Much of the testimony throughout the State Board of Elections hearings has focused on the coordinated campaign between former Gov. Mike Easley's gubernatorial campaign and the N.C. Democratic Party.

One of the major allegations that has surfaced is that donors believed that they could write big checks to the party that would then be directed to Easley, a scheme to skirt campaign finance law.

The party's defense seems to hone in on the fact that Easley's campaign had a $500,000 commitment to the party in advance of election day in 2004. The money was to be used for get-out-the-vote efforts and general promotion of Democratic candidates.

Easley's hired money raiser, Michael Hayden, said he wasn't briefed regularly on how Easley's campaign was raising for the party. But Hayden and Easley testified that the party's executive director, Scott Falmlen, controlled the money.

Jim Cooney, an attorney for the party, said Tuesday that Easley's campaign raised a lot more money for the party than it got back. Cooney sought to emphasize Wednesday that Easley's campaign and the coordinated campaign were distinct organizations.

"Part of the problem, I think, is we may be running some concepts together," he told Easley as he began asking questions as Easley's testimony neared its fifth hour.

State Board of Elections chairman Larry Leake ended Day 2 about an hour early because he had to meet with the board's attorneys, presumably about its appeal of Ruffin Poole's quashed subpoena.

Here's what when down on Tuesday:

THEY DON'T RECALL: Memories got a lot worse on Tuesday. Officials in Gov. Mike Easley's campaigns and donors said they couldn't remember an awful lot. Those hazy memories made for lots of unanswered questions and a refrain of "I don't recall."

STRATEGY: A memo, which the board believes was written by Easley campaign finance director Michael Hayden, outlines a concerted strategy to use the N.C. Democratic Party and other organizations to avoid campaign finance limits. Hayden doesn't remember writing the memo.

WELCOME, GOVERNOR: After testimony wrapped, Leake said there's a good chance Easley will make an appearance Wednesday. 

Michael Hayden, who was in charge of raising money for former Gov. Mike Easley's campaign, said he does not remember writing a memo outlining a strategy to funnel money through organizations to skirt campaign finance limits.

Hayden testified that the memo looks like something he could have created, but he did not specifically remember it. 

Board chairman Larry Leake had earlier said that the board believes Hayden wrote the campaign's finance strategy, which entailed having contributors give through other organizations.

Hayden repeated what other witnesses have said: that Easley did not care for fundraising and participated in it begrudgingly.

Hayden was the person renting Easley's Raleigh home until late 2003, although he said he did not recall any repairs being made to it while he was there. On Monday, Easley friend McQueen Campbell testified that he made repairs to the house and then falsified some $11,000 in invoices for flights to pay for the work.