Nine North Carolina mayors made their case to Barack Obama's top staffers today.

As part of a group of several hundred mayors at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, the mayors heard from the president-elect's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and adviser Valerie Jarrett and transition team adviser David Axelrod.

The group is arguing for more of the federal stimulus package to be spent on local infrastructure, such as schools, water and sewer lines and even municipal Internet access.

Gastonia Mayor Jennie Stultz said that towns and cities would be more accountable for the spending, an argument she said seemed to play well with Obama's team.

"I don't think they're going to hand out a blank check," she said. "I think you've got to show them how you're going to spend it."

The North Carolina mayors will meet with U.S. Sens. Kay Hagan and Richard Burr Monday.

Barack Obama's consultant David Axelrod on CNN just now: "North Carolina looks interesting." 

He did not elaborate, but that seems to indicate they're thinking it's within reach. 

Has Barack Obama sought North Carolina authenticators?

A recent article in The New Republic about the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign strategist, David Axelrod, included this observation about his strategy to overcome race:

Axelrod believed the other crucial vehicle for winning his candidate the votes of Cleveland's white residents was what he's called "third-party authentication" — in other words, endorsements from respected individuals or institutions that whites put a lot of stock in. "David felt there almost had to be a permission structure set up for certain white voters to consider a black candidate," explains Ken Snyder, a Democratic consultant and Axelrod protégé .

In recent weeks, the Obama campaign has sent e-mails to North Carolinians from legendary UNC-Chapel Hill basketball coach Dean Smith and musician James Taylor, who also held a series of concerts for him.

Former Gov. Jim Hunt has also been a major surrogate, appearing at several events.

In addition, he's picked up endorsements from five major mainstream newspapers — the third-party authenticators specifically mentioned in The New Republic article.

Barack Obama may force John McCain to defend North Carolina.

As Dome has noted before, the state is not as obvious of a pick-up as other typically Republican-red states for the Democratic presidential nominee, but we're not sure that's the point.

If Obama uses the fruits of his fundraising prowess to spend money in North Carolina, it could force McCain to campaign here or risk an upset in a state that hasn't gone for a Democrat since the Ramones released their first album.

Politico's Ben Smith made the same point yesterday, noting that Obama adviser David Axelrod has specifically said the campaign will "stretch the Republicans" in as many states as it can.

"A smart colleague pointed out to me yesterday that Obama will try to do to McCain what he did to Clinton in Pennsylvania: Even as he lost the state, he ruined her by forcing her to keep up with his massive spending," Smith writes.

As noted previously, the Boston Globe included North Carolina at the bottom of its six picks for potential Democratic pick-ups, while Democratic analyst Poblano ranked it 10th.

But that was before Libertarian Bob Barr got on the ballot, creating the potential for a Republican spoiler, and narrowing the gap in the polls.

Smith's examples of state Obama could contest to stretch McCain were Arizona and Texas. Surely any list that includes those states would also include North Carolina.

Joe Sinsheimer says Rahm Emanuel won't settle the presidential primary.

In a Newsweek article this week, the Democratic political consultant and friend of Emanuel's says that Emanuel is too close to Barack Obama's campaign manager, David Axelrod.

He also says that the Clinton's don't trust Emanuel, especially after Hillary Clinton tried to get him fired as a White House aide in 1993.

Sinsheimer says that Emanuel may have selfish reasons for wanting to stay uninvolved and avoid playing the role of party elder. "Rahm has his own ambitions," says Sinsheimer. If he runs for Speaker in four or six years, "why does he want to have 5, 10, 15 people on one side of this chasm or another mad at him over something?" 

Hat Tip: Mitch Kokai