Former state Democratic chairman Wade Smith raised big bucks for Barack Obama this week.

Smith, a leading Raleigh defense attorney, hosted a fund raiser at his home, featuring Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett. She was introduced by Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, Rob Christensen reports.

Among those attending were former Gov. Jim Hunt.

Smith said it was one of the largest and most enthusiastic fund raisers he has ever held with well over 100 people jammed into house. But he was not certain how much was raised.

The event was organized by John Crumpler, a Raleigh businessman, long active in Democratic politics.

Admission was $1,000 per person. But to be a host a person had either give or agree to raise $10,000 for the Obama Victory Fund.

After the jump, a list of the hosts.

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Walter Dalton received $1.5 million in contributions by the end of June.

The Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor received $255,305 in contributions during the second quarter of the year, according to his most recent campaign finance report.

Major donors included Crandall Bowles, Greensboro executive Joseph Bryan Jr., Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, Franklin Street Partners executive Robert Eubanks, Capstrat CEO Ken Eudy and developer Mack Pearsall. 

He also received contributions from political action committees such as the Bank of America PAC, the Baxter Healthcare PAC, the N.C. Home Builders Association, DominionPAC, the N.C. Restaurant Association, the N.C. Association of Nurse Anesthetists, Wal-Mart's PAC and the N.C. Trucking Association.

He also spent $637,602 in the second quarter, leaving him with $177,357 in cash on hand.

Barack Obama will give a speech on the economy at the N.C. State Fairgrounds today.

Dome is at the event, where doors opened about a half hour ago.

So far, we've spotted a few of the usual suspects: U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, state Sen. Floyd McKissick, state Reps. Dan Blue and Ty Harrell, former lieutenant governor candidate Hampton Dellinger, former Raleigh City Councilman Brad Thompson and Capstrat founder Ken Eudy.

The campaign of Sen. Janet Cowell, who is running for state treasurer and lives nearby, is handing out fliers at the front of the Exposition Center building.

Update: Also in the crowd: Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, House Speaker Joe Hackney, Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, superdelegate David Parker, former state Auditor Ralph Campbell, state Reps. Linda Coleman and Jennifer Weiss, and Raleigh businessman John Crumpler.

State Treasurer Richard Moore just wandered through the press section by mistake and Dome asked what he was doing in our less illustrious section of the room.

"I don't know, but I'm going to do my best to get out of here," he said. 

Ken Eudy is one of Barack Obama's key supporters in North Carolina.

According to a 2005 profile by Rob Christensen, the Raleigh public affairs consultant is the "full-service, behind-the-scenes political Mr. Fixit" in state politics.

A former political reporter for The Charlotte Observer, Eudy first worked as a lobbyist for the N.C. Press Association, gradually shifting to more general lobbying work. 

In 1994, he and public relations consultant Steve Meehan started Capital Strategies, a strategic communications firm in Raleigh. They renamed the firm Capstrat in 2004.

The company has helped promote state bond issues, a Raleigh convention center, a constitutional amendment that legalized tax-increment financing, a campaign to reduce teen smoking, among other things.

In recent months, he's given informal advice to the Obama campaign in North Carolina. 

The full profile after the jump.

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North Carolina's presidential primary will be in the spotlight.

After Hillary Clinton's wins in Texas and Ohio ended Barack Obama's 12-state winning streak, the fight has moved on to Pennsylvania and North Carolina, the two states offering more delegates than any other remaining primaries.

The Clinton campaign Wednesday authorized funding for a North Carolina office and in the coming weeks will begin staffing it.

"You're going to see campaign apparatus opening up in North Carolina before long," said Harold Ickes, a top Clinton adviser. "You're going to see more and more activity." 

Obama organizer Ken Eudy said the campaign is shifting resources to Pennsylvania and then here.

"We don't know when the moving vans are coming in," Eudy said, "but they're coming." (Char-O)

David Plouffe was in town today.

The campaign manager for Barack Obama said he was helping organize and raise money for the upcoming May 6 primary, Rob Christensen reports.

"North Carolina could end up being very important in the nomination fight," he told Dome.

Interviewed at a fundraiser in the law offices of David Kirby in Raleigh, Plouffe said that the primary is only nine weeks away and Obama campaign needs to begin organizing in the state as soon as possible.

He said the trip today was not about courting John Edwards, although he acknowledged the campaign is interested in the former North Carolina senator's endorsement.

Plouffe said that there is a very good chance that North Carolina could be in play in the general election as well, if Obama is the nominee. No Democratic presidential candidate has won North Carolina since 1976.

He also had an organizational meeting at the headquarters of Raleigh public relations firm Capstrat, which is headed by Ken Eudy, an Obama supporter.

Steve Lerner, an investor and friend of Eudy's, was escorting Plouffe today.

The N.C. Center for Public Policy Research has added three new board members.

Ken Eudy, chief executive officer of Raleigh public relations firm Capstrat; Natalie English, senior vice president of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce; and Betty Craven, president of the Warner Foundation, were elected to the center's board of directors.

The 23-member board also includes N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Wanda Bryant and state Sen. Jean Preston, among others.

Board members serve three-year terms.

Barack Obama is coming to John Edwards' backyard.

On June 14, the Illinois senator will host a big-ticket fundraiser in Chapel Hill, home of the former North Carolina senator.

The event is being hosted by Steve Lerner, an investor who previously supported Virginia Gov. Mark Warner's presidential bid.

Lerner was one of three principals in FGI Marketing Communications, which was bought by Capital Strategies in 1999.

Other hosts of the reception include CapStrat CEO Ken Eudy, jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis and SAS co-founder John Sall.

Tickets are $1,000 for the general reception, and $2,300 for the host reception.

Correction: A previous version of this post misstated Lerner's occupation.