Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton raised $2.5 million by the end of the year.

According to campaign finance reports submitted to the State Board of Elections, the Rutherfordton Democrat raised $145,000 in the final quarter of the year.

Major donors during that period included Carolina Crossroads event coordinator Elizabeth Branham, Greenville attorney Marvin K. Blount III, Chapel Hill developer Michael Cucchiara and former UNC-Wilmington Chancellor Jim Leutze.

The political action committees for BB&T, the Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association, Caremark Rx employees, Dominion, the Eastern band of Cherokee Indians, John Deere, McGuire Woods, and the N.C. Association of Educators.

He also received donations from the campaigns of state Sens. Dan Clodfelter and Tony Rand, retiring Rep. Jim Harrell, Congressman Heath Shuler, among others.

In addition, Dalton received a total of $95,000 from the N.C. Democratic Party. 

DURHAM — No big rallies this time.

The setting for what is expected to be Barack Obama's final campaign appearance was in the sedate setting of CREE, a company in the Research Triangle Park that is producing LED lights, Rob Christensen reports.

Reporters nearly outnumbered CREE employees in a manufacturing room where Obama was scheduled to speak within the hour. Obama was expected to talk about both the economy and the environment.

The location was set up by Michael Cucchiara, a Chapel Hill businessman, who had been a major financial backer of former Sen. John Edwards. Cucchiara switched to Obama shortly after Edwards withdrew from the race in January.

About two dozen Democrats gathered in the law offices of Kirby & Holt at noon today to listen to a one-hour talk by David Plouffe, the campaign manager for Barack Obama.

Several participants said there was no explicit pitch for the backers of former Sen. John Edwards. In fact, Plouffe went out of his way to say he understood that some Edwards backers may not be ready to make another choice yet, Rob Christensen reports.

But there were a number of major Edwards backers attending including Chapel Hill businessman Michael Cucchiara, who gave $2 million for the poverty center that Edwards started at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Asked if he was ready to back Obama, Cucchiara said: "No comment."

But Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, another Edwards supporter, said he was enthusiastically backing Obama.

Foy said the mesage from the meeting was that Obama would be a strong candidate in the May 6 Democratic primary, and would also compete here in November if he was the nominee. Plouffe said Obama could attract enough independents and young voters that he would help all the North Carolina Democrats on the ticket, Foy said.

Others attending the meeting included former House Democratic leader Phil Baddour of Goldsboro, state Rep. Bill Faison of Orange County, Raleigh businessman John Crumpler, former Chapel Hill Mayor Rosemary Waldorf, former state Democratic executive director Scott Falmlen, Democratic consultant Morgan Jackson, and state Senate candidate Josh Stein, who managed Edwards' 1998 Senate campaign.

The event was held in Edwards' former law offices. But Kirby, Edwards' former law partner and longtime friend, was not present. His office said he was trying a case in court.

John Edwards is bringing in the big guns for one last push before the second quarter ends.

The former North Carolina senator is calling together some of his biggest supporters, including former Gov. Jim Hunt, Raleigh attorney David Kirby and former UNC-Chapel Hill basketball coach Dean Smith, for one final push to raise money, Rob Christensen reports.

Edwards has scheduled a high dollar fund raiser for Saturday, June 30, at the home of Steve and Louise Coggins, neighbors of his summer homat on Figure 8 Island. The event will cost $2,300 for hosts, $1,000 for sponsors and $500 for patrons.

His campaign raised $14 million in the first quarter, but reportedly may have trouble matching that figure for the second quarter as it seeks to stay competitive with New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

A list of the major attendees after the jump.

   Comments (0)