Daniel Johnson, the disabled Navy veteran who challenged Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry last year, has returned to Raleigh, to practice law.

Johnson, 33, left his job as a former Wake County assistant district attorney in 2007 to return to his home town of Hickory to challenge McHenry, Rob Christensen reports. But even in a big Democratic year, he could only win 42 percent of the vote in the strongly Republican 10th district.

"It was a fascinating experience," Johnson said. "It was a very rewarding experience. I want to stay involved and help other candidates."

Johnson is a highly decorated veteran who lost both of his legs while saving the life a crewman in Korea in 1999. He was a former staffer for then-Georgia Sen. Max Cleland.

Johnson said one reason for returning to Raleigh that his wife, Creecy Johnson, has gone to work in the state attorney general's office.

Johnson has opened up a solo criminal defense practice.

"I'm focusing on getting a practice up and running," he said.

Mike Minter will not run for Congress.

The former Carolina Panthers safety told the Associated Press that he has decided against running against Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell next year.

National Republicans had tried to recruit him and he spent two days in Washington, D.C., in mid May talking with them.

But he decided the campaign would have forced him to be away from his four children too much. Instead, he said he would support former Republican Rep. Robin Hayes if he ran again.

As a first-term Democrat in a swing district, Kissell is a top target for the GOP.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr's leadership PAC gave $308,500 to federal candidates last year.

The Next Century Fund, a political action committee affiliated with the Winston-Salem Republican, contributed $212,500 to 25 Senate candidates and $96,000 to 39 House candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. All were Republican.

Several were from North Carolina. Burr gave $5,000 apiece to former Sen. Elizabeth Dole, former Rep. Robin Hayes, Rep. Patrick McHenry and Rep. Sue Myrick.

He also gave $1,000 to Augustus Cho, who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination to face Democratic Rep. David Price.

Nationally, Burr's PAC lent a hand to GOP candidates in competitive races, including Sens. John McCain, Norm Coleman and Ted Stevens.

In all, the PAC spent $627,704, including donations to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the N.C. Republican Party, fundraising and travel expenses and rent.

It ended the year with $126,202 in cash on hand.

Two North Carolina political ads from the past year are finalists for national awards.

One commercial is for Congressman Walter Jones and it features the endorsement by former Marine Ilario Pantano, who was initially accused of killing two suspected Iraqi insurgents. The charges were later dropped when a military tribunal found there was no credible evidence, Rob Christensen reports.

"When this Marine was in a jam and there was a rush to judgement to take away my liberty," Pantano said, "Walter Jones came to my defense."

The ad was created by Rotterman & Associates, the Raleigh-based political consulting firm headed by the husband-wife team of Marc and Karen Rotterman. The ad is one of three finalists for Republican congressional candidates.

Another finalist is the rocking chair ad run by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee against Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

That ad featured two elderly men at Bynum General Store in Chatham County speculating on whether Dole was 92 or 93. The men were actually speculating on effectiveness ratings and the percentage of time she voted with President Bush — not her age.

The ad was produced by Squier Knapp Dunn Communications of Washington, D.C. It is a finalist in the category of state candidate races.

The winner of the Reed Awards, sponsored by Campaigns & Elections, will be announced at a dinner in Washington on Jan. 22.

Sarah Palin wasn't the only one with new clothes thanks to donors.

North Carolina Republican Congressional candidate Will Breazeale also used campaign money for clothing, according to a complaint that a watchdog group filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said Breazeale and five other candidates each spent hundreds of dollars on clothes, violating a ban on personal use of campaign money, the Associated Press reports.

The group had earlier complained about spending by the Republican National Committee on the GOP vice presidential candidate.

According to campaign finance reports, Breazeale's campaign spent $1,000 in clothing for Breazeale at Fisher's Men's Store in Elizabethtown on Oct. 4, 2007.

A spokesperson for the campaign did not respond to the AP's request for comment.

Breazeale lost to longtime Democratic Congressman Mike McIntyre in November.

Which North Carolina Congressman was most popular?

That depends on how you break down the numbers, but U.S. Rep. David Price clearly won the largest number of votes in the November elections.

The Chapel Hill Democrat snagged 265,751 votes. The next most popular were Reps. Sue Myrick (241,053), Brad Miller (221,379), Howard Coble (221,018) and Mel Watt (215,908).

The numbers are slightly different if you look at percentages, though.

From that perspective, Watt was the most popular, winning 71.6 percent of the vote, followed by Reps. G.K. Butterfield (70.3), Mike McIntyre (68.9), Coble (67) and Bob Etheridge (66.9). 

Either way, the least popular was Rep.-elect Larry Kissell, who picked up just 157,185 votes, or 55.4 percent.

Generally speaking, the newer members of Congress were less popular than the older ones.

Democratic high school teacher Larry Kissell has defeated 10-year Republican incumbent Rep. Robin Hayes in North Carolina's 8th Congressional District, the AP reports.

The Associated Press called the race for Kissell based on an analysis of voter interviews, conducted for the AP by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.

Two years ago, Kissell came within 329 votes of taking the seat despite a long-shot, low-budget campaign. National Democrats took notice after that election and backed Kissell this year, providing support and funding for television advertising.

Kissell capitalized on a struggling economy by knocking Hayes for backing trade legislation that he said has hurt the area’s once-booming textile industry.

Some comments from the raucous Democratic celebration tonight: 

U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge: "Those of us elected tonight — or re-elected — had better get working ... Tonight is a night of history."

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller: "We need to be careful not to underreach."

Have House Republicans given up on Rep. Robin Hayes?

An internal document provided to U.S. News & World Report writer Paul Bedard lists the Concord Republican among the likely casualties of an expected Democratic wave of Congressional wins in the November elections.

Hayes is among 10 Republicans from New York to Alaska the memo lists as "likely gone."

"The document provided to Whispers is no gag: It comes from one of the key House GOP vote counters," writes Bedard on his blog, Washington Whispers. The source called it a 'death list.'" 

Hayes faces Biscoe schoolteacher Larry Kissell in a rematch after beating him by just 329 votes in 2006. Hayes recently took heat for saying "liberals hate real Americans" at a rally for presidential candidate John McCain in Concord.

U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge is holding a fundraiser tonight.

The Lillington Democrat will meet with supporters at 5:30 p.m. at The Mint, a lavish, city-subsidized restaurant on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh.

The Mint's slogan — "A restaurant so grand they keep it in a vault." — is printed on the invitations.

Tickets to the event range from $100 for a guest to $2,300 for a gold sponsorship. 

The reception is hosted by Etheridge's wife, Faye.

Hat Tip: Sunlight Foundation