Nine groups spent $757,926 soliciting state legislators last year.

According to a compilation of reports filed with the N.C. Secretary of State, three-fourths of the money was spent by the Partnership for North Carolina's Future.

Launched in May of 2007, the group spent $588,441 advocating on growth issues such as open space, water and sewer needs, traffic congestion and housing.

Solicitation is different from lobbying in that it seeks to connect members of the public with lawmakers to influence their votes using such things as Web sites and direct-mail campaigns.

Major spenders included groups that work on growth issues.

The Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County, an industry group, spent $71,340 on solicitation. N.C. Go, which works on transportation issues, spent $32,927. The N.C. Homeowners Alliance, which opposed the transfer tax, spent $19,554.

The remaining groups worked on a variety of issues.

The Coalition for Persons Disabled by Mental Illness spent $19,698. The Alliance for Digital Equality, which advocates for minorities on telecommunications issues, spent $14,676. Dix 306, a group of business and community leaders advocating for the Dorothea Dix hospital property in Raleigh to become a major urban park, spent $8,068.

And Return America, a Judeo-Christian group that opposes same-sex marriage and abortion, spent $3,219.

Other groups may also have spent money. Under state law, advocacy groups only have to file solicitation reports if they spend more than $3,000 on it in a 90-day period.

Homebuilders are trying to use the kids, too.

The push in the statehouse to let Wake County and other fast-growing areas impose a transfer tax on real estate sales for school funding is often portrayed as an effort to help the kids.

In a new commercial that started airing Monday, opponents of the tax try to steal that thunder, Toby Coleman reports.

The commercial, paid for by the Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County, portrays a man and a woman standing in front of a yellow home with a "SOLD" sign out front. The woman is holding flowers in her gardening gloves.

They argue that the transfer tax, which would impose a tax on home sales, is essentially double taxation. They even imply it would make homes unaffordable for the kids running in the background.

"Let's make sure our children can afford the American Dream — by saying no to transfer taxes," the woman says at the end.

Tim Minton, executive director of the association, said it plans on spending about $75,000 to run the ads on local news broadcasts until the legislative session ends.