The homeland security pie was big enough for House members outside the Triangle to get a piece.

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield sponsored $600,000 for an emergency operations center in Greenville. U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell secured $650,000 in the bill for a similar center in Scotland County. McDowell Hospital in Marion would get $220,000 for a disaster preparation program, thanks to U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, and U.S. Rep. Howard Coble sponsored $425,000 for disaster preparation in the city of Kannapolis.

Butterfield, Kissell and Shuler are Democrats. Coble is a Republican.

All of the projects depend on the full House and then the Senate passing the homeland security bill.

It's time to refresh the old cup of Senate tea leaves.

The Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 2010 continues to be completely wide open, though it's increasingly clear that most of the major state officials will pass on it.

Here's the latest conventional wisdom:

THE LAST BIG HOPE: Washington Democrats and national political pundits continue to search for a brand name. U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre is still toying with a run, and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall has lately dipped her toe in the water. A definitive "no" has not come from state Sen. Dan Blue yet.

DARK HORSES: Former state Sen. Cal Cunningham leads the pack of dark horses, though former Obama fundraiser Kenneth Lewis can't be counted out. Marshall's legislative liaison, Robert Wilson, told the Insider he was flirting with the idea, but he never returned Dome's calls and he would not likely run against his boss.

WHO'S NOT RUNNING: U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler, Bob Etheridge and Brad Miller, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, Attorney General Roy Cooper, state Sen. Malcolm Graham, state Reps. Grier Martin and Tricia Cotham, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, and Elizabeth Edwards have all said no. Of course, so did Kay Hagan in 2008.

In Dome's view, Marshall may actually make a run for it: 1) She's interested, since she ran for Senate in 2002; 2) she wouldn't lose her day job (unlike McIntyre or Blue); and 3) at 63, this is probably her last chance to do it. 

That said, Cunningham has a good biography and seems to be exciting the netroots. 

* Liberal blogger Doug Gibson outlines 10 things North Carolinians should know about the state's budget problems.

* Conservative blogger Justin Thibault says proposals to require loyalty oaths and close state Republican primaries are bad ideas.

* Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza is still convinced that either U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre or Rep. Bob Etheridge will run for Senate. 

* Meantime, Rep. Heath Shuler's got troubles of his own, receiving criticism for the appearance of preferential treatment on water access. 

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler has shot down a Senate bid again.

Speaking at a groundbreaking in Asheville, the Waynesville Democrat said he would not run against U.S. Sen. Richard Burr in 2010, according to the Hendersonville Times-News:

"I am not running for Senate," the second-term Democrat said after a ground-breaking ceremony for a new building at the Bent Creek Experimental Forest Station in Asheville. "I am not running for Senate. I am not running for Senate. I have said that a thousand times, and I don't know why they keep coming up (with the idea). Of course they keep coming up and running polls."

Shuler previously pondered — then rejected — a run for Senate, but some Democrats had floated his name again after Attorney General Roy Cooper declined to run. 

Others who have said no to a run on the Democratic side: U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge and Brad Miller, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, state Sen. Malcolm Graham, state Reps. Tricia Cotham and Grier Martin and Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker.

Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr seems amused by the chatter across the aisle about who wants to take him on in 2010.

In an interview last week, Burr shrugged off repeated surveys by Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling about potential opponents.

The firm has pitched Burr against a variety of potential Democratic contenders, most of whom have dropped out of the race, Barb Barrett reports.

"I think it's ridiculous to go through hypothetical head-to-heads," Burr said.

"The next election is not even something I'm thinking about. Nor should I, until I know who I'm running against," he said.

Burr said he hasn't run any of his own polls yet.

"Why should I poll?" he asked. "I don't know who I'm running against."

Democrats considering a challenge are Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, Iraq war vet Cal Cunningham, Durham lawyer Kenneth Lewis and U.S. Reps. Mike McIntyre and Heath Shuler.

Burr said Shuler called him this spring to say he wasn't going to run, though he knows that isn't set in stone.

"He has every right to change his mind," Burr said.

Congressman Heath Shuler’s Asheville office will be picketed Saturday by a human rights group opposed to his recent two-day visit to Sri Lanka.

Shuler, a possible Democratic Senate candidate next year, recently visited the island country off the coast of India which just concluded a lengthy civil war.

The ethnic group that recently lost the civil war, the Tamils, are protesting Shuler’s trip that was sponsored by the Sri Lankan government.

The human rights group, Tamils Against Genocide, are angry with Shuler’s comments commending the condition of the refugee camps, where thousands caught between the warring factions are held.

"I congratulate the Sri Lankan government on their victory against terrorism in their country," Shuler said in a statement Thursday. "I also commend the remarkable work and efforts of the government of Sri Lanka in putting together the camps in such a short period of time."

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall's name has not been on any Democratic U.S. Senate lists, but maybe she should be.

Marshall said running against Republican Sen. Richard Burr next year is something she might consider, although she is not actively testing the waters  now.

"It's on my radar screen," Marshall said. "I have not excluded myself from that. Right now we have a world of hurt down at the General Assembly."

Marshall, a 63-year old Lillington attorney and former state senator, became the first woman, to win a state-wide executive office in 1996, when she defeated NASCAR legend Richard Petty. She has been easily re-elected since then.

But her one effort to move up fell far short, when she finished third in the 2002 Senate primary behind Erskine Bowles, now the University of North Carolina president, and former House Speaker Dan Blue, now a state senator.

Bowles won 43 percent, Blue 29 percent and Marshall 15 percent.

More after the jump.

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Cal Cunningham got some more favorable press.

The former state senator is mentioned prominently in an article in the Washington-based Roll Call newspaper about prospects for the 2010 Senate race:

Former Tar Heel state Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek said this week that if Cunningham were to enter the race, he would be someone who would have to be taken seriously.

"He's got an excellent profile in terms of his biography," Meek said. "He's perceived as being a little bit more liberal than, say, Mike McIntyre and Heath Shuler."

If one of the Congressmen decides to run and the DSCC and local party leaders can’t clear the field, Cunningham could be a dark horse in a primary where the electorate would be mostly hard-core Democrats in a midterm election.

"There's certainly going to be some folks who perceive Shuler or McIntyre as being too conservative," he said.

The article also notes that U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler or Mike McIntyre would be considered frontrunners if they jumped in the race, and says state Sen. Dan Blue, former Obama fundraiser Kenneth Lewis and Rep. Brad Miller are also "being mentioned." 

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming passed — again — a resolution that would allow the Lumbee Indian tribe to receive federal recognition.

The bill has passed the House three times in recent years but continually stalled in the Senate, Barb Barrett reports.

Federal recognition would allow the Lumbee tribe, based in Robeson County, to receive federal housing and education benefits. The bill has been opposed by members who represent other tribes, including Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry and Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler, both from the Cherokee region of western North Carolina.

Congress singled out the tribe in 1956 and said it could not be recognized by the Bureau. Now, many opponents say the Lumbee would be improperly bypassing the bureaucratic path to recognition. McHenry and Shuler offered an amendment that would have allowed the Lumbee to go through the process, overturning the 1956 law.

But in an impassioned speech U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Lumberton Democrat, said the bill is more about justice.

More after the jump.

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* U.S. Rep. Howard Coble received an award from the American Conservative Union; his lifetime rating is 89.21 over 24 years.

* Democratic pollster Tom Jensen thinks state Sens. John Snow or Joe Sam Queen would make good candidates for Rep. Heath Shuler's seat.

* Greensboro News-Record reporter Mark Binker says Gov. Beverly Perdue quashed a rumor that she would submit a do-over on the budget.

* Charlotte Observer columnist Jack Betts gives state schools CEO Bill Harrison props for speaking out for a tax hike for education.