Public Policy Polling also works for candidates.

The Democratic polling firm has become well known for its tracking polls on the presidential and gubernatorial races in North Carolina.

But it's also done surveys for more than a dozen state candidates, according to campaign finance reports on the State Board of Elections.

The firm has done work for state Reps. Bernard Allen and Grier Martin; state House candidate Ed Ridpath; state Sens. Clark Jenkins and Dan Clodfelter; and judicial candidates Wanda Bryant, Debra Sasser and Elizabeth McCrodden. In Raleigh, it's polled for Mayor Charles Meeker and City Councilman Thomas Crowder.

It's also polled for the Wake County Democratic Party, the N.C. Association of Educators PAC and the Conservation Council of North Carolina. 

The president of Public Policy Polling is a reliable Democratic donor.

In recent years, Dean Debnam has given thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates for state legislature, governor and U.S. Senate, according to campaign finance records.

His money has gone to local candidates for state office and some Democratic leaders.

He's given $2,000 apiece to state Sen. Janet Cowell and state House candidate Greer Beaty; $1,500 to state Rep. Deborah Ross; $1,250 to state House candidate Ed Ridpath; and $1,000 to Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight and state Rep. Grier Martin, among other donations.

He's also made sizable donations in years past to Govs. Mike Easley and Jim Hunt, U.S. Sen. John Edwards, Attorney General Roy Cooper and state House speaker Jim Black. 

In all, he's given at least $14,400 to state candidates in the past decade. (Figures in city and county races were not readily available.)

Debnam started the Democratic polling firm in 2002 as a side business. His regular job is as the chief executive officer at Workplace Options, a Raleigh consulting firm.

Is there a BlueNC primary?

The progressive group blog has become a major stopping point for Democratic candidates in North Carolina's primary this year.

So far, Senate candidate Jim Neal; lieutenant governor candidates Pat Smathers and Dan Besse; Congressional candidates Larry Kissell, Marshall Adame, Jay Ovittore, Roy Carter, John Autry; and state House candidate Ed Ridpath, along with Elizabeth Edwards have live-blogged on the site.

State auditor candidate Beth Wood, labor commissioner Robin Anderson and Congressional candidate Ross Overby are also slated, while gubernatorial candidates Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue have scheduled an online debate on the site.

Even Senate candidate Kay Hagan, who has taken some abuse on the site, has said she will live-blog.

"I think it's absolutely as important to engage as many voters as you can," said Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan. "Certainly there's a lot of voters who read that blog."

The live-blogs are a new, and much looser format for candidates. Anonymous users can post questions, but the candidates are also free to ignore them. They can answer as much or as little as they want, ask staff or Google for help and link to outside sources.

Beverly Perdue lent her voice to the pro-choice cause — literally.

Last year, the lieutenant governor recorded a brief telephone message encouraging pro-choice voters to turn out in five key legislative races.

The robocalls, for NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina and Planned Parenthood's political action committees, were made on behalf of Rep. Rick Glazier, Sen. Julia Boseman and House Democratic candidates Ty Harrell, Greer Beaty and Ed Ridpath.

Melissa Reed, NARAL's executive director, said she was looking for close races in which the calls might make a difference as well as the highest-ranking female elected official she could find.

"Especially for our female members, hearing (a) woman's voice really resonates," she said.

After the jump, more details and the script.

   Comments (1)

Les Merritt is not the only state pol on LinkedIn.

In the last two weeks, the professional social networking site has started to take off among the crowd on Jones Street.

Aside from the state auditor, Rep. Grier Martin, Sen. Richard Stevens and candidate Ed Ridpath have signed up. Bill drafting director Gerry Cohen is leading the way among legislative staffers.

A number of members of the capitol press corps — including Mark Binker, Laura Leslie, and yours truly — are also on the site, but that's hardly surprising, given Dome's experience with journalists on social networking sites.

Since we last wrote, Merritt has also opened up his contacts.

In an interesting bipartisan moment, Stevens, a Republican, and Martin, a Democrat, are also "connections." That's not quite as heavy as being "friends" on Facebook, but it's a start.

The only question now is how long until Attorney General Roy Cooper demands to see proof that Martin, Stevens et al are over 18...