Pat McCrory would be the first Republican governor since 1993 ... if he'd run in 2012.

That's the take of regular Dome reader Lee P., the first entrant in our "You Are the Pundit" contest. Here's the rest of his analysis on the gubernatorial race:

McCrory's seven terms as mayor make him eminently qualified.

The Queen City is consistently ranked one of the best places to live. His light rail project is successful, and ground's been broken on the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Despite Democratic misinformation, Charlotte doesn't have the state's highest taxes. And unlike his rival, he has a viable solution for rising gas prices.

Republicans have their most exciting gubernatorial candidate in years, but it may not be enough.

McCrory's opponent, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, is a classic Raleigh insider and the right-hand woman to Gov. Mike Easley since 2000. She embodies everything McCrory is running against. Voters are outraged over $60 cheeseburgers and embarrassing public displays, and the trials (no pun intended) of disgraced House Speaker Jim Black and expelled Rep. Thomas Wright.

Still, McCrory couldn't have picked a worse year.

If he loses, it won't be because he's from Charlotte, or North Carolina prefers Democratic governors, or Perdue has better name recognition. The odds are against him because of Barack Obama. Democratic turnout, especially among African-American voters, will shatter records.

This is terrible news for down-ballot Republicans, even a candidate as good as McCrory.

Disagree? Send your take to dome@newsobserver.com.

House Speaker Joe Hackney said he did not cut off debate.

At a press conference today, the Chapel Hill Democrat said he personally strived to let the Republican minority have its say on bills.

"The few times debate was cut off these two years, it was a vote of the members of the House to cut it off, which is of course in the rules," he said.

Earlier, House Minority Leader Paul Stam complained about those few times, though he noted that it was much higher under disgraced former Speaker Jim Black. Hackney said he recalled past cutoffs, especially when Republicans were in charge in the late 1990s.

"I know there was one or two years there when debate was cut off a couple hundred times, because I kept count," he said. "I resolved then that if I ever got in a position to do something about it, that I wasn't going to do it that way."

He noted that there were some times when a House Democrat wanted to end debate early and he did not recognize the motion.

"In the last 25 years of cutting off debate, we're in the top one," he said. 

House Minority Leader Paul Stam gives the session a mixed report card.

The Apex Republican said he was satisfied with his party's ability to block objectionable bills, though he wishes that more of it's bills got a chance to be heard. His grades:

Stopping Bills: A. Stam was glad that minority Republicans were able to block a tax on small businesses to pay for a high-risk insurance pool and a bullying bill that included references to sexual orientation as well as several proposed tax rate increases.

"Basically, they were unwilling to pass any new taxes because we had the votes," he said.

Passing Bills: D. He was upset that Democrats didn't allow a constitutional amendment to limit eminent domain and a tax credit for special-needs children to attend private school or be home-schooled to be voted on.

"They just don't bring our bills up for a vote," he said.

Legislative Process: B+. Stam said that about seven times this session the Democratic leadership called for a vote on a bill or amendment without a debate, including major votes such as the 2007 state budget and bills on the death penalty.

"Under (disgraced former Speaker) Jim Black, that would have happened about 70 times," he said. "There's been a vast improvement but the majority is still using its ability to stifle debate."

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated two pieces of legislation. 

State spending was in the news this week.

The most-read posts on Under the Dome from last Sunday to noon today included gatherings with the contradictory goals of cutting spending and boosting state worker pay. Also, both state budget writers and an imprisoned legislator have less to spend.

1. Take Back Our State: More than 1,000 activists rally in front of the legislature to hear Bob Dole tell jokes and Pat McCrory keep the beat. But no rim shots.

2. Give Back Our Raises: More than 200 state workers rally at — wait for it — the legislature to ask for a 3 percent raise in the state budget. Talk about the beat of a different drummer.

3. Hands Off Our Pension: Meanwhile, a group representing state workers spends some of their money on a full-page ad in the N&O. Dome stays employed for another week.

4. Cut Back Our Spending: The taxman tells lawmakers they'll have $70 million less to spend. Good news for those at No. 1 above, bad news for those at No. 2?

5. Cut Back My Spending: Disgraced former House speaker Jim Black pays a $1 million fine for taking cash in bathrooms. He'll have to cut back at the prison commissary.

Former N.C. House Speaker Jim Black has paid a $1 million fine days before a court-ordered deadline, his lawyers announced Thursday.

The Matthews Democrat is in federal prison in Pennsylvania after being convicted of accepting illegal payments from campaign contributors, mostly in cash handed over in men's bathrooms.

In a release, attorney Allen Powell said Black paid the fine to the school system in Wake County, where he was convicted, reports Jim Morrill and David Ingram.

"I always intended to leave a portion of my estate to help secure the enhancement of North Carolina's public educational system," Black said in a statement. "And while this payment comes a bit premature, I gladly give it knowing that North Carolina's children will be the beneficiaries."

The fine was originally due last year. But his attorneys argued that Black was unable to sell real estate at a fair market value. A Superior Court judge then set a July 1 deadline, with one condition: Black had to put up property as a guarantee.

He chose his former optometry uptown office, valued for tax purposes at $1.2 million. The judge wrote that the property could be sold at foreclosure if needed.

It's unclear where Black got the million dollars. Mecklenburg property records indicated he still owns the uptown property. Powell could not be reached late Thursday.

"The only legacy that Jim Black will leave the state of North Carolina is one of political corruption and personal shame," said Joe Sinsheimer, a former Democratic campaign consultant who has criticized Black.

Black is due for release in 2012.

Former House Speaker Jim Black’s controversial program to help children get screened for vision problems appears to be going out with a whimper.

The state budget proposals of the House and Gov. Mike Easley would eliminate the remaining $500,000 in funding for the program, reports Dan Kane. Easley’s budget proposal said the program drew little use in the two years since its creation.

The vision care program began as a mandate on parents to have their children seen by an optometrist before they entered kindergarten. The requirement caused an uproar after Black wrote it into the 2005 budget.

Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, was an optometrist and his colleagues were a key source for political contributions. One of the scandals that eventually led to his downfall involved optometrists writing campaign contribution checks with the payee line blank so that Black and others could determine who they should go to.

More after the jump.

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What happened to Don Beason's clients?

When the once-top lobbyist resigned his practice last year over a shady loan to House Speaker Jim Black, his lucrative list of clients was up for grabs.

By Dome's count, seven of the 16 clients did nothing. BB&T, Cingular Wireless, Albemarle Mental Health Center, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Sigma Corp., the Association of Settlement Companies, and the Carolina Ballet have no registered lobbyists during the current session.

That may be because they don't face any pending bills in a short session devoted to the budget. 

Three clients still employ Beason's son, Mark, along with other lobbyists: The Association of Health Information Outsourcing Services, AT&T North Carolina and S&M Brands.

Two clients, the city of Hickory and Catawba County, went with a new team of Jack Cozort, Kevin Leonard and noted lobbyist Alexander "Sandy" Sands.

Among the other top clients, Progress Energy went with noted lobbyist Zeb Alley, John Bode and Kathy Hawkins; while IBM went with former lieutenant governor Dennis Wicker and a team of eight lobbyists. Colonial Life Insurance hired Glenn Jernigan and the N.C. Railroad Co. hired Michelle Frazier and John McMillan.

Jack Betts add his two cents on Thomas Wright's sentence.

In a post on This Old State, the Charlotte Observer editor writes that Wright got a longer sentence than other politicians because he did not apologize and because of where he was tried.

A key reason: Wright was charged, tried, convicted and sentenced in state court. Black and Decker were sentenced in federal courts. And while fairness would seem to require that those sentenced for corruption ought to get sentences that are proportionate not just to the crime but also to other sentences for political corruption, the plain fact is there’s little attention given to what fairness might dictate. Everything depends upon the prosecutor, the charges brought, the jury’s makeup and decision, and the judge who delivers a sentence. And judges themselves, of course, must abide by the dictates of the differing federal and state sentencing guidelines. Federal judges particularly have to go through a long process before pronouncing sentences, and their discretion is limited, though not as much as it used to be. State judges’ discretion is also controlled by mitigating and aggravating factors.  

Laura Leslie wonders why Thomas Wright got the longest sentence.

In a post on Hunter's Tavern, the WUNC reporter points out that the former state representative got the longest sentence of any of the three legislators who've been convicted of corruption in the last two years.

Former state Rep. Michael Decker got $50,000 and a job for his son for selling his vote, and in exchange he got 48 months in a federal prison.

Former House Speaker Jim Black got a $500,000 loan and admitted buying Decker's vote, and in exchange he got a $1 million fine and 63 months in a federal prison.

Wright got a $150,000 mortgage under false pretenses and pocketed $7,400 in charitable donations and he got 70 months in state prison.

"So how is it that fraud in the service of buying a house nets you more prison time than fraud in the service of buying the House?" she writes on the blog. "Seriously — is it really more heinous to deceive a banker than a voter?"

On the other hand, she notes that Wright failed to apologize at all for his behavior, unlike Black and Decker.

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.