Republican Congressional candidate Will Breazeale is putting his money where his mouth is, personally guaranteeing a term limit pledge. 

Breazeale, who is making his second challenge against 7th District Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre, announced this week that he is guaranteeing his pledge to serve no more than six years in Congress with a $250,000 check secured by personal assets written in a promissory note, Rob Christensen reports. 

If Breazeale is elected and violates his pledge, he would then be obligated to donate the $250,000 to the Cape Fear Volunteer Center-Kids Voting. 

This is part of an effort by a group, based in Pinehurst, called the Alliance for Bonded Term Limits, that is seeking to find ways to ensure that candidates will keep their promises to serve a finite time in Congress. 

The organization reports on its website that three candidates so far have agreed to make bonded pledges. 

Term limits were popular among Republicans in the 1990s, but once elected many changed their minds about the value of term limits. 

Breazeale is an airline pilot and a major in the U.S. Army Reserves. He is also a decorated combat veteran who served in Iraq and Kuwait. 

U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre touted North Carolina’s agriculture and alternative fuels while in Greece today for an international conference on energy.

McIntyre, a Lumberton Democrat, is a senior member of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, which promotes security through human rights, democracy and environmental cooperation, reports Barb Barrett.

He spoke in Athens before about 200 parliamentarians from 49 countries who attended the fall meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

There, he talked of how farmers in North Carolina are trying to develop energy from resources such as animal waste.

“In my home state of North Carolina, the agriculture industry is already making significant progress in converting plant and animal waste, agricultural stover [residue] and woody biomass into viable options for alternative energy sources,” McIntyre said.

“We need to be flexible and forward-looking, using alternative fuels, new crop-tilling mechanisms and the latest research in irrigation so that farmers will continue to be a reliable source of food and fiber not only for their own families, but for the world.”

No, not the kind you're thinking about.

In this case, we're talking about what's known as "the other white meat."

Seven of North Carolina’s members of Congress have asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect the pork industry from its economic troubles by buying $100 million worth of meat for the USDA’s federal food assistance programs.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, they say the recession and the recent swine flu outbreak have hurt the industry. The lawmakers thanked Vilsack for his push earlier this year to call the swine flu virus H1N1 to disassociate it from pork products, but they said the impacts of the scare have hurt the industry.

The letter notes that USDA already has announced $30 million in purchases through the end of the fiscal year, reports Barb Barrett.

“We asking for additional help with the economic crisis the U.S. pork industry currently faces,” the letter reads. “Without your assistance, we are putting thousands of rural jobs and businesses at risk.”

The N.C. lawmakers are Democratic U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge, Larry Kissell, Mike McIntyre, Brad Miller and G.K. Butterfield, along with Republican U.S. Reps. Howard Coble and Walter Jones. Fifty-five other lawmakers also signed the letter.

They want Vilsack to use $100 million to buy pork for federal food assistance programs, with an emphasis on sow meat to reduce breeding stock.

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Americans for Prosperity will hold a rally at the N.C. State Fairgrounds on Wednesday night ahead of President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress.

The rally will take place at 8 p.m. at the Kerr Scott building at the fairgrounds in Raleigh, reports Barb Barrett. Then, the group — which opposes Democrats' proposals on health reform — will watch Obama's 9 p.m. address live on a big overhead screen, said Dallas Woodhouse, state director of the N.C. chapter.

The rally will follow two more days of Americans for Prosperity's bus tour, which plans stops in the districts of Democratic U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre, Larry Kissell and Bob Etheridge.

As the summer recess wound to a close, U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre and Virginia Foxx talked about their problems with the health care reform bill currently in the U.S. House.

McIntyre, a Lumberton Democrat, told the Wilmington-Star News that he is concerned about the expense of the current house proposal as well as the public option insurance plan.

McIntyre pointed to recent projections that the United States will face a $9 trillion federal deficit during the next decade.

"And now, we’re looking at the possibility of a proposed new federal bureaucracy dumping another minimum one trillion more dollars on top of that," he said, referring to the estimate for the reform package over 10 years.

McIntyre also said funding is why he is uncertain about the much-debated public option for a new government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers.

"I’m not convinced yet that the public option is the way to go," he said. "The federal budget right now, we’re not in a position we can afford it."

Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, took questions on a talk radio show. Shuler said health care reform must not add to the federal deficit, focus on wellness and prevention and must start with an overhaul before millions of uninsured Americans are put into the health care system, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

More after the jump.

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North Carolina Public Television is planning a call-in show on health care that will be brought to you by the letters "D" and "R."

UNC-TV intends to air the live show 9 p.m. Tuesday. All members of the state's congressional delegation have been invited. So far, Democratic Reps. David Price, Bob Etheridge, Brad Miller and Mel Watt have accepted, according to a UNC-TV spokesman. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican confirmed his participation Thursday afternoon.

Sen. Kay Hagan (D), and Reps. G.K. Butterfield (D), Howard Coble (R), Virginia Foxx (R), Walter Jones (R), Sue Myrick (R), Mike McIntyre (D) and Heath Shuler (D) have declined the recently issued invitations.

Reps. Larry Kissell (D) and Patrick McHenry (R) have not yet responded.

Perhaps UNC-TV should sweeten the pot with a few tote bags and mugs.

Update: Post includes updated list of who has decided to participate. 

The Club for Growth’s new report card on congressional earmarks gives perfect scores to just one North Carolina Republican.

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx of Banner Elk voted 68 times to eliminate specific projects around the country that had been inserted into spending bills by her congressional colleagues. Earmarks, which are projects funded by directed spending by individual members of Congress, have been targeted by several government watchdog groups, including Club for Growth, a think tank in Washington that supports economic prosperity, Barb Barrett reports.

The group rated members on how often they supported amendments that would have eliminated specific projects around the country for programs such as research initiatives, hospital rehabilitations, cultural grants and small business assistance. Among North Carolina’s other members, Republican Reps. Patrick McHenry scored 99 percent, Sue Myrick scored 97, and Howard Coble scored 84. At the other end of the spectrum, Democrats Mel Watt, David Price, Mike McIntyre, Larry Kissell and Bob Etheridge each scored a zero.

If money is the mother’s milk of politics, then Congressmen Health Shuler, a Democrat, and Virginia Foxx, a Republican, are the two members of the Tar Heel delegation who are well provisioned at the moment.

Both have over $1 million in their campaign war chests as of June 30, according to campaign reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission, Rob Christensen reports.

Shuler, a Bryson City Democrat whose name had been bandied about at one time as a potential U.S. Senate candidate, had $1.1 million in his campaign committee. Foxx, a Republican from Banner Elk had $1,006,121.

The middle weights in campaign war chests were Democrat Bob Etheridge of Lillington ($895,137), Democrat Mike McIntyre of Lumberton ($696,540), Republican Howard Coble of Greensboro ($505,759), Democrat David Price of Chapel Hill ($271,619), Democrat G.K. Butterfield ($225,204), Democrat Larry Kissell of Bisco ($214,051) and Republican Sue Myrick of Charlotte ($160,751).

The light wallet crowd included Democrat Mel Watt of Charlotte ($123,767) Republican Patrick McHenry of Cherryville ($119,270), Republican Walter Jones of Farmville ($85,424) and Democrat Brad Miller of Raleigh ($70,654).

As far as fundraising during the past three months, the big three are Etheridge ($326,561), Kissell ($322,631) and Shuler ($314,753).

In politics, there are an infinate number of stops before you reach a "yes" or "no."

How else to interpret the words of a campaign strategist about Secretary of State Elaine Marshall's current stance on running for U.S. Senate next year against Sen. Richard Burr?

Marshall is "pretty seriously leaning towards" running, strategist Thomas Mills told CQ Politics.

That's an absolute possibly.

"She's gotten very strong feedback both in state and in Washington," Mills told CQ Politics.

The squishy certainty comes as U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, a potential brand name candidate, decided not to run against Burr. And CQ is at least the second Washington-based publication that has carried gelatinously concrete thinking about running from Marshall.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, are you getting all this?