U.S. Rep. David Price says that Coast Guard pool was a worthy project.

The Chapel Hill Democrat told Dome that he first learned about the need for a new training pool in Elizabeth City during a tour of the Coast Guard facility a year or two ago.

Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat, requested the pool as an earmark in last year's budget. He said that it was helpful to have a North Carolina Congressman as a "cardinal" on the Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security.

But Price downplayed the local connection.

"It's one of those projects that I guess legally is an earmark," he said. "I think it's fair to say that we would have probably written that into the bill even if nobody had requested it."

Price said he has visited a number of facilities that fall under Homeland Security since becoming chairman. The pool was just one of many needs, such as dorms, that he saw at the Elizabeth City facility.

"It was more or less a routine visit as chairman of the subcommittee to see an important Coast Guard facility," he said. "It just happened to be one in my own state."

How does an earmark get in the budget?

Here's the step-by-step process followed by Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat who requested $200 million in special appropriations this year.

1. Lobbyists and representatives of businesses and nonprofits drop by one of his offices and ask about earmarks. They are given a form to fill out. "That separates ... the eager from the less-than-eager," he says.

2. Staff screen the requests and present them to Butterfield. He then goes through the list and picks which ones he'll submit. "I look to see if it's meritorious, whether or not it serves the working families within my district and not special interests," he said.

3. Butterfield sends a formal letter for each earmark to the chairs of the 12 House Appropriations subcommittees, known as "cardinals." Starting this year, the amounts were then posted on his official House Web site.

4. The arm-twisting begins. Butterfield approaches the chairs and personally lobbies for his earmarks. In some cases, they ask for more information. Other times, they ask him to rank his requests. "They may say, look you're only going to get three," he said.

5. The cardinals and ranking minority members decide. In North Carolina, U.S. Rep. David Price, who chairs the homeland security, helped Butterfield get a new swimming pool for a Coast Guard station in Elizabeth City last year. "That helps tremendously," he said.

Military procurements make up 97 percent of Rep. G.K. Butterfield's requests.

As noted previously, the Wilson Democrat asked for $7.3 billion in earmarks in this year's federal budget, according to his own Web site.

But $7.1 billion of the requests is for military expenditures that do not directly benefit his Congressional district, an appropriation request that watchdog groups say does not meet their definition of an earmark.

That includes requests for new Virginia-class submarines, aircraft carriers, research on new aircraft and ruggedized avionics for contractors in Virginia, Maryland and California.

Some of the military-related appropriations requests have North Carolina ties, however. Another $31 million in earmarks would go toward research at East Carolina University and N.C. State, a contractor in Elizabeth City and testing in the state, among other things.

Subtracting the national military requests, Butterfield's earmarks total $200 million, putting him more in the middle of the Congressional delegation's requests.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott says that Barack Obama could put North Carolina in play.

The Virginia Democrat, an Obama supporter since before the Iowa caucuses, says that the state has similar demographics to his home state, which Obama won in the Democratic presidential primary.

In Elizabeth City for a voter drive, Scott told Dome he believes Obama would carry the same vote that Sen. Jim Webb and Govs. Doug Wilder and Tim Kaine have gotten in Virginia, and that could mean a fight for North Carolina as well.

That would cut against the grain of recent elections. Virginia hasn't gone for a Democrat for president since Lyndon Johnson; North Carolina since Jimmy Carter.

"If we can carry one or two southern states, it would be hard to write a list of states the Republicans could win to add up to 278 electoral votes," he argued.

Scott said that would force Republican nominee John McCain to campaign in the South, instead of spending his time in traditional swing states like Missouri and Ohio. 

A blimp for Ron Paul will launch from Elizabeth City.

A 200-foot-long blimp advertising the Republican presidential candidate will take off from the main operating and technical facility of Airship Management Services at 8 a.m. Monday.

From North Carolina, it will head north to Washington, D.C., and New York City, with stops in Boston and New Hampshire later this month.

The blimp features slogans that read "Who is Ron Paul?" and "Ron Paul Revolution."

Liberty Political Advertising, which supports Paul but is not affiliated with his campaign, is leasing the blimp from AMS. The group plans to raise $200,000 by Friday at midnight. 

"Since the Wright brothers were here in 1903, Elizabeth City has  been the jumping  off  place  for  many  aviation  firsts,"  said Wayne Harris, economic developer of the Albemarle Economic Development Commission in a statement. "What better place to launch such an innovative advertising campaign for a presidential candidate?"