Durham lawyer Hampton Dellinger has received endorsements from the N.C. Police Benevolent Association and a group of former federal prosecutors in his bid to be one of the new U.S. attorneys in North Carolina.

The police association dispatched a letter two weeks ago to President Barack Obama. Last month a group of 29 former prosecutors and former U.S. Justice Department lawyers sent their own endorsement to White House Counsel Gregory Craig. Dome obtained copies of the letters.

Dellinger, who was legal counsel to then-Gov. Mike Easley from 2001 to 2003 and a N.C. Justice Department lawyer before that, is one of three people whose names were submitted to the White House for U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina by U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan. 

(Read the letters by clicking below.)

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan wants to keep Republican U.S. Attorney George Holding on, for now, to continue his investigation into former Gov. Mike Easley.

But she submitted names to President Barack Obama for a new person to handle all other, non-Easley-related matters in the Eastern District, reports Barb Barrett.

Among Hagan’s recommendations for the U.S. attorney Eastern District, based in Raleigh, are well-known lawyers Benjamin David, Hampton Dellinger and Thomas Walker, according to a release from Hagan's office.

David is District Attorney for New Hanover and Pender counties. Dellinger, a partner in the law firm of Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson, has experience working with local, state and federal law enforcement. Walker, a partner at Alston and Bird, LLP, concentrates on complex federal and state government investigations and white-collar defense.

A newly elected president traditionally appoints new federal prosecutors from his own party based on recommendations from senators. Any nominee must be confirmed by the Senate.

In her letter to Obama about the situation, Hagan wrote:

“As I have previously discussed with the Office of the White House Counsel, it is my belief that the current U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, George Holding, should be allowed to complete the ongoing investigations of public officials in the state.”

She continued: “During my conversations with the Office of the White House Counsel, there was an interest expressed by the Counsel’s office to potentially appoint a separate individual to begin handling other matters not related to these investigations. Should you decide to do so, the following names are provided for your consideration.”

Holding has been investigating Easley’s ties to campaign donors and other prominent North Carolina leaders. Just this week he issued subpoenas seeking records related to the Department of Motor Vehicles under Easley’s watch.

Another name has surfaced for U.S. attorney in the Middle District.

Former assistant U.S. attorney and Wake Forest University School of Law professor Jennifer Collins is reportedly under consideration for the federal prosecutor job in the district that includes Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Durham.

Former lieutenant governor candidate Hampton Dellinger is campaigning for the post as well. 

The unofficial campaigns for U.S. attorney are almost over.

Although U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan and Attorney General nominee Eric Holder have not taken any official steps towards appointing the state's three federal prosecutors, the long list of candidates appears to have been culled a bit. 

Western District: Former Congressional candidate and assistant Wake County prosecutor Daniel Johnson of Hickory is reportedly the leading candidate in the district that is centered on Charlotte. The post is currently held by Gretchen C.F. Shappert. 

Middle District: Former lieutenant governor candidate Hampton Dellinger is reportedly the leading candidate for a gig as a federal prosecutor in the district that includes Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Durham. The post is currently held by Anna Mills Wagoner.

Eastern District: Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand (son of the state Senate majority leader) is reportedly competing with Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson for the district that is centered on Raleigh. The post is currently held by George E.B. Holding.

As noted previously, the Eastern District position is important in state investigations in corruption, Hagan says she'll consider resumes and references, and past U.S. attorneys have had a strong political patron.

Hampton Dellinger is lobbying to become a U.S. attorney.

As previously noted on Dome, the former candidate for lieutenant governor and legal counsel to Gov. Mike Easley is one of a number of names that has been put forward for federal prosecutor.

Over the weekend, The Durham Herald-Sun reported that Dellinger is lobbying to become U.S. attorney for either the Middle or Eastern districts of North Carolina:

Dellinger — the son of Duke University law professor emeritus and former acting U.S. Solicitor General Walter Dellinger — recently contacted Durham Mayor Bill Bell to ask Bell for help in securing the appointment.

"I've known the mayor and think highly of him and know he's highly regarded," Hampton Dellinger said on Friday. "I wanted to let him know of my interest and relevant experience."

Bell, an early supporter of Barack Obama's, said he didn't see any reason not to support Dellinger.

"I'm sure other people are going to be looking at it, too," he told the paper.

UNITE HERE spent $16,500 in 2008 races.

The retail workers union gave $8,000 apiece to Treasurer-elect Janet Cowell, $4,000 each to lieutenant governor primary candidate Hampton Dellinger and gubernatorial primary candidate Richard Moore and $500 to Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, all Democrats.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the donations. 

The Teamsters spent $334,117 on North Carolina races in 2008.

The DRIVE political action committee of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters gave to 37 candidates for state offices, including eight running for Council of State positions, according to campaign finance reports.

The largest individual recipients were state Treasurer-elect Janet Cowell, who received $8,067, and unsuccessful labor commissioner candidate Mary Fant Donnan, who received $6,000. Both positions are considered important to labor, with the treasurer overseeing the state pension fund.

Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, Lt. Gov.-elect Walter Dalton and primary rival Hampton Dellinger, Attorney General Roy Cooper, Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall also received significant donations.

The Teamsters also gave $202,500 to the N.C. Democratic Party, $30,000 to the Democratic Senate Caucus and $15,000 to the Democratic House Caucus and made small donations to the Carolina Drive Chapter 1, Hear Our Public Employees and the Wake County Democratic Party.

They also gave $13,000 total to 11 incumbent senators, including Senate leaders Tony Rand and Marc Basnight and Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger; and $20,000 total to 18 incumbent representatives, including Speaker Joe Hackney.

Berger was the only Republican and Donnan the only challenger to an incumbent to receive donations.

Update: Figures updated to include two last-minute donations to the Democratic Party. 

Hampton Dellinger has repaid his parents — a little.

The candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor received $535,000 in loans from his parents, Anne and Walter Dellinger of Chapel Hill.

The senior Dellinger is a noted attorney and former solicitor general in the Clinton administration.

According to his most recent campaign finance report, Hampton Dellinger repaid his parents $20,000 of the loans on June 19, a little over a month after the primary in which he came in second.

That amounts to about 3.7 percent of the money they loaned him. 

The report also showed that Dellinger had $39,166 in cash on hand at the end of the campaign, which could make repaying the remaining $515,000 difficult. 

Hampton Dellinger is moving into private practice.

The former candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor has joined the recently established office of Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson in Chapel Hill.

Dellinger, who previously worked as legal counsel to Gov. Mike Easley, will handle commercial litigation and regulatory issues.

"Hampton worked with our firm years ago when he was in law school, and we've kept in touch ever since," said firm partner Robert Griffin. 

Dellinger joins corporate attorney Jeffrey Hart in the office. 

Barack Obama will give a speech on the economy at the N.C. State Fairgrounds today.

Dome is at the event, where doors opened about a half hour ago.

So far, we've spotted a few of the usual suspects: U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, state Sen. Floyd McKissick, state Reps. Dan Blue and Ty Harrell, former lieutenant governor candidate Hampton Dellinger, former Raleigh City Councilman Brad Thompson and Capstrat founder Ken Eudy.

The campaign of Sen. Janet Cowell, who is running for state treasurer and lives nearby, is handing out fliers at the front of the Exposition Center building.

Update: Also in the crowd: Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, House Speaker Joe Hackney, Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, superdelegate David Parker, former state Auditor Ralph Campbell, state Reps. Linda Coleman and Jennifer Weiss, and Raleigh businessman John Crumpler.

State Treasurer Richard Moore just wandered through the press section by mistake and Dome asked what he was doing in our less illustrious section of the room.

"I don't know, but I'm going to do my best to get out of here," he said.