Former Gov. Mike Easley inducted more than 4,000 North Carolinians.

Between January 2001 and January 2009, the two-term Democratic governor added state residents into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine at a rate of nearly 10 a week, or more than one a day.

Notable recipients included former U.S. Attorney Janice McKenzie Cole, Broadway costumer designer William Ivey Long, architectural historian Catherine Bishir, Charlotte Observer columnist Jack Betts and painter Bob Timberlake.

A number of politicians also made the list: former state Sen. Aaron Plyler, former state Rep. Zeno Edwards Jr., former UNC system president Bill Friday, Supreme Court Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson, former Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr., former Wake County Commissioner Betty Ann Knudsen, Charlotte City Councilwoman Susan Burgess and former Wendell Mayor Lucius Jones.

A few on the list are not North Carolinians: civil rights advocate Coretta Scott King, actor Danny Glover and Navy aerobatic pilots the Blue Angels.

Also on the list: his in-laws, Ann and James Pipines, fundraiser Louis Sewell, and several members of his Cabinet. The list does not include Robert Lee Guy, however.

See anyone else interesting on the list? Post in the comments below or e-mail dome@newsobserver.com.

After the jump, the number given each year.

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WATERLOO, Iowa -- Snow is falling in the northeast corner of Iowa this morning, and several inches are expected before the day is over. It's the corner where Democrat John Edwards is scheduled to campaign today. Yesterday, his "Main Street Express" bus got stuck in the ice in nearby Waverly.

There are six days until Thursday's caucuses, the contests that jump start the presidential race for both parties. A lot of voters -- about a third, according to one TV poll -- are still trying to make up their minds. The candidates and their supporters know they have to step it up, reports Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer.

Last night at a Waterloo high school, actor Danny Glover, bleary from a snow-delayed day of travel, mustered enough energy to fire up a crowd for Edwards, who was fired up himself, railing against "corporate greed" and Washington lobbyists.

Later, as Edwards rode an elevator to his room at the Country Inn and Suites, I told him he seemed more pumped up than usual.

It's almost over, Edwards said of the caucus campaign. "And it's close."