* Adam Searing recalls former Insurance Commissioner Jim Long's sense of humor, willingness to fight on behalf of consumers.

* State Rep. Mickey Michaux suspects Long "saved North Carolina a whole bunch of money" during his years fighting insurance rate increases.

* N&O resident historian Rob Christensen notes that he was not as populist as his predecessor and helped clean up problems at the office.

* Insurance Journal notes that he received the first President's Award from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in December.

* Charlotte Observer editor Jack Betts says he was part of a long line of rural politicos, including Jim Graham, Thad Eure and his own family.

* Democratic pollster Tom Jensen says he seriously thought about polling Long against former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole last year because he was so popular.

* Bob Geary of Independent Weeky recalls a "progressive thinker and battler" and "a regular guy — not a bit of self-importance from what I saw."

Beverly Perdue claims membership in North Carolina’s farming community. Pat McCrory doesn’t.

On Monday, both major candidates for governor spoke to the 38th annual banquet of the N.C. Agribusiness Council and promised support for the agriculture industry, reports David Ingram.

“I’m not going to pretend I’m one of you, because I’m not and neither is my opponent,” said McCrory, a Republican and mayor of Charlotte. But, he added, he will listen to the industry if he’s governor and work with it because its workers “feed me at least three times a day.”

Perdue, a Democrat and lieutenant governor, said she represented farmers in the New Bern area while in the legislature and sat on agriculture committees.

“I actually consider myself part of the agriculture community in North Carolina,” she said. “I’m not a Johnny-come-lately to rural North Carolina, or to agriculture and agribusiness.”

Perdue dropped two names of particular importance to rural parts of the state: the late Jim Graham, a former agriculture commissioner, and Billy Ray Hall of the N.C. Rural Center.

Neither candidate has worked in agriculture. McCrory spent 29 years with Charlotte-based Duke Energy – which sponsored three tables at Monday’s banquet – while Perdue worked in education and health care administration.

Libertarian candidate Mike Munger did not attend the banquet. He is a political scientist, though he does have ties to agribusiness through his sale of timber from land in Chatham County.

Mike Easley thinks Steve Troxler should do something about the weather.

The governor and the agriculture commissioner met today at the N.C. Phase II Tobacco Certification Entity Inc., which has distributed $1.9 billion in trust fund money from the tobacco lawsuit settlement of the 1990s to growers and quota holders hurt by decreased tobacco consumption, Martha Quillin reports.

Easley is chairman of the board; Troxler is co-chair.

Before calling the meeting to order, Easley told Troxler he'd like to see him get re-elected, and that if the commissioner could do something about the weather, the governor would try to make sure he runs unopposed.

Then he suggested Troxler wasn't living up to the legacy of a long-serving predecessor.

"When Jim Graham was around, it would rain," he joked.