U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell has $244,952 in his campaign account, according to federal campaign finance records.

Kissell, a Biscoe Democrat, raised $99,000 from individuals and $305,000 from political action committees.

Contributors included Anne B. Wilkins of Cary, a consultant ($2,000); Ronald J. Bernstein of Durham, chief executive of cigarette company Liggett Vector Brands ($2,000); the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association PAC ($5,000) and the American Health Care Association PAC ($5,000).

Four Republicans are competing for the party's nomination to challenge Kissell and the race has generated lots of money already.

Businessman Lou Huddleston has raised $57,641 from individuals and loaned himself $45,125. He has $102,000 in his account.

Tim D'Annunzio, who owns a skydiving business, has loaned himself $303,000 and raised $8,400. Hamlet resident Darrell Day has raised $30 and loaned himself $3,000.

Republican Thomas Sweeney has not reported raising any money.

Republicans continue to line up to challenge 8th District Democratic Congressman Larry Kissell.

The latest to join the field is Hal Jordan, a Charlotte IBM executive, who received a lot of attention three years ago when he came within 30 votes of knocking off scandal-plagued Democratic House Speaker Jim Black.

Jordan joins three other Republicans who have already announced their intentions to challenge Kissell: Lou Huddleston, a retired Army colonel from Fayetteville; Tim D'Annunzio, the owner of Sky Venture Skydiving Center in Hoke County, who has loaned his campaign $300,000, and Darrell Day of Hamlet. 

There are several reasons why there is so much interest in the race, Rob Christensen reports. The 8th District is considered one of the few competitive House districts in the state.  Congressmen are considered the most vulnerable the first time they seek re-election. Kissell knocked off Republican Robin Hayes in 2008. 

And the polls suggest that 2010 could be a Republican-leaning year.

Biden has become a leading figure in helping House Democrats prepare for next year's elections. Kissell, a Biscoe Democrat, narrowly won his seat 2008. The GOP has targeted the seat in next year's mid-term elections. Fayetteville businessman Lou Huddleston, a Republican, is running for the seat.

Dome's Barb Barrett filed a report about the event, which was held at the Cleveland Park home of William and Susie Taylor. Among those in the audience was U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, a Charlotte Democrat.

Kissell introduced Biden.

"There’s something magical about someone from a textiles background, and who was teaching high school civics a year ago, to be standing up here with the vice president. That’s a miracle. That’s what makes this country great," Kissell said.

Correction: A previous version of this post misstated Kissell's election results. Dome regrets the errors.

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BY THE POUND: The State Health Plan sent information to its 660,000-plus members giving details on its plans to hike rates for smokers and obese people. The mailing probably prompted a series of early New Year's resolutions.

BAD WATER=GOOD POLITICS: U.S. Sens. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, and Richard Burr, a Republican, have been pushing for benefits for Marines and their families who were exposed to toxic tap water at Camp Lejeune in the 1980s. Before long U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Democrat, was ready to introduce a House version of the bill.

NOT NOW: Gov. Beverly Perdue was one of six Democratic governors who did not sign a letter urging health care reform. Turns out there wasn't an ideological reason. Perdue was too busy on a business recruiting trip to give the letter a read.

IN OTHER NEWS: A conservative advocacy group is copying the Amway business model. U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell gets a fundraising boost from Vice President Joe Biden. John Edwards' name causes an awkward moment at the U2 concert in Raleigh.

No, not the kind you're thinking about.

In this case, we're talking about what's known as "the other white meat."

Seven of North Carolina’s members of Congress have asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect the pork industry from its economic troubles by buying $100 million worth of meat for the USDA’s federal food assistance programs.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, they say the recession and the recent swine flu outbreak have hurt the industry. The lawmakers thanked Vilsack for his push earlier this year to call the swine flu virus H1N1 to disassociate it from pork products, but they said the impacts of the scare have hurt the industry.

The letter notes that USDA already has announced $30 million in purchases through the end of the fiscal year, reports Barb Barrett.

“We asking for additional help with the economic crisis the U.S. pork industry currently faces,” the letter reads. “Without your assistance, we are putting thousands of rural jobs and businesses at risk.”

The N.C. lawmakers are Democratic U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge, Larry Kissell, Mike McIntyre, Brad Miller and G.K. Butterfield, along with Republican U.S. Reps. Howard Coble and Walter Jones. Fifty-five other lawmakers also signed the letter.

They want Vilsack to use $100 million to buy pork for federal food assistance programs, with an emphasis on sow meat to reduce breeding stock.

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Lou Huddleston, a Fayetteville businessman and Republican who is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell next year has developed a following among the right people — the ones with money.

Roll Call reports (subscription req.) that Huddleston is expected to post a six-figure fundraising report soon. The report highlights Republican efforts to recruit miniority candidates.

At the moment, the black Republican with perhaps the best shot in 2010 is veteran and former North Carolina state House nominee Lou Huddleston (R), who is running in the 8th district against freshman Rep. Larry Kissell (D)…party operatives on Capitol Hill have warmed to the retired Army colonel and defense industry consultant…After announcing in August, Huddleston is expected to file a six-figure fundraising report later this month. 

Kissell, a Biscoe Democrat, has recently been the beneficiary of a fundraising push by Vice President Joe Biden. 

Politico reports that Biden has become a key fundraising presence in House campaigns.

Two weeks ago, the vice president traveled across the Potomac to keynote a three-way fundraiser to boost Virginia Democratic freshmen Reps. Gerry Connolly, Glenn Nye and Thomas Perriello. First-term Rep. Larry Kissell (D-N.C.), a weak fundraiser, just got the Biden treatment, and the vice president is scheduled to appear at a $1,000-per-person luncheon for freshman Rep. Jim Hines (D-Conn.) in New York City on Monday.

Republicans see Kissell, a Biscoe Democrat as vulnerable next year, possibly in part because news reporters are on safe ground describing the Congressman as a "weak fundraiser." Just today, Republicans launched an attack on Kissell over comments he made about the war in Afghanistan.

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The U.S. House of Representatives has set aside 30 minutes tonight for speeches in memory of former U.S. Rep. Bill Hefner, who died Sept. 2.

The special order speeches are scheduled from 7:30 to 8 p.m. tonight, after the last vote, and will be broadcast on C-SPAN, Barb Barrett reports. They are being organized by U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell, a Biscoe Democrat, who also will be speaking.

Confirmed to speak tonight are U.S. Reps. Chet Edwards of Texas, along with Bob Etheridge, David Price and Brad Miller, all of North Carolina. Other members may speak as well.

Americans for Prosperity will hold a rally at the N.C. State Fairgrounds on Wednesday night ahead of President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress.

The rally will take place at 8 p.m. at the Kerr Scott building at the fairgrounds in Raleigh, reports Barb Barrett. Then, the group — which opposes Democrats' proposals on health reform — will watch Obama's 9 p.m. address live on a big overhead screen, said Dallas Woodhouse, state director of the N.C. chapter.

The rally will follow two more days of Americans for Prosperity's bus tour, which plans stops in the districts of Democratic U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre, Larry Kissell and Bob Etheridge.

Advocates and lawyers were trying to understand the impact of a state Superme Court decision, which found that a Garner man, who was convicted of a long-ago felony, had a right to own a gun.

The opinion applied only to Barney Britt, who was convicted of a drug crime in 1979, and it didn't have an immediate effect on the thousands of other felons in the state.

Criminal defense lawyers who practice in federal courts said they don't know what effect, if any, the opinion will have on federal rules, which prevent felons from buying and owning weapons except when a state has restored that right.

The ruling authored by Justice Edward Thomas Brady held that Britt should be able to own guns and that the state unfairly took away his right to own a firearm with a 2004 law that barred felons from owning firearms. Britt was convicted in 1979 of selling Quaalude pills, but he didn't have any further tangles with the law.

Though the opinion focused just on Britt's case, both sides of the gun control issue saw the ruling as significant because the state's highest court found that Britt had a right to bear arms that trumped the state's ability to restrict him from owning any weapons. (N&O)

* The 16-campus UNC system expects to eliminate about 900 administrative positions this year, an acknowledgement by university leaders of job growth gone wild.

Those 900 positions and other administrative costs could account for 75 percent or more of cuts that public university campuses will be asked to make this year as the system pares $171 million from its budget, UNC system officials say.

In cutting so heavily into administrative costs, UNC system President Erskine Bowles and others say they hope to protect academics. (N&O)

* All the clamor over health-care reform doesn't seem to bother freshman U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell.

"I remind people I taught high school," he said last week. "Loud and unruly people we call the fourth period."

But the Montgomery County Democrat is toeing a careful line on health care, balancing his own caution against the interests of his party and district just as he has on other issues during his first eight months in office. (Char-O)