Roy Cooper is still fighting a lawsuit from 2000.

The state's attorney general, currently running for a third term, is defending himself against a defamation lawsuit filed by his Republican opponent in 2000.

The lawsuit centers on a campaign commercial from that year and could set a national precedent over whether a candidate can successfully sue an opponent over a political ad.

The ad criticized Dan Boyce and his law firm for seeking a large fee in a class-action tax case against the state. Boyce argues that he didn't work on the case; his father did.

His father, Gene Boyce, said Cooper's lawyers are responsible for much of the slowdown.

"They know how to drag a case out," he said. (Char-O) 

Robert Pittenger received $1.5 million in contributions by mid-April of 2008.

The candidate for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor raised $274,404 in the first quarter of 2008, according to his most recent campaign finance report.

Major donors included Raleigh developer Justus Ammons, Raleigh attorney Gene Boyce, Charlotte surgeon Todd Crowley, Eagle Limited chairman Buster Glosson and Holt Hosiery chairman Ralph Holt.

He received $9,250 from political action committees, including Time Warner Cable N.C. PAC, Presbyterian Anesthesia Associates PAC, Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants PAC, and Parker Poe PAC.

In addition, he received a $500,000 loan from his wife, Suzanne, in December. 

He spent on $969,460 office expenses, mailing, postage, Web site maintenance, consulting, and staff salaries in the first quarter of the year.

That left him with $331,809 in cash on hand. 

An attorney on Monday filed notice of his intent to sue Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and her campaign on behalf of an insurance broker caught in the crossfire between Perdue and her rival for the Democratic nomination for governor, state Treasurer Richard Moore.

Raleigh attorney Gene Boyce said his client, State Insurance Services, is seeking unspecified monetary damages for defamation and unfair trade practices, Dan Kane reports.

Perdue's campaign ran a television ad for several days earlier this month alleging that State Insurance Services had won a contract from Moore's office to market insurance policies to retirees because the company's principals had given "huge" contributions to Moore's campaigns. The ad also said that retirees were overcharged for the policies.

The company said it won the business through a competitive request for proposals seven years ago, and that a small percentage of retirees were overcharged in cases of mistaken billings that were later cleared up.

Perdue's campaign could not be reached for comment. The campaign ended the TV ad by Wednesday, shortly after Boyce complained about it, but a campaign spokesman continued to stand by its claims. The next day Perdue said she would not run any more negative ads for the remainder of the primary contest.

Boyce said no lawsuit would have been filed if the Perdue campaign had retracted the TV ad and apologized for its claims.

"I don't know why they never responded to me," he said.

Previously: Fact-checking Perdue's ad.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Boyce had already filed a lawsuit.

Update: David Kochman, a spokesman for Perdue's campaign, said this afternoon: "We stand by the content of our ad, and will review any of the legal documents they send to us."

Bob Orr raised $227,873 by the end of 2007.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate raised $217,153 from large donors, including Raleigh attorney Gene Boyce, Square One Bank CEO Richard Casey and conservative philanthropist Art Pope.

He raised $3,620 from donors who gave less than $50, $1,500 from the Embarq and Coca-Cola PACs and $600 from the campaigns of state Rep. Carolyn Justus and former Wake County Commissioner Phil Jeffreys, according to a campaign finance report filed last week.

In addition, he loaned his campaign $5,000.

At the same time, Orr spent $225,660 on rent, staff salaries, gas, phone bills and fundraising letters.

That left him with $2,212 in cash on hand.