As she campaigned around the country, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin feuded with Sen. John McCain's senior staff.

In her new book, "Going Rogue," Palin describes those staffers as trying to hold her back and making big blunders. But e-mail messages obtained by the Atlantic magazine show the problems were running both ways.

Palin didn't like having to ride on her campaign bus, the Straight Talk Express II, with special guests, politicians or celebrities.

By late October, Palin and headquarters staff were communicating through intermediates. On October 26, after a long day of stumping in North Carolina, Palin issued an edict to her traveling staff.

"We were informed today that she no longer wishes to do talk radio interviews in the car. It's too distracting," wrote a senior Palin adviser, in an e-mail to senior headquarters staffers.

"We were informed today that she no longer wishes to do TV or print interviews post-rally. She's drained. We were informed of her displeasure that her host and US Senator Richard Burr was allowed to ride the [Straight Talk Express II] with her."

He ended the e-mail: "I don't know what else to tell you."

Hat tip: RTB

With the Democrats' annual Vance-Aycock fundraising dinner in Asheville a little over a week away, there is still no scheduled speaker.

Democratic leaders are sending out fundraising e-mails boasting about what big speakers they had last year, reports Rob Christensen. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen was the keynoter, but Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama made a surprise visit. Obama was nearby prepping for a debate with his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

This year's event is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 3.

North Carolina Democrats are probably holding out for some big-name Democrat from Washington. They landed Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, the Democratic National Committee chairman, for their Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner dinner in Raleigh in the spring.

Given the emphasis that the Obama administration has put on North Carolina, which Obama carried by the slimmest of margins last year, a big name seems possible.

BOWLED OVER: UNC system President Erskine Bowles says the system's top board members first supported, then flip-flopped on a deal to pay a healthy severance to outgoing N.C. State University Chancellor James Oblinger. Bowles made that revelation in a visit to The News & Observer’s editorial board. Bowles also said former Gov. Mike Easley wasn’t bothered by the newspaper "picking on" him, but had a real problem with the paper picking on his wife. What really got Dome’s attention was that apparently, the most powerful man in state higher education, eats Chick-Fil-A twice a day. No word on whether he prefers Barbecue or Polynesian sauce.

IN A PERFECT WORLD: The state School Board did some dreaming at its retreat this week. Dome expects an army of four-foot high protesters, armed with spitballs, to protest the board's pipe dream of lengthening the school year.

LOST IN TRANSLATION: Gov. Beverly Perdue is headed to China and Japan to drum up business for the state. Let’s all give a collective cross of the fingers that a mis-translated malaprop won’t accidentally lead to an international incident. Sure would love to see some video of the governor performing at a Karaoke bar, though.

IN OTHER NEWS: Bill Hefner, the one-time dean of the state’s Congressional delegation, died this week. U.S. Sens. John McCain and Mitch McConnell joined Sen. Richard Burr for a health care forum at an invitation-only event. District Attorney Rex Gore has recused himself from deciding whether to prosecute state Sen. R.C. Soles in an incident in which Soles shot a would-be intruder.

U.S. Sen. John McCain and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell told a Charlotte audience this morning that Congress and the president should "start over" on health care reform.

"It's time we started back at the beginning," McCain of Arizona told medical professionals at Carolinas Medical Center, reports Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer.

The two Republicans joined GOP Sen. Richard Burr in the invitation-only town hall that drew about 250 people to a hospital auditorium.

The three acknowledged that health reform is needed. But they advocated a go-slow, incremental approach and criticized Democratic proposals.

"Our goal ought not to be to have the cheapest health care in the world," said McConnell, of Kentucky, adding that government-run health care would lead to "massive rationing."

He also said reaction from people who have swarmed public meetings across the country on health care could help slow the process.

"The reaction of the American people has been helpful to us in achieving our goal, which is a little more modest and (doing) it the right way," McConnell said.

In a later conference call with reporters, Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge of North Carolina said Republicans' plan wouldn't help consumers.

"It really leaves the individual right where they are today," he said, "to negotiate with the insurance companies. And they don't have the muscle or the authority to deal with them in order to get the costs down."

In contrast to other meetings on the subject, the hospital gathering was civil. One Charlotte doctor, however, questioned the senators' statements that Americans have "the best heath care in the world." Dr. David Jacobs, a surgeon, also questioned McCain's suggestion that the real number of uninsured Americans is 12 million to 15 million, not the 47 million often quoted.

"On both sides of the fence, I don't think the American people are hearing the whole story," Jacobs said.

Sen. Richard Burr, (left) Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Mitch McConnell at a forum at a Charlotte hospital on Tuesday.

McCain, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008 linked to the low-res photograph from his Twitter feed. McConnell is the Senate minority leader.

The event, which was not open to the public, was held at Carolinas Medical Center.

Burr, up for re-election in 2010, has offered an alternative to Democratic health care reform proposals that would give tax credits of up to $5,700 for families to pay for health insurance.

The parent company of the hospital has been a big spender on health care lobbying.

Hat Tip: JonThompsonDC 

The hospital system welcoming Republican heavyweight Sens. John McCain and Mitch McConnell on Tuesday has spent $1.2 million in the past 18 months lobbying Congress, reports Barb Barrett.

Carolinas HealthCare Systems, which runs 25 hospitals in Charlotte and South Carolina, will host a health-care event Tuesday for Sen. Richard Burr. Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, is running for re-election in 2010.

McCain, the GOP presidential candidate last year, and McConnell, the Senate majority leader, will speak at the event.

Carolinas Healthcare Systems was one of North Carolina’s biggest lobbying spenders on health care issues in the past two years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group in Washington that tracks spending in politics. The hospital’s lobbying documents show that it is interested in health reform, pharmacy legislation and issues related to Medicare and Medicaid.

Spokesman Kevin McCarthy said earlier this summer that in the context of the current health reform debate, the hospital system wants to increase Medicare reimbursements to doctors and help uninsured and underinsured patients find a medical home.

Sen. John McCain, the Republicans' 2008 nominee for president, and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell are expected to join Republican Sen. Richard Burr in Charlotte on Tuesday for a "hospital forum" at Carolinas Medical Center.

The Charlotte Observer reports that with hospital employees and Burr's invited guests attending, there will likely be little room for the public in an auditorium that holds fewer than 300 people, said a spokeswoman for Carolinas HealthCare System.

The 90-minute event is at 9 a.m. Calls to Burr's spokesman were not returned Sunday.

Like Burr, McCain, R-Ariz., and McConnell, R-Ky., oppose many of the Democrats' proposals for health care reform, including a public option that would compete with private insurance companies.

Burr, up for re-election in 2010, has offered an alternative that would give tax credits of up to $5,700 for families to pay for health insurance.

U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the Committee on Armed Services, opposed Sen. Richard Burr's amendment, which would prevent the Navy from building an outlying landing field on two sites in Camden and Gates counties.

"I rise in reluctant opposition to the amendment by my friend from North Carolina," said McCain, referring to Burr, who campaigned for McCain during the presidential campaign last year. "He and the other senator form North Carolina spoke passionately and to some degree persuasively in the markup of this legislation."

McCain said it was appropriate for Burr and Sen. Kay Hagan to react to local concerns. And, he added that "perhaps the Department of the Navy does not approach some of these communities in a way that would gain cooperation....But the facts are the facts, and that is the Navy needs a field to train carrier pilots within range of both air stations, Oceana in Virginia and Cherry Point in North Carolina."

U.S. Sens. John McCain and Carl Levin just agreed on the Senate floor to bring up the Burr Amendment to the defense authorization bill this afternoon.

That would be the amendment to keep the Navy from building an outlying landing field at either of two sites in Gates and Camden counties. The two locations are among several the Navy is considering.

Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan tried to get the amendment passed in the Senate Armed Services Committee but failed. Now, they’ll try again on the Senate floor, reports Barb Barrett. Expect Burr on the Senate floor this afternoon (C-SPAN 2 if you’re a junkie) to talk about his amendment. Hagan may speak as well.

A vote on the OLF amendment could come later today.