It seems Pat McCrory is not the only politician handing out demotions.

As we noted yesterday, the Republican gubernatorial candidate demoted former U.S. Sen. Jim Broyhill to a state legislator on his campaign finance report.

Now Washington-based newspaper Roll Call reports that U.S. Rep. Mel Watt had a little trouble with two donors on his report: Fellow Congressmen Charlie Rangel and Jim Clyburn.

For employers, he listed: "Information requested."

Watt told Roll Call he was following Federal Election Commission protocol and requesting the information from the contributors.

"It does seem very funny, but we're just following protocol," he said. 

Apparently the FEC won't accept information readily available on Wikipedia. 

The Cook Political Report has downgraded U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry's re-election chances.

The nonpartisan political analysts have changed the Cherryville Republican's race against Hickory attorney Daniel Johnson from "Solid Republican" to "Likely Republican."

The report still rates Concord Republican Rep. Robin Hayes' rematch with Biscoe schoolteacher Larry Kissell as a "Toss Up."

All other Congressional races are rated as solidly favoring the incumbent, whether Republican or Democrat.

"While it's not likely that a majority of the races moved from "Solid" to "Likely" Republican will become competitive by November, the poor national climate for the GOP and the DCCC's unprecedented financial edge makes even very difficult districts for Democrats worth keeping tabs on," wriets House Editor David Wasserman.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently began airing radio ads attacking McHenry and Hayes.

The N.C. Libertarian Party will have 38 candidates on the fall ballot.

The newly re-recognized party formally presented its list of candidates for state and federal offices to the State Board of Elections Monday.

As previously announced, Duke University professor Mike Munger will run for governor. Phillip Rhodes of Chapel Hill is running for lieutenant governor and Mark McMains of Fuquay-Varina for commissioner of insurance. Twenty-four candidates are running for legislative seats.

Chris Cole, a contract postal worker who lives in Huntersville, is running for U.S. Senate. Five candidates are running for Congressional seats: Will Adkins of Cary, Maximillian Longley of Durham, Thomas Hill of Concord, Andy Grum of Matthews and Keith Smith of Bostic.

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr will also be on the ballot. 

That's not George W. Bush on your radio.

The Democrats this week are running a radio ad campaign — featuring a Bush impersonator — that criticizes GOP Congressmen Robin Hayes of Concord and Patrick McHenry of Cherryville for being too cozy with oil companies, Rob Christensen reports.

The ad goes like this:

"Hayes-y ... 'W' here. Wanted to thank you for continuing to supprot the Big Oil Energy Agenda. 'Preciate you voting to keep giving billions in tax breaks to the big oil companies. Sure gasoline is over four bucks a gallone and the oil companies are making record profits, but what’s good for Big Oil is good for America, right?"

The ad is being paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and is scheduled to run a week. The ad is being used 13 Congressional districts including those of Hayes and McHenry.

The first federal spending bill out of the gate this spring has two earmarks from U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat and the state’s only member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

The committee approved the Homeland Security spending bill Tuesday afternoon, Barb Barrett reports. Price is chairman of the subcommittee that wrote the $39 billion bill.

Within it, Price directed $1 million to buy communications equipment at the emergency operations center at the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.

He also directed $5 million toward something called “Impact of Climate on Future Disasters.” The money will also go to the state public safety department, said Paul Cox, a Price spokesman. The money fill allow geospatial experts to study the long-term impacts of climate change and sea-level rise to figure out potential risks for communities, fisheries, agriculture and the environment.

Earmarks are special spending projects inserted into larger bills by specific members of Congress. They have been criticized by groups such as Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington organization that put together the database listing the earmarks.

Taxpayers for Common Sense listed 104 earmarks totaling $180 million in the bill.

U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, a Concord Republican with a high hill to climb for re-election this year, also has an earmark: $468,000 for pre-disaster work in Kannapolis.

Hayes isn’t on the spending panel, but at-risk members of Congress from both sides of the aisle often receive earmarks as a way for them to curry favor back home.

Correction: An earlier version misstated Hayes' party affiliation. 

U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes is questioning Larry Kissell's campaign salaries.

In a new TV ad, the Concord Republican reveals that his Democratic rival hasn't been paying payroll taxes for his campaign workers. 

So far in this campaign, Kissell, a Biscoe schoolteacher, has treated all of his employees as independent contractors who pay their own taxes, although field workers he hired this month will be paid as full-time employees whose taxes will be paid by the campaign.

Spokesman Thomas Thacker said resources were so scarce in the 2006 campaign that Kissell never hired any full-time workers. 

"I am completely satisfied with the fee I'm paid, and I'm completely satisfied shopping for health care in the private sector, and I thought that was something that Republicans thought was a good thing," he said.

Election law does not address when campaign workers should be treated as full-time employees. While most campaigns, including Hayes', hire independent consultants for advice, many also have regular employees for whom they pay payroll taxes. 

"This is the guy who is claiming to be the candidate of the workers, who is supposed to be representing worker rights, yet look at how he treats his workers,” said Hayes' campaign manager Steve Quain. “It's the height of hypocrisy." (Char-O)

An ad by U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes attacks Democratic rival Larry Kissell over the payment of payroll taxes to his campaign workers.

The Cook Political Report thinks U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes may be in trouble.

The nonpartisan political analysts have changed Hayes' rematch with Biscoe schoolteacher Larry Kissell from "Leans Republican" to "Toss Up."

The shift is based in part on primary results.

"We are changing our race ratings in ten districts where we believe Democratic chances of taking Republican-held seats have increased," they write.

The Libertarian Party will be on the November ballot.

State Board of Elections director Gary Bartlett said he will sign a letter this afternoon recognizing the group as a political party, making the fall elections the eighth time the party has been on the North Carolina ballot.

The Libertarians turned in 72,935 verified signatures to the board on May 15, slightly more than the 70,000 required by state law. Along with the Green Party, it is also suing the state in Wake County Superior Court over ballot access laws that require third parties file a petition with 2 percent of the votes cast in the last governor's race.

The party said it spent four years and nearly $130,000 collecting the signatures.

At a convention in mid-April, it named Duke University professor Mike Munger as its gubernatorial candidate, Mark McMains of Fuquay-Varina for insurance commissioner, Thomas Hill of Concord for the Congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes.

It also named a number of candidates in legislative races.

Communications Director Brian Irving said there may be more to come.

"Now that we're back on the ballot, we're going to have to go through the process of finding people to run for office," he said.

Candidates are usually coy about how they expect to do on Election Day.

Even if they think they're going to win, they rarely say so publically. They might say something bland about feeling good about the campaign they've run or looking forward to seeing the results on election night.

But not Patrick McHenry.

McHenry, the incumbent in the 10th Congressional District, sent out a release today saying he will "trounce" his Republican primary opponent, Lance Sigmon. The release cites a poll showing McHenry with a big lead in the GOP primary.