A platoon of veterans warning that global climate change creates potential national security threats wrapped up their North Carolina bus tour in Charlotte this morning.

The Veterans for American Power Tour was scheduled to stop at the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial on East 3rd Street in Charlotte at 10 a.m. today, with Anthony Foxx, city councilman and Democratic candidate for mayor, speaking.

The tour was organized by Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and national security groups trying to raise awareness about the national security threats posed by climate change and the importance of an economy that's not tied to fossil fuels.

The group stopped in Raleigh, Fayetteville and Greensboro on Wednesday.

Gov. Beverly Perdue is scheduled to meet with President Obama Friday during his trip to Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base, according to her office.

This will be her second meeting with the president this week. Earlier, she was in Washington attending a meeting of the National Governors Association. While in D.C., she attended a White House dinner thrown for the governors, Rob Christensen reports.

Sen. Kay Hagan is also planning to be with Obama, who is expected  to outline his plans for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield of Wilson, was one of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus who met Thursday with Obama in the White House.

Butterfield said asked the president to protect working families from any financial fallout from the greenhouse gas reduction policy.

"When climate change legislation is enacted, poor people could be forced to bear a disproportionate share of the pain," Butterfield said. "We have an obligation to avoid this."

* U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler raised "a six-figure sum" at a fundraiser in Raleigh Monday featuring former President Bill Clinton, according to a spokesman.

* State Rep. Pricey Harrison said she's going to push again for a law that would require new cars sold here to emit fewer gases blamed for global warming.

* Democratic pollster Tom Jensen argues Civitas' polling on the 2010 Senate race was affected by the fact they don't include party affiliation for the candidates.

* Bill deadlines. House: April 1 for local bills, April 8 for non-budget, May 6 for budget. Senate: March 11 for local and March 25 non-budget. Crossover is May 14.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is voting with the Democrats more lately.

The Salisbury Republican has broken with her party more this year than she did in 2007, according to an analysis of her voting record by The Hill, a Washington-based political paper.

Leaving out missed votes and bills that both parties favored, Dole voted against a majority of her party 25.5 percent of the time this year, versus 6.6 percent in 2007, 6.4 percent in the 2005-06 session and 4.3 percent in the 2003-04 session.

Dole was one of seven Republicans who voted for a climate-change bill, among other things:

Some of Dole’s most significant breaks with the GOP include backing a Democratic economic stimulus measure, supporting Medicare legislation that Bush vetoed, endorsing an amendment to expand children's healthcare coverage to pregnant women and voting for an expansive amendment to lengthen dwell-time for troops before they return to Iraq.

In an interview with the paper, Dole said that she is voting for what's "best for the people of my state," saying she was not moving to the middle because of the upcoming election.

Democratic opponent Kay Hagan's campaign e-mailed a link to the story to reporters.

What bipartisan efforts has U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole worked on?

At Dome's request, the Salisbury Republican's staffers sent a list of bipartisan efforts that she is most proud of from the past six years:

* Climate Change: Dole co-sponsored a "cap and trade" bill to reduce carbon emissions by Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman and Republican John Warner this session.

* Military Family Leave: Dole co-sponsored a bill by Sen. Hillary Clinton to allow some workers 12-month leaves to care for family members wounded in action.

* Lumbee Recognition: Dole worked with Gov. Mike Easley, U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski, among others, on legislation to recognize the Lumbee tribe.

* Tobacco Quota Buyout: Dole worked with U.S. Reps. McIntyre and Bob Etheridge on a tobacco quota buyout program included in a 2004 jobs bill.

* Catching Fugitives: Dole co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Richard Durbin to give law enforcement agencies help capturing fugitives from the U.S. Marshals.

Dole's staffers also cited her work on 211 expansion with Clinton, creating infrastructure bonds with Sen. Ron Wyden, requiring a White House conference on nutrition with Sen. John Kerry, demanding Iraq fund a greater share of its reconstruction with Sen. Ben Nelson, and amending trade adjustment laws and calling for an Oil and Gas Market Fraud Task Force with Sen. Maria Cantwell.

Previously: Dole's Democratic cosponsors 2003-08.

Don't get your hopes up about a Lieberman-Dole climate change bill.

In Raleigh today for a meeting with the Disabled American Veterans group, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole told Dome she was dismayed that the Climate Security Act failed in the Senate today.

"It's unfortunate, but that's it for now," said Dole, who had voted to move the bill forward.

Since Republican co-sponsor John Warner will be retiring at the end of the session, Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman is reportedly looking for a new member of the GOP to push a revamped bill in next year's session. Dole was asked if she would be interested.

"I think we have to wait and see how things evolve, what happens," she said. "You've got to really have an opportunity to look at the language." 

Dole was a cosponsor of the bill introduced in October, but she was not the lead Republican. 

She said she hopes a future bill will include provisions to promote nuclear power and exploration of potential oil fields "in areas where people want it" — specifically the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"People don't want it in North Carolina, but in Alaska they're begging for it," she said. 

Several Dome readers have asked questions about the climate change bill.

As noted earlier, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole was an unlikely co-sponsor of a bill to create a "cap-and-trade" system for carbon emissions that failed today.

One reader asked how the bill would have created the initial credits. Barb Barrett of our D.C. bureau says they would have been given away, and then auctioned. A summary is here, and the San Francisco Chronicle goes into detail here. 

Another reader asked how long ago Dole changed her mind on global warming. Obviously that's a tougher question to answer, but Barrett notes that Dole was one of the original 11 co-sponsors of the bill when it was introduced last October.

As expected, the U.S. Senate failed to get the votes needed to proceed with a massive climate change bill airmed at reducing greenhouse gases 60 percent by 2050.

The procedural vote on cloture — which needed 60 ayes to pass — failed by a vote of 48-36 this morning. The bill is essentially dead for the year, Barb Barrett reports.

Sen. Elizabeth Dole, an original co-sponsor of the Climate Security Act and one of its few Republican supporters, voted yes.

"I am proud to have been a part of crafting this bill, which marked a breakthrough in America's commitment to addressing the serious problem of climate change," Dole, of Salisbury, said in a statement.

Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, voted no. He opposed the bill because he didn’t like the cap-and-trade system, and because he wanted the chance to offer amendments, which was prevented by Democratic leadership.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole decided a year ago that climate change was real.

As the U.S. Senate casts a historic vote on the first comprehensive bill aimed at global warming, the Salisbury Republican is an unusual supporter.

"I think it's very important that we move on this, because the costs of inaction are just too great," Dole said in an interview Thursday. "The data became more and more voluminous."

She was further persuaded by two Senate buddies — Independent Joe Lieberman and Republican John Warner — who talked to her about the impact of climate change on national security.

The bill will allow companies to "buy" credits in exchange for emitting carbon. Political analysts say that Dole's support for the bill, which is expected to fail, had "national ramifications."

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr opposes the bill, saying it would hurt the Southeast because of its effects on coal-powered plants. (N&O)