Barack Obama's crowds in North Carolina have gotten bigger.

Below are crowd estimates from events held during the primary and general election by the Democratic presidential candidate.

In all, they total 128,050, although presumably some people attended more than one rally.

Before Election Season:

Durham, Nov. 1, 2007: 4,000

Before Primary:

Fayetteville, March 19: 150
Charlotte, March 19: 2,500
Greensboro, March 26: 2,400
Raleigh, April 17: 2,000
Greenville, April 17: 8,000
Chapel Hill, April 28: 18,000
Winston-Salem, April 29: 2,000
Hickory, April 29: 2,500
Raleigh, May 2: 5,000
Charlotte, May 2: 9,000

On Primary Day:

Raleigh, May 6: 2,000

After Primary:

Raleigh, June 9: 500
Raleigh, Aug. 19: 2,500
Charlotte, Sept. 21: 20,000
Greensboro, Sept. 27: 20,000
Asheville, Oct. 5: 28,000

A robocall attacks Kay Hagan on state spending.

The Associated Builders and Contractors' Free Enterprise Alliance is making the automated calls to North Carolina voters arguing that the Democratic Senate candidate included costly projects in the state budget.

"In the state Senate, Hagan set out securing earmarks, state funding for theater programs," a woman says in the calls. "Her pet projects cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars."

The call makes a link between state spending and earmark reform, an issue being pushed nationally.

As a budget writer from 2003 to 2007, Hagan was known for bringing home the bacon: $1.5 million for an International Civil Rights Museum, $500,000 for Greensboro's Center City Park, $500,000 for the International Furnishings Market in High Point, and $10 million for a joint Millennium campus being developed by the UNC-Greensboro and N.C. A&T State University.

Technically, state legislators do not refer to their spending projects as "earmarks," although the concept is the same.

After the jump, the script.

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Republican Vice President candidate Sarah Palin will make her first appearance in North Carolina, with a stop at a fundraiser in Greensboro later this month.

Palin will be the attraction at a fundraiser at the home of Greensboro business man Louis DeJoy and former Ambassador Aldona Wos on October 16th to benefit the national ticket, according to DeJoy, who is state McCain/Palin chair, Rob Christensen reports.

Palin is substituting for President Bush who cancelled his scheduled event Tuesday at the DeJoy home because of the financial crisis in Washington.

It is not clear whether Palin will make any public appearances while in North Carolina.

This would be the first campaign appearance by either McCain or Palin in North Carolina since the primaries.

U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry said Barack Obama is only campaigning in "Democrat areas."

On a conference call this afternoon, the Cherryville Republican argued that recent rallies in Charlotte and Greensboro showed the Democratic presidential candidate was not reaching out to conservatives in North Carolina.

"He's made four visits in the last 30 days to North Carolina and not surprisingly he only made stops in Democrat areas," he said. "So much for being on the offensive in North Carolina. He's simply trying to gin up the Democrat base in Democrat counties."

Southeastern regional director Buzz Jacobs said that John McCain's campaign is "very pleased" with the state of the race in North Carolina right now, arguing that "rural conservatives" would not vote for Obama because of his stances on talks with rogue foreign leaders and taxes.

He said McCain is following the "Bush 2004 model," but they are "tweaking it a little bit to improve it."

When asked, campaign staffers on the call said they did not know yet whether McCain or his running mate, Sarah Palin, would visit North Carolina before Election Day.

It was the second conference call by McHenry for the McCain campaign in the general election.

Maybe it's because he was coming to town.

Or maybe he came to town because of it.

Whatever the reason, the presidential debate on Friday night was highly watched in the Triad.

In fact, the Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem market was the sixth highest by household rating, according to the Nielsen TV ratings company's blog.

That translates to about 285,000 households. 

Forget his economic plan.

Barack Obama is already boosting one part of the North Carolina economy: Swag.

At a rally in Greensboro today, people associated with the Obama campaign and hustlers with no connection alike sold T-shirts and hats with his face and other memorabilia.

There were ponchos, mousepads, playing cards (with John McCain as the Joker) and teddy bears. Vendors selling soda, Hawaiian ices and fresh-squeezed lemonade also did brisk business.

Kevin Ross, 40, of Brown Summit, said he would give the playing cards a whirl at his biweekly game of Spades.

"I'm going to use them tonight," he said.

A more unusual item turned out to have a practical purpose: A 100-percent cotton hand towel with Obama's face on it might turn out to be a steal at $5 if the rain started coming, since umbrellas were forbidden inside the rally.

People didn't just pick things up, they also left them behind. Dozens of umbrellas were left along February One Street as attendees heard that they could not bring them inside.

More than 20,000 people attended a Barack Obama rally in Greensboro today.

That estimate comes from Capt. J.E. Wolfe of the Greensboro police department. 

The VIPs in the crowd in Greensboro were more local.

At a rally for Barack Obama today, the highest-ranking candidate for state office was Agriculture Commissioner candidate Ronnie Ansley.

Obama gave him a shout-out and recognized Congressional candidates Roy Carter and Teresa Sue Bratton, Greensboro Mayor Yevonne Johnson and state Rep. Pricey Harrison.

Also at the event: State Rep. Alma Adams and state Cultural Resources secretary Libba Evans.

Not present: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue or Senate candidate Kay Hagan, who is from Greensboro.

Update: The inestimable Mark Binker of the News & Record says he spotted Rep. Earl Jones as well.

Second Update: A spokeswoman for Hagan said she had a previously scheduled event. 

Kirk Webb went from one swing state to another.

The environmental engineer moved to the Triad in July when his partner of 16 years landed a job at UNC-Greensboro. Previously, they'd lived in Colorado, where they volunteered for phone banks for Barack Obama and went to the state's caucuses.

His one regret was that they left before the Denver convention. 

Still wearing his "Colorado for Obama" T-shirt, Webb said he'd seen a lot of his independent-minded friends back there moving toward Obama out of frustration with the Bush administration's policies, but he wasn't sure about his new home.

"I think he has a great chance in Colorado," he said. "He has a good chance in North Carolina." 

His partner, Brian Sevier, said he'd noticed an uptick in involvement among the education students he teaches. Though his students have been interested in elections in the past, they seem more likely to go out and campaign for Obama.

"It's really great to see that enthusiasm," he said. "That' something this country hasn't seen in 30 years — at least as long as any of them have been alive."