* Mark Binker culls the best quotes from a legislative debate over officially designating the state's potato festival.

* WUNC's Laura Leslie recalls a time when Sen. Vern Malone rescued another legislator from an interview.

* Paul Woolverton writes that the odds are stacked against a new video poker bill, with legislative leaders in both chambers against it.

* An Asheville Citizen-Times columnist and liberal blogger AshVegas spar over the definition of pork in Rep. Heath Shuler's earmarks.

A liberal group is running TV ads urging Sen. Kay Hagan to support President Obama's budget.

Americans United for Change, a liberal advocacy group that receives backing from labor unions, will spend at least $700,000 on ads in nine states, including North Carolina.

The states "just happen to be represented by some of the more conservative Democratic senators," MSNBC's First Read reports. 

The ad is one of at least three TV and radio ads in North Carolina. The other two target U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge and Mike McIntyre, two conservative Democrats.

Hagan recently joined a group of moderate Democrats and has written a letter to the Senate Budget Committee protesting Obama's proposed cuts in farm funding.

After the jump, the script. 

Hat Tip: Mark Binker

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* Rep. Ray Rapp files a bill that would give Gov. Beverly Perdue the authority to furlough state workers, which she says she won't do.

* Greensboro News-Record's Mark Binker thinks Civitas' polling on gay marriage may have "established a norm" by referring to other states.

* Bill to help members of the military renew their drivers licenses while deployed passes House. Idea came from Army reservist Rep. Ric Killian.

* Democratic consultant Gary Pearce highlights Sen. Charlie Albertson's bill to prevent sports teams from playing if school scores are low.

* The parent company of the Winston-Salem Journal is closing its Washington bureau, which wrote, among many other things, this article last year.

* Asheville Citizen-Times Jordan Schrader reports that Gov. Beverly Perdue left a message Speaker Joe Hackney after seizing the rainy day funds. 

* Greensboro News-Record's Mark Binker finally gets a long-awaited ethics opinion on donations to the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus Foundation.

* First Lady Michelle Obama visits Fort Bragg, meets with city council members, local civics and business leaders at a Fayetteville event. 

It's fair to say that was the first State of the State to be tweeted.

Gov. Beverly Perdue's first speech to the legislature was touted as historic because she is the state's first female governor, but it may be recalled as well as the first to be micro-blogged on the popular site Twitter.

A sample of the live reactions to the speech: 

* "who cares? It would only be interesting had Munger won." — Sam Spencer

* "Anyone else think it's ironic that the hashtag for the state of the state address is #ncsos? Guv'nah Bev's sending out an S-O-S!" — Ben McNeely

* "Perdue: "We don't have time for talk-show political posturing or petty partisan games." Not Political Connections I hope? lol" — Tim Boyum, News 14 North Carolina host

* ""Vocational, CC, or college" .... Glad to see McCrory at least influenced debate on the issue." Ryan Radford

* "Governor just called me out for twittering while she talks. Well me and people actually there" — Will Cubbison, Young Democrats labor chair

* "Great example with the flight attendant from the Miracle on the Hudson flight, but "Sheroes"? Really?" — Joe Colletti, John Locke Foundation

* "Brace yourself for a Gov. O. Max Gardner reference. Gardner was governor during the great depression, spent money rather than cut." — Mark Binker, Greensboro News-Record reporter

To read the full discussion, go to search.twitter.com and type #ncsos

Reaction from the capitol press corps on the State of the State:

* Greensboro News-Record reporter Mark Binker said the speech was notable for what didn't happen. "You didn't hear a lot of push-back afterward," he writes, noting that Republican and Democratic legislators seemed reconciled to the deep budget cuts promised.

* WUNC radio reporter Laura Leslie said the speech was "math-lite" for its failure to mention taxes or dwindling revenue and made little news in part because Perdue's been so accessible that everyone knew what she was going to say. 

* Independent Weekly reporter Bob Geary said that liberal groups hoping to hear that the state can't "cut, cut, cut its way" out of a $3 to $4 billion shortfall heard nothing, but Perdue didn't make any "no new taxes" promises either.

* The Greensboro News-Record's Mark Binker cautions casual political fans not to expect too much too soon from the legislature.

* The House selects new Democratic whips: Reps. Larry Bell, Larry Hall, Jean Farmer-Butterfield, Deborah Ross and Bruce Goforth.

* More cutbacks in the field of journalism: UNC-TV will no longer pay political analysts who appear on its "Legislative Week in Review" show.

* Liberal blogger Andrea Verykoukis says the state's anti-sodomy law "has been used to persecute ... certain parties with certain proclivities" for centuries.

Another state political blogger has joined the scene.

Longtime political reporter Paul Woolverton of the Fayetteville Observer is writing a blog called The People's Business about the legislature and other issues.

So far, posts have highlighted a bill that would ban texting while driving, noted new electronic archives of House audio and dashed hopes about a Interstate 295 loop around Fayetteville.

Woolverton joins the growing ranks of reporter-bloggers in the capital press corps, including Mark Binker of the Greensboro News-Record, Jordan Schrader of the Asheville Citizen-Times, Barry Smith of the Burlington Times-News, Jack Betts of the Charlotte Observer and Laura Leslie of WUNC radio.

Not to mention, yours truly, the Legion of Dome. 

* Conservative blogger Katy Benningfield writes that former Lee County commissioner Chad Adams appears to be running for chairman of the N.C. Republican Party.

* Republican state Rep. Ric Killian files a bill that would give a hunting and fishing license exemption for members of the military on active duty. 

* UNC-Chapel Hill journalism prof Leroy Towns thinks the "hand wringing" over the N&O's new health care newsletter is unwarranted; liberal blogger Adam Linker disagrees.

* Greensboro News-Record reporter Mark Binker writes that a bill to extend legislators' terms to four years is not likely to gain much traction in either chamber. 

* U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick delivered the opening prayer at a closed-door meeting between President Obama and House Republicans on the stimulus package.

* Conservative commentator John Hood gives suggestions for the legislature to really cut spending and make government more transparent.

* Liberal commentator Adam Linker wonders whatever happened to the second of two promised audits of the State Health Plan from former Auditor Les Merritt.

* Greensboro News-Record reporter Mark Binker rounds up what to expect from the upcoming session, notably the budget, the budget and the budget.