The VIPs in the crowd in Greensboro were more local.

At a rally for Barack Obama today, the highest-ranking candidate for state office was Agriculture Commissioner candidate Ronnie Ansley.

Obama gave him a shout-out and recognized Congressional candidates Roy Carter and Teresa Sue Bratton, Greensboro Mayor Yevonne Johnson and state Rep. Pricey Harrison.

Also at the event: State Rep. Alma Adams and state Cultural Resources secretary Libba Evans.

Not present: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue or Senate candidate Kay Hagan, who is from Greensboro.

Update: The inestimable Mark Binker of the News & Record says he spotted Rep. Earl Jones as well.

Second Update: A spokeswoman for Hagan said she had a previously scheduled event. 

A second version of an ad by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue stresses her support for stem cell research.

What the ad says: Perdue speaks: "I'm Bev Perdue. I'm running for governor and I sponsored this ad." The ad shows images of Sarah Witt, a Raleigh woman who suffers from paralysis because of primary lateral sclerosis. Witt narrates through a voice box: "I used to run marathons, but not anymore. A motor neuron disease has already taken away my ability to walk and to speak. But it hasn't taken away my ability to hope. Hope that stem cell research will let me see my kids grow up. I know Bev Perdue supports stem cell research. She believes in hope, and I believe in her."

The background: Witt says in the ad that she knows Perdue supports stem cell research, but it would have been hard to tell before the commercial was made.

Perdue's campaign could not produce any evidence that she made a public statement regarding stem cell research prior to her campaign for governor.

The campaign's proof that she was engaged in "activity" regarding stem cells included: a September 2006 policy briefing paper that was distributed among Perdue's staff and a copy of the agenda from a meeting two months later of a special legislative committee examining the issue, indicating that a Perdue staffer attended.

N.C. Rep. Earl Jones, a Greensboro Democrat, said Perdue played no role in the drafting of his bill for stem cell research funding that passed the House in 2007, even though the money would come through the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund that she chairs.

Jones said Perdue did call after the House passage, offering to help in the Senate, where she serves as president and presides over the daily session. The bill, which arrived near the end of the legislative session, never got out of committee, and there was no evidence offered of Perdue speaking out, writing a letter or otherwise publicly advocating for the bill.

Is it accurate? Yes.

— Mark Johnson and Ryan Teague Beckwith

State Rep. Earl Jones says Beverly Perdue was helpful on a stem cell research bill.

After a recent ad by the Democratic gubernatorial candidate citing her support of embryonic stem cell research, her Republican rival Pat McCrory questioned whether Perdue had a record on the issue.

Jones sponsored a bill in 2007 that would have allowed the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund to make grants on research. The Greensboro News & Record reports that he said Perdue was involved:

Jones said Perdue did take an interest in the issue when it was before the legislature. Jones led a study committee that sought to raise awareness of the issue.

Draft legislation that came from that committee would have put tax money into embryonic stem cell research and laid down guidelines for how it should be conducted. By the time it left the House, the bill would have provided only a framework for stem cell research, but backers say it would have moved their cause forward.

When that bill moved to the Senate, where the lieutenant governor presides, Jones said Perdue reached out.

"She called me directly and she had her staff work with me," Jones said. "Her office was the first one to call when it (the bill) crossed over to the Senate."

The bill died in the Senate, however. The Senate's Democratic leadership referred it to a committee on health care in July of 2007, but it was never acted on during the 2007 or 2008 sessions.

Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders is going to be in Raleigh this week to talk about state Rep. Earl Jones' bill on "alternative methods of pain management in medicine."

By "alternative methods," Jones, a Greensboro Democrat, means medical marijuana or its chemical equivalent. He wants a legislative research commission to study its use, Lynn Bonner reports.

This is the latest of Jones' heat-seeking bills. Last year, he pushed state support for stem cell research.

Elders and Jones could be political twins when it comes to raising blood pressures. Former President Bill Clinton fired her when she said that masturbation "perhaps should be taught" as part of comprehensive sex education.

Jones' office bills Elders' appearance Wednesday as an education and information session.

The four House Democrats who voted against expelling Thomas Wright have also faced accusations.

Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon, both Winston-Salem Democrats; Earl Jones, a Greensboro Democrat; and Mary McAllister, a Fayetteville Democrat; have all been accused of poor financial handling.

"Wright has been charged but he’s not been convicted of anything in court,” Womble said. "I'm not one to pre-judge. I’ve always been taught to wait and see and let due process work itself out."

Womble was indicted in 1991 on four counts of extortion after a corruption investigation that started when he was on the Winston-Salem Board of Aldermen. He was found not guilty in 1992.

Parmon was under suspicion when a charter school she founded, LIFT, had its license revoked. The state Department of Public Instruction said the school routinely mismanaged money.

Jones ran a nonprofit, the Guilford County Community Action Program, that was dinged by state auditors when it couldn't account for more than $700,000 in taxpayer money. 

And McAllister was forced to pay a $16,294 fine last year after the State Board of Elections said she received a repayment for campaign loans she never made. (W-SJ) 

Rep. Earl Jones says the voters should decide on Rep. Thomas Wright.

Introducing an amendment to censure Wright, he said that expelling a legislator would subvert the democratic process. He said expulsion is not "practical, just or fair."

He argued that "clear and convincing evidence" is a lower standard than "beyond a reasonable doubt" — the standard in criminal trials — or "high crimes and misdemeanors" — the standard in the U.S. Constitution for impeachment of federal officials.

"Expulsion of a dulty elected official in this House should require the highest burden of proof," he said.

He also argued that expulsion would unfairly taint the jury pool for Wright's upcoming criminal trial.

He also offered a particularly poetic paean to democracy, from the "mountains of Asheville to the green pastures in the East" and "on the sea coast of North Carolina."

"Expulsion disenfranchises those voters, censure does not," he said.

After the jump, Jones' paean.

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Rep. Earl Jones says Rep. Thomas Wright should be censured.

The Greensboro Democrat said today that he will push for censure, and not expulsion, during a special session tomorrow on Wright's ethics charges, David Ingram reports.

"I won't be supporting expulsion. I think there are a lot of problems with it," Jones said. "Expulsion shows no respect for the other democratic processes."

Jones was the first of Wright's colleagues to publicly say that he will not vote for expulsion, arguing that the standard of evidence is too low.

"It should be `beyond a reasonable doubt' or it should be `high crimes and misdemeanors,' " he said, referring to the standard for criminal convictions and, in part, to the standard for removing the U.S. president.

Jones is a member of the Legislative Black Caucus. Earlier reports were that members of the caucus would propose censure.

The N.C. Legislative Black Caucus may propose a censure motion.

With the state legislature meeting next week to consider expelling state Rep. Thomas Wright, the censure would be an alternative that would allow him to retain his seat.

All this week, rumors have circulated on Jones Street that a censure motion was being prepared, David Ingram reports.

Members of the caucus have confirmed that they are planning a meeting ahead of Thursday's special session, but they could not say what is on the agenda.

Asked if they would discuss a censure motion, state Rep. Earl Jones, a Guilford Democrat who belongs to the caucus, would not answer.

"That may be true," he said. He laughed, paused, then added, "I can't confirm or deny that."

Last week, several members of the General Assembly stopped into Room 544 of the Legislative Office Building, where a six-member ethics panel was sitting in judgment of their colleague Rep. Thomas Wright.

They included two legislators from the other chamber: State Sens. Julia Boseman, a Wilmington Democrat, and Ed Jones, a Halifax County Democrat, David Ingram reports.

Several of Wright's colleagues came as well: State Reps. Alice Bordsen, a Mebane Democrat; Walter Church, a Burke County Democrat; Dale Folwell, a Winston-Salem Republican; Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat; Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat; Earl Jones, a Greensboro Democrat; Grier Martin, a Raleigh Democrat; and Trudi Walend, a Brevard Republican.

The full House of Representatives could be asked to vote soon on whether to expel Wright for Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat and chair of the panel, called "breathtakingly massive" fraud.

The panel voted unanimously Thursday to recommend Wright's expulsion. It found that Wright, a Wilmington Democrat, violated ethics rules in connection with his handling of almost $350,000 in campaign, charitable and corporate money.

Also sitting in last week were several state and federal investigators, including some who were involved in the corruption case of former House Speaker Jim Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat.

North Carolina's presidential votes could soon be split.

The House tentatively passed a bill today that would give one Electoral College vote for each of the state's 13 Congressional districts and the other two to the statewide winner. (Currently, the popular vote winner in the state takes all 15 electors.)

Maine and Nebraska have a similar system.

House Minority Leader Paul Stam, an Apex Republican, said the bill was a "pure political grab" that would nonetheless backfire on state Democrats.

"We will have less influence than Wyoming or Delaware," he said.

Rep. Earl Jones, a Greensboro Democrat, said it wasn't fair that his vote for president often goes to the opposing party, even though his district is primarily Democratic.

"It's a much fairer system than what we have now," he said.

The bill passed its second reading on a 60-49 vote.