The John Locke Foundation will target some of Mike Easley's pet projects.

The conservative think tank's fiscal analyst told Dome that it will urge state lawmakers to cut newer programs and expansions of older ones in the state budget in the face of a massive drop in tax revenue, including expansions of dental schools, a research campus in Kannapolis and a Shanghai office for the N.C. Department of Commerce.

"Some of the more recent additions to the budget should be the things that are on the chopping block," said Joe Colletti. "We survived until 2008 without some of these things; we can do without them now."

He said the think tank will also argue for higher user fees on budget items such as the N.C. Zoo, the N.C. Symphony and college tuition.

Colletti said he is hopeful that an initiative to provide "Google transparency" to state contracts proposed by Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue will cut costs as similar measures have done in other states. He said private contractors who can provide services for less will be more likely to put a bid in if they can easily see on a public Web site what the state is already paying.

"Most of those other (Web) sites are less than a year old, but they're already having a tremendous impact on savings," he said. "The more we can make it open and allow people to see what we're spending money on, the better off we'll all be."

Previously: Liberal think tanks fire first shot on budget

Bill Graham sometimes has to point out the ways he's different than John Edwards because the similarites are more easily spotted.

Graham told Mark Johnson of the Charlotte Observer that he may part his hair similarly to Edwards but that he's never paid $400 for a haircut. In fact, he doesn't know how much he pays.

Graham gets his hair cut by Steve Elsworth, a barber in Kannapolis, N.C., who has been cutting his hair since he was 18. He now takes his son with him to Kannapolis every time he goes for a haircut and both of them get cut.

Graham doesn't know how much the haircuts cost because several years ago he just started giving the barber a $100 bill for both haircuts plus tip.

Bill Clinton will have a whirlwind tour on Friday.

The former president will campaign on behalf of his wife in Greensboro, High Point, Salisbury, Kannapolis, Gastonia, Hickory and Asheville.

The day begins with a stop at the Bryan Family YMCA in Greensboro.

He'll also stop at a student center at High Point University, the historic Salisbury train station, A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis, the Highland School of Technology, St. Stephens High School and Asheville High School.

His campaigning will last from 7:45 a.m. to 8:15 p.m., although given the number of stops it's not likely he'll remain on schedule for most of the stops.

Two senators who broke party lines on the budget cited their local economy.

Sen. John Snow, a Murphy Democrat, said he could not support the budget written by his fellow party members because it gave counties the option of levying a transfer tax on real estate sales.

Snow said that home builders and Realtors are supporting the economy of his mountain district right now because of second-homes, retirees and new families. He pledged in his 2004 campaign that he would not support impact fees or transfer taxes.

"More than anything else, it was just a matter of keeping my word," he said.

Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, a Concord Republican, said he supported the Democrat-crafted budget because it included funding for a new research center in Kannapolis.

He said that his district has been hit hard by the closure of the Pillowtex plant in 2003 and the loss of jobs at a Philip Morris plant earlier this year. He thinks the research center, which will focus on biotechnology, will help turn things around.

"In my judgment, it is an essential aspect of the redevelopment of the local economy," he said.