Gov. Beverly Perdue, left, and Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco pose with an unidentified robot in an undated photo taken in Japan. The photo was posted to Perdue's Facebook account.

Perdue plans a conference call Thursday morning with reporters to discuss her economic development trip to Japan and China.

Hickory-based blogger Joe Womack noticed on his Facebook news feed that he wasn't seeing many messages from his Congressman, U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry.

The abrupt end followed some comments Womack made on McHenry's page about why the nation even needs health insurance companies, Womack writes on his "Pretty Penny" blog. Then Womack realized what had happened:

"I had been "de-friended," he wrote.

A message from McHenry's page explained that McHenry, a Cherryville Republican, keeps a page for friends and another "fan" page for everyone else.

If the online slight is still stinging next year, Womack could always de-friend McHenry on election day.

Gov. Beverly Perdue, who often talks up the virtues of technology, is seeing the ups and downs of it on Facebook.

Perdue has her own page with more than 3,600 "supporters," but her posting of photos that included Perdue getting a flu shot last week drew more comments from detractors than admirers.

Within minutes of Perdue -- okay, one of her staff -- putting up the photos, eight commenters had checked in. Two, and possibly three, cheered her on: "Thank you, Governor Perdue, for all you are doing to make North Carolinians even safer!," wrote Gene Davis, of Raleigh.

The other five quips were less charitable, including Terry Smith's: "Be even better if you would stop spending money that the state doesn't have. don't do anymore backdoor dealing like the lottery thing please be for once open and honest."

Dana Weber Kincaid chided Perdue for getting a free flu shot, griping that Kincaid's kids can't get theirs for free until October, though she could pay and get them now.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall says it would take serious cash, $15 million or so, to mount a serious challenge to U.S. Sen. Richard Burr next year.

Marshall, a Democrat, told Hotline on Call, a National Journal blog that she is planning a second trip to Washington to meet with party officials and donors to "test the waters"

"Let's face it, it's hard to run a campaign in North Carolina," Marshall said. "You can't do it without some outside money. So these are the things I'm assessing."

Marshall has joined a Facebook group urging her to run.

"Elaine Marshall has never shied away from a challenge," the page explains. "Join our group to urge Secretary Marshall to run for U. S. Senate." 

Previously: Potential candidates for Senate 2010.

A Facebook group is trying to recruit Cal Cunningham to run for U.S. Senate.

The group was created by Democratic activist Frank Eaton after a speech at a recent Congressional district convention by the former state senator, who is pondering a run against U.S. Sen. Richard Burr. As of today, it had 400 members.

"A quick run-down of Cal's biography is enough to convince anybody that he'd be a formidable opponent against Burr," notes the group's mission statement.

Cunningham said he was aware of the group, and his wife, sister and sister-in-law are members. But he said he does not have any ties to it and warned that it does not signal anything about his intentions.

"I can tell you very frankly that I'm just having the conversation with fellow Democrats," he said. "(Attorney General Roy) Cooper's exit from the field was surprising to me, but it also raises the question of whether there's an opportunity for a guy to return to public service in a field that is wide open right now."

Meantime, Cunningham has 599 friends on his own Facebook profile, the bulk of which he says are personal and not political.

"I have been hearing from people that I know more remotely lately," he said.

The largest gay rights rally in state history was organized on Facebook.

Will Elliott, a 35-year-old Durham resident, was upset about the passage of a California initiative banning gay marriage last November.

He contacted a national group planning protests about holding something in Raleigh, but when no one got back to him after a few days, he went online.

Late on a Sunday, Elliott invited about 50 friends to a Facebook Events page, then was stunned when more than 300 said they would come by mid-week.

"We kept having to call the state back to update our application" for a permit, he said.

On the day of the rally, more than 1,400 showed up despite driving rain. Elliott is now planning a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots through his Facebook group, NC against H8.

He said his group is a counterpart to the more staid Equality North Carolina.

"The civil rights movement of the '60s and '70s didn't just have the NAACP," he said.

Carin Savel thinks Facebook is just another media outlet.

The legislative assistant joined a social networking group called Prevent School Violence North Carolina, which is advocating for an anti-bullying bill sponsored by her boss, Democratic Rep. Rick Glazier of Fayetteville.

She's since used the group to spread updates on the bill's passage through various committees and links to editorials about it.

"It's just getting the information out there," she said. "If people are sitting on Facebook and that's their only means of communication — which for some people it is — they get a chance to learn about the bill."

The group currently has 466 members, but Savel said she did not judge its success based on that number. She said many of those members have hundreds more friends, so when they comment on a item it gets further exposure.

She said Facebook is a very effective public relations tool.

"In the old days, you sent out a press release, and the general public would only see what the newspapers chose to write about," she said. "This way they get to hear it from the horse's mouth."

A UNC-Chapel Hill professor says Facebook's state bill groups have untapped potential.

Ryan Thornburg, who teaches journalism and new media, said that groups that have organized around specific state legislation could bring new people into the political process.

But first, the groups will have to expand significantly.

"The power isn't in the number of people you sign up per se," he said. "The value is the more people you get signed up, the wider your circle and the more of a chance you have of activating people who wouldn't normally be activated."

That could mean, for example, a member in Winston-Salem who might decide to attend a local protest or write their legislator.

Thornburg said that the groups' memberships, which are open to any Facebook user, could also be contacted by political candidates looking to draw disaffected voters.

"They're ripe for the harvesting," he said.

* Burley Mitchell tells N.C. Lawyers Weekly that a panel hopes to recommend U.S. attorneys and District Court judges to U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan by the end of May.

* U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick wants to make sure that people don't start using their cell phones on airplanes, notes recent experience with rude passenger.

* House bill to require parents or guardians to give written permission before a child could be spanked in school passes 91-24, heads to Senate.

* State Rep. Jimmy Love was not aware of a Facebook group with more than 8,000 members supporting his bill to end the high school graduation project.