Here's a mostly complete list of Barack Obama's surrogates in North Carolina for the general election:

Vice presidential candidate Joe Biden and his wife Jill; Michelle Obama; Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius; former Gov. Jim Hunt; former Sen. Bill Bradley; former Sen. Jean Carnahan; U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge, David Price, Brad Miller, G.K. Butterfield and Jim Cooper; Secretary of State Elaine Marshall; former Agriculture Commissioner Britt Cobb; state Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand; Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Lambert; Maj. Gen. Scott Gration; professor Sarah Sewall; veterans Paul Bucha, John McCary and Jon Kuniholm; actresses Alfre Woodard, Jurnee Smollett, Tatyana Ali, Ellen Pompeo and Danielle Panabaker; and actors Kal Penn and Harold Perrineau. The daughter of Jackie Robinson was scheduled to come but did not make it.

Previously: Obama's surrogates in the primary.

JACKSONVILLE — Michelle Obama dove deep into eastern North Carolina and the home of Camp Lejeune today to persuade a crowd that her husband, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, offered the best options for the military and their families.

Speaking to a crowd that police estimated at 1,500, Michelle Obama said her husband and Republican candidate John McCain offered “two different visions of the lives servicemen and women should return to.”

Three-quarters of the crowd responded when she asked past and present members of the military to stand, reports Lynn Bonner.

“We share the vision of a system that does more to support military families, both when loved ones are deployed and after they return,” she said.

M. Andy Fiel of Jacksonville, commander of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, was one of those in the crowd. Fiel, 76, said he was a registered Republican, but will vote for Obama.

For most of the last eight years, the country has had a Republican president and a Republican Congress, Fiel said, and “look where we are now. We need change.”

Fiel said he had more confidence in Obama than McCain.

“They’re going to support veterans when they come back,” he said. “The VA is underfunded.”

Barack Obama is calling for improved medical care by the Veterans Administration, improved mental health treatment, job protection for military spouses who need time away from work to prepare their families for deployment, and making education benefits under the G.I. Bill transferable to spouses or children.

Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama are coming to Eastern N.C.

The Republican vice presidential candidate will be in Greenville Tuesday afternoon for a 4 p.m. rally at the Williams Arena at East Carolina University.

It will be Palin's first visit to North Carolina since she was selected as John McCain's running mate.

Obama, meantime, will appear at the Jacksonville Commons Recreation Centerin Jacksonville to talk about the problems military families face when loved ones are deployed.

The program starts at 1:30 p.m.

Tickets for both events are available on the campaign Web sites. (N&O) 

Two top Democratic candidates have moved closer to Barack Obama.

Gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue and Senate candidate Kay Hagan both attended an Obama rally in Charlotte Sunday, getting a brief shoutout before he spoke.

Hagan also recently introduced Michelle Obama at an event in Greensboro last week. 

Traditionally, North Carolina Democrats have gone out of their way to avoid their party's presidential nominee, with Republican candidate Richard Vinroot famously offering $500 for a snapshot of Mike Easley with Al Gore in 2000. 

Perdue got her own picture taken with Obama during the primary and included it on a mailer sent to black voters, while Hagan has echoed many themes of Obama in her Senate run.

Still, the two did not join Obama on the stage at Sunday's event.

Previously: North Carolina is one of only 11 states that hold gubernatorial and presidential elections in the same year. 

Kathleen Sebelius stumped for Barack Obama again this weekend.

The Kansas governor previously toured North Carolina on behalf of the Democratic presidential candidate in April during his primary battle with Hillary Clinton. She returned in June for a fundraiser for Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan.

On Friday, she made two stops in the western part of the state, arguing that Republican John McCain had ties to Wall Street's current problems and rallying women, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

"It isn't just a string of bad luck that produced the tumult that we see on Wall Street," Sebelius said at a stop in an Asheville coffee shop. "It's a stream of bad policy and a stream of deregulation of the financial services industry."

The stops were part of a ramped-up effort by Obama to bring surrogates to North Carolina. His wife, Michelle, and running mate, Joe Biden, have made recent stops, and former Missouri Sen. Jean Carnahan will visit Tuesday.

Hat Tip: Laura Leslie 

Former Sen. Jean Carnahan will again tour North Carolina.

The former Missouri senator previously visited the state in April as part of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's primary battle.

On Tuesday, she will stop in Wilson at 10:30 a.m. for an economic community meeting with former First Lady Carolyn Hunt. Carnahan's husband, Mel, and Hunt's husband, Jim, were governors of Missouri and North Carolina during the mid to late 1990s.

She'll then hold another community meeting at Print Products Etc. in Louisburg, and a meet and greet with Durham women at the home of Jean O'Barr.

The trip is part of a recent string of high-profile visits by Obama and his surrogates, including his wife Michelle and running mate Joe Biden. 

Campaign season is kicking into high gear.

Among the most read posts on the Dome blog this week were items about the race for governor and president, though the top spot was an oldie.

1. DVD Return: An item from last week about N&O subscribers receiving a DVD about "radical Islam" continued to get hits thanks to comments both pro and con.

2. Quo Status: A fact-check finds an ad accusing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue of pushing the "status quo" button inaccurate. It really pushes her buttons.

3. Michelle, My Belle: The wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama visits Greensboro and Charlotte. We're officially a battleground state now, folks.

4. It's Pat: Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory has an eight-point lead in a new poll, but some find its numbers suspicious. They overrepresented Scots-Irish, we hear.

5. Report Card: A national reform group gives North Carolina a B-minus for its campaign finance disclosure laws. With all this running, the candidates did well in gym, though.

Barack Obama will hold a rally in Charlotte Sunday.

The Democratic presidential candidate will make his third visit to North Carolina since winning the Democratic primary in May, a sign that the campaign views the state as competitive.

Obama's wife, Michelle, and running mate, Joe Biden, have also made trips here in the past week.

The rally will be held in uptown Charlotte at East Fourth and South Davidson streets at 1 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is strongly recommended at this Web site.

Volunteers make signs at Obama's Charlotte office on Friday at 2 p.m. The office is at 1523 Elizabeth St.

Kay Hagan joined Michelle Obama on the campaign trail today.

The Democratic Senate candidate joined the wife of presidential candidate Barack Obama at a rally at the Carolina Theatre in Greensboro this afternoon.

The Greensboro News & Record reports that Hagan addressed the crowd before Obama, talking about pay equity and access to health care.

Obama then thanked Hagan.

"We can't forget what's going on in these local races because Barack is going to need some help when he gets to the White House," she said, according to the paper.

The appearance was a strong sign that the Hagan campaign considers it beneficial to tie itself more closely to Obama in the fall presidential campaign. 

Maya Angelou will introduce Michelle Obama today.

The noted poet will appear at a 3 p.m. rally at the Carolina Theatre in Greensboro to introduce the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate's wife.

A resident of Winston-Salem, Angelou was a supporter of Obama's primary opponent, Hillary Clinton. She hosted a "conversation" with Clinton at Wake Forest University and appeared in a TV ad for Clinton that aired in North Carolina.

She now backs Obama.