Margaret Harper, who ran twice for lieutenant governor and was a pioneer among female political figures in North Carolina, died Sunday at Duke Hospital. She was 92.

Harper unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, first losing in the 1968 primary to Pat Taylor and in 1972 to Jim Hunt, who would become governor.

Harper, of Southport, was a businesswoman who ran an insurance agency and headed a statewide coalition of women's organizations. During World War II, she stepped in to edit the State Port Pilot newspaper while her husband James served in the military.

During the 1968 campaign, she told a Meredith College audience: "I want to look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man and work like a dog."

After her defeat, she became vice chair of the state Democratic Party. At the time, she predicted it would be "right many years before a woman is elected on the state level."

In a 1981 interview, she said would run again if she were younger. And, she said, she'd win. "I was born 20 years too soon, I think."

State Republican Party chairman Tom Fetzer said there's no such thing as a temporary tax increase in North Carolina.

Fetzer called reporters to a Thursday morning news conference to say that tax increases have a way of living on past their sunsets. He said Gov. Beverly Perdue's promise that she won't let her proposed 1-cent sales tax increase live past its expiration day is an empty one.

In 2001, the legislature enacted a 1/2 cent sales tax increase that was set to expire in two years. A quarter cent of that increase became permanent.

Perdue was lieutenant governor when those decisions were made.

"This governor has no credibility on the issue of a sales tax increase," Fetzer said.

The lieutenant governor's position has little power. The office-holder presides over the Senate, but can only vote in the case of a tie.

Fetzer said she could have steered debate. Fetzer, like Republicans in the legislature, are calling for deeper budget cuts.

"We can't raise taxes on the people of North Carolina right now," Fetzer said. "Any time you raise taxes, you get bad consequences."

Democrats have said tax increases are the only way to spare vital programs and services from devastating and irreparable cuts.

Sen. Marc Basnight is in the line of succession — and he isn't.

Whether or not the powerful Senate president pro tem would become governor depends on the hypothetical scenario you spin out.

Under state law, the Senate president is second in line to the governorship, after the lieutenant governor — but only if it's for keeps.

Because of a quirk in state constitutional law, the line of succession differs depending on whether the person is serving as "acting governor" or has actually become governor.

The constitution designates the Senate president as next in line after the lieutenant governor. But those two jobs are currently one and the same, so the next in line would in theory be the Speaker of the House.

However, once the lieutenant governor ascends to the governorship, the Senate president pro tem becomes the Senate president and is thus next in line.

Legislative guru Gerry Cohen said the confusion stems from the fact that the Senate president pro tem was a weak office until the legislature rewrote the rules in 1988.

"We have had a change in the political atmosphere, but the statute hasn't changed," he said.

"When the governor leaves the state and the lieutenant governor becomes 'acting governor' is there any official notification given?" Dome reader Chris Hayes

Under Article III, Section 3 of the state constitution, the lieutenant governor serves as "acting governor" at the following times: "during the absence of the Governor from the State, or during the physical or mental incapacity of the Governor to perform the duties of his office."

In the case of physical incapacity, the governor may file a written statement with the attorney general declaring when she is not able to serve and when she's ready to return.

The legislature has to determine mental incapacity by a two-thirds vote of all the members of both chambers after hearing from the governor, though only a majority is required to declare that she is capable again.

But neither the constitution nor state law spells out the procedures for the governor to declare when she's away.

Chrissy Pearson, a spokeswoman for Gov. Beverly Perdue, said that the governor's staff notifies the lieutenant governor when she is out of state.

"There is no official protocol to do it by email or by phone," she said.

Incidentally, succession after the lieutenant governor is spelled out by state law: Senate president, Speaker of the House, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, schools superintendent, attorney general, and the commissioners of agriculture, labor and insurance.

And while the lieutenant governor is in charge, he is paid the governor's salary, too.

The authors of the state constitution didn't anticipate Beverly Perdue.

In laying out the role of the governor in North Carolina, Article III of the constitution describes the job soon to be assumed by the state's first female governor using the male pronoun "he" or "his" 25 different times.

Nowhere does the constitution explicitly limit the state's chief executive to men, but language used throughout seems to assume it.

"No person shall be eligible for election to the office of Governor or Lieutenant Governor unless, at the time of his election, he shall have attained the age of 30 years," it says, in a typical passage.

It also makes mention of "his office," "his election" and "his successor."

History offers little excuse. Although the state's prior constitutions date back to 1776 and 1868, the current one was ratified in 1971 — at the height of the second-wave feminist movement.

Perdue has faced this dilemma before as the state's first female lieutenant governor, a position also described with the male pronoun in the constitution.

Update: "Governor-elect Perdue has overcome many barriers in her career — an inaccurate pronoun is just one more to add to the list," said Perdue spokesman David Kochman.

The constitution also describes the duties and qualifications of Supreme Court justices using the male pronoun, but other statewide elected offices are only described using plural pronouns, so they do not have the same problem. 

The lieutenant governor has the briefest job description in N.C.

After writing a recent post on the office, Dome checked the state Constitution to see what it had to say about North Carolina's ostensibly second-highest office:

The Lieutenant Governor shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless the Senate is equally divided. He shall perform such additional duties as the General Assembly or the Governor may assign to him. He shall receive the compensation and allowances prescribed by law.

That's about it.

To be fair, a few other sections of the constitution talk about succession, note that the office has the same qualifications and terms as the governor, and describe the duties of the Council of State.

But the office itself gets just 47 words. For comparison's sake, that's six words shorter than the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

Here's a takeaway from Illinois: Lieutenant governors matter.

Sometimes.

As Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces corruption charges and possible impeachment, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn stands to become the chief executive of the Land of Lincoln.

To the east, former New York Lt. Gov. David Paterson now heads the Empire State. In Arizona, Secretary of State Jan Brewer may replace Gov. Janet Napolitano, who has been nominated for U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. (The state has no lieutenant governor.)

In Arkansas, Bill Clinton's election as president bumped up Lt. Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, whose later conviction made Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee governor.

In North Carolina, the lieutenant governor's office has little power. It has the smallest budget of any Council of State or Cabinet office, the smallest staff and the fewest responsibilities.

With the blessing of Gov. Mike Easley and Senate leader Marc Basnight, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue built up a decent portfolio on military and health issues, but none of those perks came with the office. Her only vote was to break a tie on the state lottery.

In recent years, the office has been seen as a placeholder for a future gubernatorial run, although until Perdue that hadn't been a very good strategy.

But history has a way of following its own path, and sometimes the No. 2 — soon-to-be Walter Dalton — becomes a very important person overnight.

Who got more votes in 2004?

Both Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Beverly Perdue and Richard Moore, were on the ballot in statewide races that year.

According to results from the State Board of Elections, Perdue got 1,888,397 votes in the lieutenant governor's race, while Moore got 1,812,201 votes in the state treasurer's race.

Advantage: Perdue, by 76,196 votes.

That's largely because her office has a higher profile. Among the dozen statewide offices on the ballot that year, the race for lieutenant governor had the fourth most votes cast—just below those cast for president, governor and senator.

The treasurer's race, by contrast, was ninth, just above the contests for labor commisisoner, superintendent of public instruction and state auditor.

Put another way, 73,650 fewer people voted in the treasurer's race.

On a percentage basis, Perdue is still slightly ahead. The biggest margins for winners that year went to Insurance Commissioner Jim Long, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, President George W. Bush, Gov. Mike Easley and Attorney General Roy Cooper.

At 55.6 percent, Perdue had the sixth largest margin, while Moore had the seventh with 54.5 percent.

A complicating factor: A Libertarian candidate received 56,638 votes, or 1.7 percent in the lieutenant governor's race, but no third-party candidate ran for treasurer. 

Beverly Perdue's freshman initiatives focused on health care.

As a first-term representative in the state legislature, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate obtained funding for senior citizens' nutrition and education programs, a semiautomated defibrillator for Pamlico County’s rescue squad and Craven County’s board on aging.

In all, she sponsored 33 bills in the 1987-88 session of the state House of Representatives, of which 26 were adopted.

She secured more than $3,000 for three education initiatives, a Lenoir County’s Boys and Girls Club, a drug and alcohol abuse education program and a service pairing children of single-parent families with adult mentors.

Perdue also helped decorate Craven County ambulances. She co-sponsored a successful bill to add the word “Craven” to the side of county ambulances.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue's office released a statement on the auditor's report:

"This office has endeavored to maintain an appropriate division between state-related business and campaign activity. We appreciate the recommendations and insights of the Auditor's office. We have taken action to respond to the concerns that were raised and will continue to do our best to maintain an appropriate division of activity."

The statement came from Perdue's chief of staff, Don Hobart.