As a sort of opening act to the "Hands off My Healthcare" rally, video clips played on the big screen.

The first clip featured a speech by Dallas Woodhouse, state director of Americans for Prosperity, which sponsored the rally. The second clip featured Woodhouse's appearance on CNN in which he debated health care with his brother, Brad Woodhouse, who is communications director for the Democratic National Committee.

Woodhouse knew there were a lot of good applause lines in his performance. Like when he said that unlike his brother, "I'm just a little simple community organizer."

Or when anchor John Roberts asked the brothers how could the nation agree on health care reform plans put forward by Democrats if two brothers couldn't. 

"I think the rest of the country has agreed on it. They don't like it," Woodhouse said. 

The videos done, it was time for Mr. Woodhouse to get to speechifying. 

"Mr. President when you take the podium tonight, we will be listening," Woodhouse said to the crowd. 

Americans for Prosperity will hold a rally at the N.C. State Fairgrounds on Wednesday night ahead of President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress.

The rally will take place at 8 p.m. at the Kerr Scott building at the fairgrounds in Raleigh, reports Barb Barrett. Then, the group — which opposes Democrats' proposals on health reform — will watch Obama's 9 p.m. address live on a big overhead screen, said Dallas Woodhouse, state director of the N.C. chapter.

The rally will follow two more days of Americans for Prosperity's bus tour, which plans stops in the districts of Democratic U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre, Larry Kissell and Bob Etheridge.

North Carolina's Woodhouse brothers will square off, again, on CNN Tuesday morning.

Brad, who is communications director for the Democratic National Committee in Washington, and Dallas, who heads the North Carolina chapter of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, will debate President Obama's health care reform proposals.

The ideologically fractious freres are slated to appear at 7:30 a.m. on "American Morning."

Brad Woodhouse previously worked for U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge and then-U.S. Senate candidate Erskine Bowles, both Democrats, before beginning a string of high profile communications posts in Washington. Dallas Woodhouse is a former television reporter in Raleigh.

The “Hands off my Health Care” tour bus made its final stop Saturday at a hardware store in Raleigh, where more than 1,000 protestors turned out to voice opposition to President Barack Obama's efforts to reform health care.

The bus traveled 1,370 miles across North Carolina over the last six days, reports Ray Martin. It made 30 stops, collected more than 10,000 petitions and encouraged more than 25,000 phone calls to Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, said Dallas Woodhouse, program director for Americans for Prosperity, an organization that promotes free-market ideas.

Woodhouse, who drove the bus, said Saturday’s crowd was one of the largest.

Teenagers, young adults and senior citizens cheered and held up signs that denounced socialism, higher taxes and the national deficit.

Read more after the jump.

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The Hands off My Health Care rally is taking its show on the road.

The tour, organized by the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, is designed to get people active in calling for less government involvement in health care. The bus tour will make more than 30 stops across the state over the next week.

“Americans are fired up about health care, and the bus tour gives more people the opportunity to come out and get involved,” said Dallas Woodhouse, State Director of Americans for Prosperity, in a press release. “They’ve heard enough proposals from Washington that give government all the decision-making power."

The rally is also designed to get people to sign a "Patients First" petition, which the group will send to congressmen.

See the schedule after the jump.

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As President Barack Obama arrives in Raleigh for a town hall meeting, opponents of his plan for health care reform will hold a rally.

Americans for Prosperity's "Patients First" campaign will rally at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the North Raleigh Hilton, 3415 Wake Forest Road in Raleigh. The event is free and open to the public.

"While we welcome President Obama to our great state we believe people in North Carolina will not be persuaded to support a government run healthcare system that will require billions in new taxes and does not offer free market health care solutions,"  said a statement by Dallas Woodhouse of Americans for Prosperity.

The event is dubbed "Hands Off My Health Care" rally, and participants will be asked to sign a petition and contact their representatives in Washington to push for free market solutions.

The group will also announce details of a 6-day statewide bus tour across the state.

There was a sea of fans Tuesday night, all with the same logo: a picture of a pair of hands and the slogan "Hands off My Health Care."

That was the scene at at dinner at the RBC Center, meant to generate opposition to efforts by President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats to overhaul the nation’s health care system, Rob Christensen reports.

About 350 people packed into a club room for a buffet of Mexican food, and to hear speeches and videos in which Obama’s health care proposals were portrayed as similar to nationalized health care plans in England and Canada.

Americans can expect long lines to see doctors or to get surgeries, and government bureaucrats telling them what medications they can receive, according to the portrayals.

"Politicians want to control who lives and who dies," said Dallas Woodhouse, the head of state chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a Raleigh-based conservative advocacy group.

More after the jump.

Correction: Post originally misstated when the rally was held.

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Cities who want public financing of election campaigns would have to pay for it, under a bill moving through the House.

The bill would allow cities and towns to create public finance programs in which qualified candidates would use taxpayer money to run for office. The programs would be similar to those used in judicial and council of state elections. It is up to the city or town's elected leaders to decide whether to set up a program.

The State Board of Elections would monitor and administer the elections and the number of municipalities participating would be limited by the funds the board has to administer the elections.

The idea behind public financing is to make running for municipal office easier, proponents say.

"It is in essence about good government," said Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill.

Rep. Paul Stam, an Apex Republican, said he opposes the bill because it would force taxpayers to pick up the tab for political advertising that could be false, offensive or even racist.

"This is a solution in search of a problem," Stam said.

Dallas Woodhouse, state director of Americans for Prosperity, a libertarian group, said that the bill won't take the money out of campaigns. It will steer it to groups such as his, which will still be involved in elections.

Russ Stephenson, a Raleigh City Councilman said he had to raise $60,000 to win his at-large council seat. He said he would like to have the option for publicly financed elections. Running for council, a part-time job that pays $11,000, has become more difficult.

"It is increasingly a high-stakes endeavor, a high-cost endeavor," he said.

The Woodhouse brothers are taking each other to the woodshed.

The two Raleigh natives are fighting directly over the North Carolina airwaves about the economic stimulus package being discussed in Congress.

Dallas Woodhouse, spokesman for the limited-government group Americans for Prosperity, is leading a radio campaign urging Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan to vote against the bill.

Brad Woodhouse, president of the liberal advocacy group Americans United for Change, is running a radio campaign urging Republican Sen. Richard Burr to vote for it.

The brothers, who both graduated from Broughton High, started out in the middle of the political spectrum. After working for U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, Brad worked his way up the Democratic ladder in Washington, while Dallas went from being a TV reporter to a conservative advocate.

This is the first time they've directly campaigned against each other, but not the first time they've disagreed over politics.

"He tells me that I'm out to destroy America and stop progress," said Dallas, "and I tell him he's trying to tax us into oblivion and steal all our prosperity." 

Americans for Prosperity is running a radio ad against Kay Hagan.

The limited-government advocay group will spend $150,000 on an ad to air statewide with a concentration on the Triangle, the Triad and Wilmington.

The minute-long ad argues that Hagan, a state senator running for the U.S. Senate, has opposed "environmentally friendly offshore oil drilling" and supported temporary tax hikes.

"You know that feeling you get when you fill your tank and your jaw drops when you see the costs?" the ad says. "Thank Kay Hagan if those eye-popping gas prices continue for years."

Earlier in the summer, Hagan opposed offshore drilling in general, but she later said she would support a bipartisan bill that would leave the issue up to the states.

Americans for Prosperity spokesman Dallas Woodhouse said that the ad is about oil drilling off the North Carolina coast, although it is not clear in the script.

"She's not willing to simply endorse a clear, unconditional move to explore for energy off the coast of North Carolina," he said. "She's all over the map when she says things, but the bottom line is she will not commit to unconditional support."

In August, the group ran a radio ad praising U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's approach to oil issues.

After the jump, the script.

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