N.C. Republicans for Obama launched Thursday.

More than 200 registered Republicans from across the state signed onto a petition supporting Democratic candidate Barack Obama in the presidential race this November. 

In a conference call with reporters, former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee said he decided to support Obama in the Rhode Island primary and head up a national Republicans for Obama group out of disappointment with President Bush's foreign and economic policies.

He also said that Obama ran the best campaign.

"His campaign was the best run, best organized, and he was the CEO of that," he said. "All the other campaigns had cost overruns and management shakeups. Not the Obama campaign. And that translates into administration."

Pamella Cash-Roper, an unemployed nurse and lifelong Republican from Pittsboro who appeared at an Obama rally in June, said she supports Obama because of his approach to the economy and health care.

"Voters in North Carolina cannot afford four more years of the same failed Bush economic policies," she said.

The complete list of Republicans for Obama is online here. 

DENVER – All seven Democratic congressmen representing North Carolina showed up Tuesday morning at a state delegation breakfast in an unusual show of unity.

He also said there was a strong chance that Democrats would add to their numbers by electing Larry Kissell over Republican Rep. Robin Hayes in the 8th District.

Reps. Mel Watt of Charlotte and G. K. Butterfield of Wilson urged delegates not to emphasize race in the presidential campaign despite the historic nature of Barack Obama's candidacy. Both said there are other ssues far more important to the country, such as the economy, the war in Iraq and the growing federal budget deficit.

“Don't let the media here or back home let you get trapped in the race question,” Butterfield said.

Barack Obama linked John McCain to the troubled economy.

At a campaign stop in Raleigh Tuesday night, the Democratic presidential candidate argued that the middle class is struggling, that housing foreclosures are the highest since the Great Depression and that gas prices are too high.

"Raise your hands," Obama said. "How many people think you are better off than you were eight years ago?"

There was a chorus of boos from the 2,500 people at the Exposition Center at the N.C. State Fairgrounds.

The visit came as Obama is expected to announce his vice presidential choice. After returning from a vacation, he has sharpened his message, seeking to cast doubt on McCain's reputation as a maverick and linking the Republican to lobbyists and oil companies.

It was Obama's second post-primary stop in North Carolina. McCain has not yet visited since the May 6 primary. (N&O) 

The two gubernatorial candidates have their themes down.

In their opening statements at a debate at WTVD in Durham tonight, Republican Pat McCrory and Democrat Beverly Perdue sketched out the major areas they hope to focus in in the campaign and at the debate.

McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte, focused on gangs, mental health care reform and corruption in state politics.

He also joked that his sister, Linda, almost didn't let him into her home because she'd seen a TV ad portraying him as "a danger to the middle class."

Perdue, the lieutenant governor, talked about improving education, creating new jobs and increasing access to health care.

She said she wanted a "new North Carolina" where "families worry less and dream more."

Kay Hagan also won't be at the Barack Obama event.

The Democratic Senate candidate will be attending a Charlotte East Community Partners candidate forum at 6:30 p.m. — the same time that Obama will give a speech on the economy in Raleigh.

Hagan has made similar arguments to Obama on key issues, but she has not tied herself as directly to him as gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue did in the primary.

She did not make his first post-primary event in North Carolina.

However, her staff has said that they support their party's presidential candidate and blamed scheduling conflicts for her absences.

Update: Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said that Hagan was at the Charlotte event that Obama canceled due to plane trouble. 

Previously: Perdue also missing speech due to debate.

If Barack Obama is considering Gov. Mike Easley as his running mate, Easley says he doesn't know about it.

"Not that I'm aware of," Easley said Monday, in response to a reporter's question about whether the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate has been vetting him, reports David Ingram. "I guess you could say I may have gotten eliminated early and not know it."

So, governor, the Obama campaign hasn't asked you for any background information?

"No," Easley said. "I mean, you could get all that online now anyway. To be as specific as possible, I don't have any interest in going to Washington."

One day ahead of Obama coming to North Carolina, the two-term Democratic governor did have kind words for Obama's plans on education and the economy.

"The good thing, I think, about his economic plan is it dovetails so nicely with what we're doing here in North Carolina," Easley said.

"I always hate to see politicians, and sometimes the press, look at issues and say, 'OK, this is economics, this is education,' because actually the two are so inextricably intertwined you cannot talk about the economy without talking about education."

Barack Obama is coming back to North Carolina.

The Democratic presidential candidate will give a speech on the economy in Raleigh on Tuesday at the N.C. State Fairgrounds.

It will be his 10th visit to the state, and the second since he became the presumptive nominee.

The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Tickets are available at the Raleigh Obama headquarters at 130 East Morgan St., or at the Cary headquarters at 215 East Chatham St.

A new ad by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama attacks Republican opponent John McCain's economic plans and support for the Iraq war.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is voting with the Democrats more lately.

The Salisbury Republican has broken with her party more this year than she did in 2007, according to an analysis of her voting record by The Hill, a Washington-based political paper.

Leaving out missed votes and bills that both parties favored, Dole voted against a majority of her party 25.5 percent of the time this year, versus 6.6 percent in 2007, 6.4 percent in the 2005-06 session and 4.3 percent in the 2003-04 session.

Dole was one of seven Republicans who voted for a climate-change bill, among other things:

Some of Dole’s most significant breaks with the GOP include backing a Democratic economic stimulus measure, supporting Medicare legislation that Bush vetoed, endorsing an amendment to expand children's healthcare coverage to pregnant women and voting for an expansive amendment to lengthen dwell-time for troops before they return to Iraq.

In an interview with the paper, Dole said that she is voting for what's "best for the people of my state," saying she was not moving to the middle because of the upcoming election.

Democratic opponent Kay Hagan's campaign e-mailed a link to the story to reporters.

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger gave the session low grades.

The Eden Republican said he was still frustrated by the Democratic majority's use of the rules to have its way. His grades:

Legislative Process: D-. Berger said that bills were "pretty much decided" before they reached the Senate floor, and the 2008 budget was "written behind closed doors."

"It's pretty much the same way it's been in other years," he said.

The Budget: D or F-. Berger said the budget did not take into account the troubled economy or financial problems with the State Health Plan. On the other hand, he was happy to see that less money was transferred from the Highway Trust Fund to the general fund.

On the plus side, he praised a pilot project for incentive pay at some school systems as well as the final wording of a bill that would keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, which he helped write. 

"I think we ended up with language that respected the Second Amendment and addressed problems evident from the Virginia Tech shootings," he said.