The final contenders for Quote of the Year 2008:

"Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood; I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book." — Charlotte Bobcats owner and Hillary Clinton supporter Robert Johnson at a campaign rally in Columbia, S.C. on Jan. 14, 2008. Johnson at first claimed he was referring to Obama's time as a community organizer, though many understood it was a reference to drug use. Johnson later apologized.

"You don't trust them. You don't look at them and say, 'That's somebody that would manage to feed them on time, that would change the litter box.'" — Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Mike Munger, saying he wouldn't leave the Republican candidates in charge of his cats while on vacation in a profile published on Feb. 14, 2008. It was the first of a number of colorful comments by the third-party candidate in the race.

"This lady makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy." — Gov. Mike Easley at a press conference endorsing Clinton on April 29, 2008. Over the next two days, he received 683 e-mails about the endorsement, including many critical of the use of the word "pansy."

"I don't answer that question anymore. I answered it one time and it got me in tremendous trouble. I've got a job I enjoy and I'm not in search of a new job. Period." — U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, when asked by a Washington-based newspaper if he would agree to run as John McCain's vice president, in a story published May 12, 2008.

"Her unconventional beauty, her sense of humor and her blinding intelligence are engraved in my mind." — J. Lee Harris, a nurse supervisor at John Umstead Hospital, on hospital director Patsy Christian, who paid her $250 from a donation for an oil painting. From a statement issued by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on May 29, 2008.

"I'd rather be a bum on the boxcar of the Obama train than at the front of the bus with John McCain." — Governor Easley, introducing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama at a speech in Raleigh on June 9, 2008. Easley, who had previously endorsed Hillary Clinton, said he knew he was "late to the train" and famously bumped fists with Obama at the event.

"It's a lot better than what's going on in Iraq, where people shoot each other to settle things." — John K. Wiles, an attorney for the State Employees Association of N.C., denying that a proposal to drop a lawsuit against state Treasurer Richard Moore was bribery and also setting a very low bar for political standards, on June 12, 2008.

"Let's be honest about it, a cheeseburger and onion rings is $60 over there." — Governor Easley, defending the cost of overseas trips paid by the state government, at a press conference on July 1, 2008.

"I am happy to have my position, duties and responsibilities reviewed." — First Lady Mary Easley, after her $79,000 raise at N.C. State University raised questions about the college's habit of approving large pay raises without the approval of the UNC Board of Governors. Quoted on July 10, 2008.

"We want not just Barack Obama to be president of the United States, we want Bev Perdue as the next governor of the state of Colorado!" — Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, getting confused about his geography during a campaign stop in Raleigh on July 25, 2008.

"The story is false. It's completely untrue, ridiculous." — Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, calling a report about an affair false in an interview with the Associated Press on Oct. 12, 2007.

"Being 99 percent honest is no longer enough." — Edwards, in a statement admitting to the affair on Aug. 8, 2008.

"Hi, I'm John Edwards." — Late-night talk show host David Letterman, joking about the No. 1 pickup line at the Democratic National Convention, on Aug. 28, 2008.

"Liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God." — U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, addressing the crowd before a Concord rally for Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Oct. 4, 2008.

"Being here with all of you hard-working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation." — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, praising North Carolina during a fundraiser in Greensboro on Oct. 16, 2008.

"I'll beat Michael Phelps in swimming before Barack Obama wins North Carolina." — South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, introducing McCain at a rally in Fayetteville on Oct. 28, 2008.

"By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten." — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, criticizing McCain's attacks at a Raleigh rally on Oct. 29, 2008.

"There is no God!" — An unidentified female voice in an ad criticizing Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan for attending a fundraiser hosted by a member of the Godless Americans PAC that first aired Oct. 29, 2008. Many viewers mistook the voice for Hagan's, but it was actually the PAC's executive director Ellen Johnson speaking at a rally.

"When you're making ads that say 'There is no God,' it usually means your campaign doesn't have a prayer." — Republican political consultant Alex Castellanos, creator of the infamous "White Hands" ad for Sen. Jesse Helms, criticizing Dole on CNN on Oct. 29, 2008.

"Lord have mercy...I'm trying to win the governor's race," Beverly Perdue said when a reporter asked on Sept. 23, 2008 if she intended to reappoint fundraiser Louis Sewell to the Board of Transportation. Sewell steered road work near property he co-owned. Sewell resigned from the board days after Perdue's statement.

Are we missing something? Let us know in the comments or e-mail dome@newsobserver.com.

The SBI has ended its probe into the purchase of portrait by former state mental hospital director Patsy Christian without action.

The investigation was requested by the state Department of Health and Human Services in June following reports in The News & Observer about a painting of herself that Christian commissioned from J. Lee Harris, a hospital nurse who sidelined as an artist, reports Michael Biesecker.

The artwork was paid for using vending machine revenue from John Umstead Hospital that the state budget manual says should be spent to benefit patients.

Following public uproar about the portrait, Christian resigned her position as chief executive officer of Central Regional Hospital in Butner and was reassigned to a newly created position within the department at 95 percent of her former salary.

DHHS Secretary Dempsey Benton ordered that the portrait not hang in the new hospital for which it was commissioned and that state money paid for the artwork be recovered. Harris refunded the $572 she was paid for the "executive portrait" and its gilded frame.

Though state law explicitly forbids the awarding of state service contracts to state employees, Erik Hooks, an assistant SBI director, wrote in an Aug. 14 letter that he had concluded "no further inquiry by the SBI is necessary at this time."

More after the jump.

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Two months after DHHS Secretary Dempsey Benton asked the SBI to review the purchase of a portrait by former hospital director Patsy Christian, there is no word about when agents might wrap up their investigation.

Tom Lawrence, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said Monday that Benton has not yet received any response from investigators, Michael Biesecker reports.

Noelle Talley, spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice, did not respond to inquiries last week about the status of the investigation.

Benton requested the SBI probe May 29, following a report in the N&O about the oil painting Christian commissioned of herself to hang at the new Central Regional Hospital in Butner.

The portrait, which cost a combined $571.98 once installed in a gilded frame, was painted on contract by a state employee who was subordinate to Christian and provided to the state at a steep discount of its proclaimed value.

The SBI was asked to examine the events surrounding the commission and purchase of the portrait to assure that no state laws were violated.

Benton said the state money spent on the portrait, which came from vending machine receipts meant to pay for field trips and other recreation for mental patients, would be recovered and that the painting would never hang in the new hospital.

Lawrence said the painting has been returned to the artist, who is a nurse supervisor at John Umstead Hospital. A check equal to the portrait's cost was deposited into the hospital's account, though Lawrence said he did not know who the check was from.

Christian resigned as the director of Central Regional June 11. She is still on the state payroll in a new administrative position Benton created for her, earning $114,056 annually.

Update: Lawrence said Tuesday that a check reimbursing the state for the cost of the portrait was sent by J. Lee Harris, the artist who painted it. She is also a nurse supervisor at John Umstead Hospital and a former subordinate of Christian's.