President Barack Obama’s popularity is slipping in North Carolina as the unemployment numbers continue to climb.

Obama’s approval rating is at 50 percent, down from a high of 54 percent in April, according to a new statewide survey by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning firm in Raleigh, reports Rob Christensen.

Although Obama's approval numbers are in decline, they are still higher than North Carolina’s two senators or governor, as well as those of former President George W. Bush.

Obama has the highest support in urban areas such as the Triangle, Charlotte, and in the northeastern part of the state. He is very popular among African-Americans.

His weakest support is in the mountains.

Obama surprised many people by carrying North Carolina -- a traditionally Republican-leaning state in presidential contests -- by a narrow margin in November.

The survey of 784 registered voters was taken June 12-14 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.

A retired Maine reporter filed a grievance with the N.C. State Bar over former Sen. John Edwards' law license.

Ted Cohen, a longtime reporter for the Portland Press Herald who now drives long-haul trucks, filed the complaint in August.

In it, he argued that Edwards' statements to the press about his affair with former campaign staffer Rielle Hunter were "unbecoming" to the legal profession.

"He has brought shame and dishonor to the bar," he wrote.

A spokeswoman for the bar would not confirm the complaint as a matter of policy, but a letter sent to Cohen by Deputy Counsel Jennifer Porter said they would investigate the matter.

Edwards' license was put on inactive status on April 14, 2000. He does not have any public record of disciplinary actions.

More after the jump.

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* By percent, how much N.C. likes recent presidents in a poll: Reagan (44), Obama (29), Clinton (18), W. Bush (6), H.W. Bush (3).

* Liberal commentator Chris Fitzsimon, among others, takes issue with N&O/Char-O story about a "liberal shift" in the state legislature.

* Greensboro News-Record columnist Doug Clark argues that George Holding should be allowed to stay on the Easley, Edwards cases.

* U.S. Sen. Richard Burr finds "being the minority is liberating" because the majority sets the agenda and he can "delve into policy." 

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr said he is disappointed that President Obama released memos from the Bush administration.

In an e-mail to Dome, the Winston-Salem Republican said that making public the memos from the Office of Legal Counsel supporting the brutal interrogation methods used by the CIA could hurt the troops and help terrorists.

"I am disappointed that the Administration chose, over the objections of some of our most respected intelligence experts, to selectively release for seemingly political purposes, highly classified OLC memos detailing the legal analysis relating to the CIA’s sensitive interrogation techniques," he said.

He also said that the torture methods outlined in a recent Senate Armed Services Committee report were "shocking," but they would not happen again.

"The unfortunate incidents outlined in the recently released Armed Services Committee report that occurred at some of our nation’s detention facilities were shocking and damaged our reputation in the global community, but measures have been taken to prevent occurrences like this from happening in the future," he said. 

Previously: Sen. Kay Hagan 'deeply concerned' by report. 

Freshman Sen. Kay Hagan voted for a bill to expand the health insurance program for children, but not before making a symbolic effort to reduce the size of the cigarette tax hike that pays for it.

The Senate vote Thursday night to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program to 11 million low-income children. The $32.8 billion expansion will be paid for by raising the federal cigarette tax from 39 cents per pack to $1 per pack.

Hagan, along with fellow tobacco-state Democrat Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, offered an amendment to raise the cigarette tax instead to just 76 cents per pack. But after offering the amendment, they withdrew it because it was clear that Senate Democratic leadership wanted the bill.

The measure passed by a 66-32 vote in the Senate in a largely party-line vote. North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr voted against it.

Hagan expressed dismay that the health insurance program was funded entirely with tobacco taxes, but ultimately voted for the measure.

"Less than a month into my service here in the U.S. Senate," Hagan told the Senate, "I'm faced with a situation in which the health of thousands of my state’s children are at odds with a key industry in North Carolina."

"But ultimately," Hagan said, "I had to vote on behalf of the 10 million low-income and disadvantaged children this bill helps."

The measure, which had earlier passed the House, now goes to the White House where President Obama is expected to sign it next week. President Bush had previously vetoed the bill.

Two prominent North Carolina conservatives oppose two of President Obama's appointments.

Bob Luddy, a major Republican donor and founder of CaptiveAire, and GOP political consultant Marc Rotterman are among the 14 conservatives who signed a recent letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

The letter states that they oppose the confirmations of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Attorney General Eric Holder and "ethical and philosophical grounds."

It notes that Geithner failed to pay income tax in previous years. It does not state any specific objections to Holder, though some conservatives have complained about his role in Bill Clinton's pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

"This is a seminal moment for the GOP," the letter reads. "Will it continue as the party of George Bush, or will it return to its populist roots of Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater?"

Oddly, the letter ends by asking McConnell to oppose the confirmation of "these three men," but it does not mention a third appointee.

Other signatories include the editor of RedState.com, the director of the American Conservative Union, the publisher of the American Spectator magazine and direct-mail pioneer Richard Viguerie.

Update: Dome was inadvertently sent a previous version. The final version reads "these two men."

Raleigh resident Jim Cain, the U.S ambassador to Denmark, received an award from Queen Margarethe.

Her majesty gave Cain the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Dannebrog, the highest order the Danish government can give a foreigner, Rob Christensen reports.

The Queen said she was giving the honor "for making such extraordinary contributions, during difficult times to strengthening the bonds between Denmark and America."

Cain, a Raleigh attorney, is former president of the Carolina Hurricanes. Long active in Republican politics, Cain was a major fund raiser for President Bush.

It seems that "chunked" is in common use.

Here are a few examples culled from North Carolina newspapers in recent years of the verb "to chunk" being used instead of "to chuck" (as used by former Gov. Mike Easley and President George W. Bush):

* Food correspondent Debbie Moose, in a March 23, 2008, article about Duke mayonnaise: "And she chunked another jar of Big D into our cart."

* Charlotte Observer sports writer Ron Green Jr. writing about Padraig Harrington at the British Open on July 23, 2007: "When Harrington chunked his 229-yard third shot into the water, visions of Van de Velde danced in every head."

* Winston-Salem Journal writer Lenox Rawlings writing about football on Jan. 9, 2006: "The Carolina Panthers, striving for legendary status as the NFL's ultimate playoff road team, read that conventional scouting report and chunked it into the Hudson River yesterday."

* Durham Herald-Sun columnist Jason Hawkins discussing a fishing trip on Aug. 3, 2003: "He said, something was wrong with the cantaloupe, and he chunked his half overboard."

The word seems to be mostly used in the context of golf, but other sports writers use it a lot as well. That could be because sports writers use a more colloquial voice or possibly because more of them are Southerners.

Another Southerner is defending "chunk."

"You folks from Charlotte need to come to eastern North Carolina more often," writes reader Artemis Kares. "Chunk can be and is used to mean throw."

Kares cited the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, which dates the term to 1825-35.

— verb (used with object) South Midland and Southern U.S.
1. to toss or throw; chuck: chunking pebbles at the barn door.
2. to make or rekindle (a fire) by adding wood, coal, etc., or by stoking (sometimes followed by up).

The dictionary adds that it is perhaps a "nasalized" variant of "to chuck."

As a side note, the Seattle-bred Domester would find it easier to avoid mocking this particular Southernism if it weren't defined by such Snuffy Smith-worthy examples as "chunking pebbles at the barn door." 

A Southerner is defending "chunking" it.

Reader Bruce Sharer writes that Southerners often use the verb "to chunk" as a variant of "to chuck," meaning to discard or toss.

Dome had wondered why former Gov. Mike Easley and President George W. Bush both used the word instead of the more familiar "chucked."

But Sharer says it's no big deal, citing as authority the Urban Dictionary, a collaborative online dictionary of slang that frequently verges on offensive: "Southern for chuck it. 1. To discard. 2. To toss."

"Perhaps you are not from down here, i.e., the South," Sharer writes, unintentionally echoing every Southern TV or movie sheriff from the past 40 years. "Number two may explain why Gov. Easley and Pres. Bush used the word chunk."

In fairness, Dome hisself is not from the South, but our more Southern-fried colleagues also thought the word strange.