A few more names have floated for Democratic Party chair.

Two insiders are considering moving up. Dannie Montgomery, currently the first vice chair and a longtime Anson County activist, is reportedly interested in the position, as is Luke Hyde of Bryson City, currently the 11th Congressional District chair.

In addition, Clinton fundraiser Richard Sullivan may be interested in either the chairmanship or a finance position.

As previously reported, Statesville attorney David Parker and state Rep. Grier Martin may also be candidates.

A Democratic insider tells Dome that all of the candidates are holding back from making too public of a race until Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue sends a clear signal of what she wants.

Current chair Jerry Meek will step down at the end of January.

Update: Martin says that he's not running.

"It's not anything that I'm interested in," he said. 

Who will replace Jerry Meek?

With all the speculation about who will be in Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue's Cabinet, who might run for U.S. Senate in 2010 and who will run the state GOP, you'd think the chattering classes would be content.

But of late they've also been guessing at who might run for chair of the N.C. Democratic Party.

Some of the early names to surface are David Parker, a Statesville attorney and presidential superdelegate who's reportedly long been interested in the job; and state Rep. Grier Martin, who is reportedly not interested.

Meek, who has run the party since 2004, is leaving to work for a law firm. His successor will be chosen at a meeting of the state Democratic Executive Committee on Jan. 31.

Although the party chair has typically been chosen by the governor, Meek won the job without Gov. Mike Easley's imprimatur. The major question is whether his successor will be another member of the grassroots, or someone who has worked with Perdue and party leaders before.

State Rep. Grier Martin says he doesn't regret his decision not to challenge U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Martin was openly recruited to run for the seat, back when the conventional wisdom was that Dole was safe. Of course, state Sen. Kay Hagan defeated Dole.

But before all that, Martin says he saw polling that suggested Dole was vulnerable.

"From the sole perspective of my political career, I was convinced that the odds were more than good enough to make a go at it," Martin told Dome in an e-mail. "There are, thank goodness, other perspectives more important, though. I would only have a regret if Dole had been re-elected, but fortunately for NC, we had a smart, tough, hard-charging candidate like Kay, who was clearly the best person to get the job done."

Many Democrats are celebrating tonight that Sen. Elizabeth Dole looks to be defeated.

But a few may have some regrets.

That would be: State Rep. Grier Martin and U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, who were openly recruited to run against Dole earlier this year and took a pass.

Others who had been under consideration: Attorney General Roy Cooper, Gov. Mike Easley and state Treasurer Richard Moore.

Moore, who lost a contentious Democratic primary to Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, would have been a particularly strong candidate given the recent economic troubles.

Still, there's no discounting the role that gender may have played. Any of the men above might have faced a trickier time running against Dole.

Other long shots: Retired Gen. Hugh Shelton and First Lady Mary Easley.

State Rep. Grier Martin said that John McCain is too focused on Iraq.

In a phone interview, the Raleigh Democrat countered some of the arguments made by a Veterans for McCain rally in Raleigh today, arguing that the Iraq war is diverting resources from Afghanistan.

Martin, who served in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003, is currently co-chairman of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's state veterans group.

He said that some of the progress he saw in that country is "coming undone" because the Bush administration "placed Afghanistan on the backburner" to fight the Iraq war.

"The attacks of Sept. 11 were plotted and launched by Al Qaeda leadership based in Afghanistan," he said. "If we fail in Afghanistan, we run the risk of it becoming another home for terrorism."

He said that long-term victory in Iraq will consist of a stable, Democratic government, but he argued that cannot be achieved with military action alone.

State Rep. Ric Killian says veterans will deliver North Carolina to John McCain.

The first-term Charlotte Republican, who serves as McCain's state veterans' coordinator, told Dome that North Carolina's military bases and large veterans population will help tilt the state red in the presidential race.

"Senator McCain was the only candidate in the spring of 2007 who has the experience and the judgement to be commander-in-chief, and he's the only candidate now," he said.

He said Iraq will be the "paramount issue" in the fall election, and he thinks veterans will not want to repeat what he argues are the mistakes of the Vietnam war.

"We as a nation chose to leave," he said. "Our military served very well but as a nation we lacked the will to see it through. That's some of the parallel that we see here in 2008. We have to stand firm in this global war on terrorism."

Killian, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, is one of only two reservists in the legislature. Coincidentally, the other, Rep. Grier Martin, is cochairman of Barack Obama's state veterans group. 

Rep. Grier Martin is focused on raising state workers' salaries.

The Raleigh Democrat said that his biggest budget-related goal this session will be to bring teachers' salaries closer to the national average and give state workers a pay raise.

He does not think Gov. Mike Easley's proposed 7 percent pay raise for teachers and 1.5 percent raise for state employees is enough, though he declined to give a specific percentage that he would like to see.

"We need more," he said, "but we've got to figure out how we're going to pay for that too."

Apart from the budget, Martin said he hopes the legislature does not rush a comprehensive transportation fix. He said that it's too big of an issue to solve in a short session, though he hopes the legislature will make progress on finishing Interstate 540 and providing light rail in the Triangle.

"We do not need to be solving the transportation issue (in the short session) because that is a problem that requires careful, well-informed thought and doesn't lend itself to a quick and dirty solution," he said. "We'll just screw it up."

Clarification: Martin said he supports a transportation bond this fall, but not an overhaul of the entire system in the short session. 

Barack Obama earned the endorsement of 29 state legislators today.

Led by Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand and former Speaker of the House Dan Blue, the lawmakers repeated the same lines as endorsers who have backed Obama before — that the Illinois senator can bring people together and ignite change across the country.

Blue also challenged the Clinton campaign to keep it positive in North Carolina, saying he had seen nothing but negativity so far in Pennsylvania.

"I hope this is not what we can should expect to come to North Carolina in the next two weeks," Blue said. "Tired old political tactics aren’t going to bring about the kind of change we need."

Blue and Rand said their support comes in part because Obama will help Democrats down the ticket, and because he has committed to win in North Carolina in November’s general election.

Rand said the group will raise money and stump for Obama if members are asked.

Rand also praised Obama’s ability to raise millions of dollars in part on the strength of $100 donations.

"We're prepared to do whatever. I mean, I'll give him a hundred," Rand said.

After the jump, the list of endorsements.

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Public Policy Polling also works for candidates.

The Democratic polling firm has become well known for its tracking polls on the presidential and gubernatorial races in North Carolina.

But it's also done surveys for more than a dozen state candidates, according to campaign finance reports on the State Board of Elections.

The firm has done work for state Reps. Bernard Allen and Grier Martin; state House candidate Ed Ridpath; state Sens. Clark Jenkins and Dan Clodfelter; and judicial candidates Wanda Bryant, Debra Sasser and Elizabeth McCrodden. In Raleigh, it's polled for Mayor Charles Meeker and City Councilman Thomas Crowder.

It's also polled for the Wake County Democratic Party, the N.C. Association of Educators PAC and the Conservation Council of North Carolina. 

The president of Public Policy Polling is a reliable Democratic donor.

In recent years, Dean Debnam has given thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates for state legislature, governor and U.S. Senate, according to campaign finance records.

His money has gone to local candidates for state office and some Democratic leaders.

He's given $2,000 apiece to state Sen. Janet Cowell and state House candidate Greer Beaty; $1,500 to state Rep. Deborah Ross; $1,250 to state House candidate Ed Ridpath; and $1,000 to Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight and state Rep. Grier Martin, among other donations.

He's also made sizable donations in years past to Govs. Mike Easley and Jim Hunt, U.S. Sen. John Edwards, Attorney General Roy Cooper and state House speaker Jim Black. 

In all, he's given at least $14,400 to state candidates in the past decade. (Figures in city and county races were not readily available.)

Debnam started the Democratic polling firm in 2002 as a side business. His regular job is as the chief executive officer at Workplace Options, a Raleigh consulting firm.