As President Barack Obama continues to ponder the future of American troops in Afghanistan, U.S. Rep. David Price stressed this week that the matter isn’t just one for the military.

"Nobody thinks this should be a rushed decision – or a decision that should just be about the military,” Price said. “We have to be aware of the security requirements to back up national policy – not military action for its own sake.”

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, returned Monday from a week-long swing through the Middle East, reports Barb Barrett. While there, he spent three days in Afghanistan meeting with troops, generals and Afghan government officials.

Price said in an interview he doesn’t expect to brief the White House on the visit, but he did speak with the State Department before the trip, and he stressed afterward that Obama shouldn’t rush into a decision on Afghanistan.

"He should take the time and consideration he needs to to make the decision in a careful and responsible way,” Price said.

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Todd Batchelor, a former finance director for the N.C. Republican Party, plans to run for state House District 41 which until recently was held by Democrat Ty Harrell.

The Republican nominee would likely challenge Democrat Chris Heagerty, who was recently named to the House seat, after Harrell's resignation, Rob Christensen reports.

The Wake County seat is regarded as a swing seat that had been held for years by Republican Russell Capps before Harrell's victory in 2006.

"North Carolinians are hungry for change in leadership in Raleigh," Batchelor said in a statement. "People are sick and tired of politicians that consistently raise their taxes and spend their hard earned money irresponsibly. I will be a solid consistent voice for fiscal conservatism and job creation."

Among other issues, Batchelor supports lifting the cap on charter schools.

He was the 2004 Republican nominee for Congress against Democratic Rep. David Price. He is currently legislative chief of staff for Republican state Rep. David Lewis of Dunn. Lewis pays Batchelor with his own money, and his duties include a range of jobs from assisting with constitutent services to helping with fundraisers, Batchelor said.

Update: Post now accurately states that Batchelor would have to win the nomination to challenge Heagerty. Post now also clarifies that Batchelor is not paid by the state.

U.S. Rep. David Price has returned from a week-long trip to the Middle East.

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, led a congressional delegation with the House Democracy Assistance Commission, a bi-partisan group that mentors new democracies around the world, Barb Barrett reports.

The group was in Lebanon when the country’s new parliament and president were sworn in last week.

Then, they traveled to Afghanistan to meet with President Hamid Karzai. The group also spent time in Pakistan meeting with parliament leaders there before returning Monday to the United States.

The $42.8 billion Homeland Security spending bill that President Barack Obama signed into law last week has its roots in the office of U.S. Rep. David Price.

The bill stumbled through the type of drama that can often envelop Capitol Hill — last-minute political maneuvers along with closed-door meetings, quiet arm-twisting and flying accusations, Barb Barrett reports in a look at how a big bill became law.

Karen Elizabeth Price, daughter of U.S. Rep. David Price, has finished a documentary about the 2006 midterm elections.

The film, HouseQuake, focused on seven races including now-Rep. Heath Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, The Washington Post's Reliable Source blog reports. 

Price, 39, is one of a handful of Congressional daughters who have become documentary filmmakers.

"It's an interesting trend," Price told the blog. "It seems to be the daughters. They tend to be political documentaries, too. I guess it gets in the blood.... There's maybe a need to make sense of it all and use our access to show everyone the reality of politics you don't see on cable news."

In the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections, she got the idea for a documentary about the Democrats' attempt to win back the House — after her dad told her about this  Rahm Emanuel guy with a plan so crazy it just might work.

"It was not a fun time to be a Democrat," she said. "They had to take on the belief they could win. I wanted to explore the question of, how do you create success?"

U.S. Rep. David Price has $218,586 on hand for his campaign to keep his seat.

Since 2007, the Chapel Hill Democrat has raised $73,000, mostly from Political Action Committees, according to federal campaign finance records.

Republican challenger Frank Roche has raised $10,879, mostly through individual contributions. Republican George Hutchins has loaned himself $5,000.

Beau Mills, a veteran of state and local government, has gone to work as the new district director for 4th District Democratic Congressman David Price.

Mills replaces Rose Auman, who is retiring after nearly 12 years as Price's district director, Rob Christensen reports.

Mills is well known in government circles. He has worked as an advisor to former Gov. Jim Hunt, as the executive director of the N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition and most recently as a partner at Fountainworks, a public policy and market research firm in Raleigh.

Price also announced the hiring of Andrew High to be his press secretary. High, a Durham native, has worked the past two years as a press aide to California Congresswoman Linda Sanchez.

He replaces Phil Feagan, who is now attending law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Frank Roche says he wants some answers about a program at UNC that has little to show for more than $7 million it has received to help deployed soldiers of the National Guard and Army Reserves.

Roche, a Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Rep. David Price of Chapel Hill, issued a release today questioning the money spent by the Citizen Soldier Support Program. The program was created in 2004 when Price inserted $10 million for it in the federal budget.

Internal audits at UNC have found that the program has produced a lot of paperwork, but few concrete results.

"Where is the oversight?" Roche asked. "It adds insult to injury that this money was intended to help our National Guardsmen and Army Reserve, who leave jobs and families to fight for our freedom."

A federally funded program at UNC-Chapel Hill was supposed to help deployed soldiers of the National Guard and Army Reserves.

Instead, the Citizen Soldier Support Program has produced reams of paperwork but few concrete results, according to an internal review.

"The CSSP is vulnerable to the accusation that it spends too much money on administrative overhead and low-priority 'nice-to-do' actitivities and not enough time on activities directly relevant to its mission," read the review.

The program was created in 2004 when U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, inserted $10 million into the federal budget.

Since then, the program has spent $7.3 million. One-quarter of the money has gone to the university for overhead. Half of the eight full-time employees are paid more than $100,000 a year, including a deputy director who has been reimbursed $76,000 for food, travel and lodging when she commutes from her home in northern Virginia to North Carolina.

Price said the program is worthy of federal funding and that he still supports its goals.

"If these funds haven't been utilized in the most effective way, we need to correct it," he said. (N&O)