A week after major climate change legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate, conservation advocates from North Carolina visited Capitol Hill today to gauge the views of Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan.

Carrie Clark, executive director of the Conservation Council of North Carolina, said she found meetings in both offices "positive," and that both senators are interested in tackling the issue, Barb Barrett reports.

"From Senator Burr we were happy to hear that he sees climate change as a problem and is working hard, and he thinks we need immediate action to avert the impacts that North Carolina is likely to face," Clark said in an interview.

Clark met with staff members in the office of Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican. She was told Burr wants to make sure that legislation doesn’t bring too many negative impacts to residential and commercial energy consumers, and that he wants to see jobs coming into the state.

In another meeting, Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, told Clark she has concerns about the legislation’s costs, but that she’s interested in finding a solution on climate change.

"She totally gets it, and we worked with her when she was a state senator, too," Clark said.

The bill, introduced last week by Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer of California, would force the U.S. to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, and by 80 percent by 2050.

The House narrowly passed its own climate change legislation this summer. While in Washington today, Clark said she also stopped by the office of U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, to thank him for his vote on the House bill.

Former state Sen. Cal Cunningham of Lexington continues to act like a U.S. Senate candidate, but he is not yet ready to announce a decision.

Cunningham was working the crowd at the Democrat's annual Vance-Aycock fund raising dinner in Asheville over the weekend, and he spent a few days last week in Washington attending a seminar put on by The Truman National Security Project, which trains young Democrats on security issues, Rob Christensen reports. He also met with Sen. John Kerry of Mass. and others.

But Cunningham said he has not made a decision on whether to enter the 2010 race for the seat now held by Republican Sen. Richard Burr.

"I am continuing to test the waters with Democrats around North Carolina," Cunningham said. But he added: "I am very heartened by the encouragement. North Carolina is looking for energetic new leadership."

Cunningham may be holding off until he sees what Congressman Bob Etheridge of Lillington decides.

Etheridge has been encouraged to get into the race by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which carries a lot of clout because of its ability to bank roll a Senate campaign. But Etheridge has not been moving around the state, and he was not at the Vance-Aycock Dinner, which is considered a must for a potential Democratic Senate candidate.

There are already two Democratic Senate candidates in the race, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Durham attorney Kenneth Lewis. Both Marshall and Lewis hosted hospitality suites at the Grove Park Inn, the site of the dinner.

Next year's race for U.S. Senate helped turn Asheville into a preview of the Democratic primary next year, as three candidates for the job were in town to mingle.

Former state Sen. Cal Cunningham, lawyer Kenneth Lewis and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall were in town for the Vance-Aycock dinner, an annual gathering of Democratic faithful, which this year sold 500 tickets for a $100, a plate dinner, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

Lewis and Marshall have filed the necessary paperwork to run. Cunningham is exploring a race. Incumbent U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, is running to keep his seat and Democrats believe they have a chance at beating him.

The Asheville Citizen-Times caught up with Cunningham, Lewis and Marshall and they attempted outshine each other.

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Sen. Kay Hagan ranks 35th on The Hill's Rich List, a compilation of the 50 wealthiest lawmakers in Washington.

The feature cited Hagan's stock holdings in drug makers Pfizer and Genentech as well as Richmond, Va., based tobacco maker Altria and its subsidiary Philip Morris. Most of her estimated $6.7 million worth is related to her interest in a Florida commercial real estate business owned by her father.

The Hill's rankings, which are admittedly imprecise, list Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry as the richest lawmaker with a worth of $167.8 million, much of which comes from his wife's interest in ketchup.

Hagan is the only member of the state's Congressional delegation to make the Hill's list.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated where Altria has its headquarters.

Former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole may want to rethink her new diet.

At a lecture in Kansas Sunday, the former North Carolina senator said that she and her husband Bob would be starting the NutriSystem diet.

Until recently, at least, the diet planners have leaned Democratic, according to a search of data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The company's top officers have donated $10,650 to Democratic candidates, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry as well as Pennsylvania Congressmen Joe Sestak and Patrick Murphy.

Between 2006 and 2008, former chief executive officer Mike Hagan, former vice president Bryan Janeczko and former chief financial officer James Brown gave between $250 and $2,300. Hagan also donated $1,000 to the International Franchise Association, an industry group.

Current CFO David Clark, meantime, gave $500 to the Republican National Committee.

No donations could be found for the other current executives.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the Democrat who ran for president in 2004, will speak at UNC-Chapel Hill on March 20.

The free event will be at 2:30 p.m. at Hill Hall, which is across the street from the Franklin Street post office.

The four-term Massachusetts senator will deliver the Weil Lecture on American Citizenship at UNC-CH. The lecture program was founded in 1915 by brothers Henry and Solomon Weil of Goldsboro and has been delivered by former presidents, senators and journalists.

Kerry chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, on which he has served for 19 years. No word yet on whether Kerry will hang out with former running mate John Edwards when he's in town.

Despite his years of activism, Jerry Meek has only been to one other inaugural ball.

The outgoing head of the N.C. Democratic Party said he got tickets to a breakfast at former Gov. Jim Hunt's 1997 inauguration.

Then a law student, Meek said he got a late-night phone call from Sen. Tony Rand, who offered to pay the $1,000-ticket price if Meek could find a date by the next morning.

Meek said he was enjoying meeting up with all the other activists at the inaugural ball.

"It's kind of like a family reunion," he said.

For now, Meek's been staying on the sidelines of another bit of political fun going on right now: The fight for his successor. But he said that will change.

"I think you'll find another candidate will announce tomorrow who will have widespread state support, including my own," he said.

Fashion Note: Meek's wife, Tricia Cotham, was wearing a black Jessica McClintock ballroom gown her aunt had (prematurely, as it turned out) tailored for her to wear to the Kerry-Edwards inauguration.

Democratic strategist Jim Jordan has joined Shorr Johnson Magnus.

A prominent national strategist who has worked for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and President-elect Barack Obama's media team, he'll be joining a firm that has advised prominent North Carolinians.

Saul Shorr, one of the firm's principals, was a consultant for unsuccessful Senate candidate Erskine Bowles, Gov. Mike Easley and Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, all Democrats.

He told the Washington Post that he was excited about the new hire.

"Andrea Johnson, Adam Magnus and I are thrilled that Jim has accepted the offer to join our firm," he said. "We know it will make us stronger both in serving our political clients, and expanding our non-campaign business."

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen.-elect Kay Hagan this afternoon dismissed her lawsuit against the woman she defeated, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, over an advertisement that Hagan said attacked her personal faith.

Dole, a Republican, had launched an ad in the last week of the campaign tying Hagan to a political action group called "Godless Americans" that promotes the separation of church and state. The advertisement ended with a photo of Hagan and another woman’s voice saying, "There is no God."

Hagan, a Democrat, attended a fundraiser in August at the Boston home of a couple who is active in the group. The fundraiser also was hosted by U.S. Sen. John Kerry. Dole's campaign staff later said the advertisement was meant to highlight Hagan's judgement.

Hagan, an elder in her Presbyterian church, responded with her own ad. She accused Dole of attacking her Christian faith, and she filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court.

She dismissed that suit today.

Spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said Hagan wanted to focus on solving problems and working across party lines.

"This lawsuit would just continue the focus on a very personal and negative attack against Kay, instead of focusing on the people of North Carolina," Flanagan said in a prepared statement. "We need leadership now more than ever, and Kay is prepared to get down to work with (Republican Sen.) Richard Burr and the rest of the North Carolina delegation and help the people of this state."

Not surprisingly, Thomas Schaller was surprised he was wrong.

The author of "Whistling Past Dixie" wrote on Salon Monday that he was "somewhat surprised" that Barack Obama won North Carolina, a state he had earlier urged the Democrat to ignore. 

"It's clear that the 'new South' is arriving faster than I anticipated, or perhaps more accurately, that Obama was able to deliver it faster," he writes. 

He also noted that the three Southern states Obama won were among those with the highest median incomes for the region, except for Georgia. He also notes that the 22 counties where Obama did less well than John Kerry were in the rural and Appalachian South.

"It was a 'new South' victory won on the backs of votes cast by a lot of non-native Southern transplants," he writes. "It was not a rural Southern victory."

Next, we talk to Schaller directly.