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Elaine Marshall is getting buzz from a conservative newspaper.

The secretary of state is featured in the Dunn Daily Record as a potential candidate for the Democratic Senate nomination next year: 

"I haven't closed any doors to that possibility," Mrs. Marshall said. "A lot of folks are considering me and I have always had an interest in pursuing that opportunity.

"So the dialogue goes on," she said. "It would indeed be a challenge, but it's one I think I'm up to."

In the article, Marshall also appears to plead for time to make a decision, saying she's busy battling for her agency in the state budget process and will have more time once the session is over. 

"I'm pretty well known in Democratic circles and as the second highest vote-getter in the last state-wide elections, at least somebody knows me," she told the paper.

Doug Heye thinks John McCain should go Down East.

In a column on National Review Online, the veteran Republican political consultant argues that McCain's best chance in this state is to win eastern North Carolina, "home of voters known as 'Jessecrats,' conservative Democrats who generally vote Republican.

The McCain campaign was smart to send Governor Sarah Palin to Greenville, the largest city — and largest media market — in northeastern North Carolina. Swing voters in the region have shown a tendency to support Republican candidates. In 2004, the Northeast gave Senator Richard Burr his second highest margin of swing voters in the state — second only to his home region of the Triad.

Heye suggests that McCain copy the primary campaign playbook of Hillary Clinton, who targeted conservative Democrats who read the Dunn Daily Record.

"Although Clinton did not win North Carolina, her campaign can serve as a road map for McCain to find the conservative Democrats and swing voters he needs to carry the state," he writes.

The publisher of Bill Graham's hometown paper sure does like him.

In a column today, the Dunn Daily Record's Hoover Adams writes that the Republican gubernatorial candidate received "warm and enthusiastic support" during a recent visit, coordinated by Dunn City Councilman Billy Ray Godwin.

Mr. Godwin said he hadn't seen the final figures on how much money was raised in Dunn for Mr. Graham's campaign, but the big smile on Mr. Graham's face as he left to fly home was an indication that he was well pleased with the turnout of his hometown supporters and the amount of money raised.

Adams has made no secret of his support for Graham in the past.

A new study claims North Carolina's editorial pages skew conservative.

The study by Media Matters, a left-leaning media watchdog group, is based on syndicated columns run in the state's papers.

According to the survey, the Asheboro Courier-Tribune, The Dunn Daily Record, The Shelby Star and the Wilson Daily Times have the most conservative Op-Ed pages in the state. Each runs 100 percent conservatives, by Media Matters' calculation.

On the other side, only the Laurinburg Exchange runs 100 percent progressives, the group says.

The N&O runs 44 percent conservative to 33 percent progressive, while the Charlotte Observer breaks 46 percent conservative to 38 percent progressive. (The rest are centrist.)

As Laura Leslie points out on Hunter's Tavern, however, the study has some flaws, most notably that it lists John Locke Foundation head John Hood as a centrist.

The Dunn Daily Record publisher thinks Bill Graham's the one.

In a column today, Hoover Adams says he likes the Salisbury attorney, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor.

Adams, who founded the paper in 1950, says Graham "has the best campaign issues" — capping the gasoline tax and doing something about illegal immigration. He's happy that Graham is a conservative who opposes corporate incentives.

He's also proud that Graham grew up in Dunn. And that's not all:

He is young and handsome, too, and that counts more than many people might think.

No word on whether Adams think Fred Smith and Bob Orr — not to mention Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue — are also attractive.