election two years ago to that of Hagan, saying in both cases no one initially thought the Democrat had a chance against a Republican incumbent, reports Rob Christensen.

McCaskill also dissed Dole, noting that they both serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“I serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee,” McCaskill said. “I just don't see her that often. We have that in common.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's campaign says she is asking the tough questions.

In response to criticism from Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, Dole spokesman Hogan Gidley said that she has "not been shy" about pressing for answers about "the mistakes in Iraq."

"Senator Dole has introduced legislation that would insist the financial responsibility of this war be shifted to the Iraqi government, and she joined a bipartisan effort to ask for more frequent and more detailed war reports from General [David] Petraeus," he wrote in an e-mail to Dome.

He also argued that Democratic opponent Kay Hagan has not taken a consistent position on Iraq since entering the race for U.S. Senate.

"Rather than doing Kay Hagan's dirty work with negative attacks, Senator McCaskill's time would be better spent on coaching Mrs. Hagan who clearly needs a tutorial on the subject," he wrote. 

A Senate colleague criticized U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole Monday.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who sits on the Armed Services Committee with Dole, charged that Dole has "not been asking tough questions" about accountability for military contractors.

In Raleigh for a fundraiser for state Sen. Kay Hagan, McCaskill told Dome that she was disappointed with Dole's failure to look into what she called "war profiteering" in the Iraq war. A former state auditor, she estimated that there has been $150 billion in theft and fraud by contractors.

"There are tough questions that are begging to be asked, and frankly, Elizabeth Dole hasn't asked those questions," she said. "She very rarely asks a question."

McCaskill argued that the Senate has not done enough oversight of military contractors until recently and said that Hagan's background as a state budget writer would help her in Washington.

"We need more people up there that are willing to ask the tough questions," she said. 

Kathleen Sebelius is returning to North Carolina.

The Kansas governor, an oft-mentioned potential running mate for Barack Obama, will be at a private fundraiser in Chapel Hill at noon today, Laura Leslie reports on her blog, Isaac Hunter's Tavern.

Sebelius and more than a dozen other governors are in town for a meeting arranged by former Gov Jim Hunt. The fundraiser's apparently been planned for quite some time. But what are the odds that Obama and one of his most-talked-about potential VPs end up in the Triangle on the same day?

Sebelius came to North Carolina in April for a voter-registration tour, touting his approach on the economy and avoidance of hot-button social issues.

Obama will speak at noon at the state fairgrounds.

Update: Sebelius will be at this event with Sens. Claire McCaskill and Jon Tester.