Senate spouse Brooke Burr has sent out invitations for her husband's annual birthday bash.

The event this year is on his actual birthday, Nov. 30, at the Forsyth Country Club in Winston-Salem, Barb Barrett reports.

Her husband, Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, faces re-election next year.
The Birthday Bash event began 10 years ago, Brooke Burr wrote in her e-mail to friends.

"In the years since, it has become a major fundraiser for the campaign and a special way for women of North Carolina to show their support for Richard," she wrote.

By tradition, women serve as hosts ($500, with three guests) or sponsors ($250, with one guest). They can invite even more guests for $75 a person. Money goes toward Burr's re-election campaign.

Special guests include former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and her husband, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

"Thanks for your past support and I hope I can count on you to be with us to celebrate Richard's birthday on November 30th," Brooke Burr wrote. "I am sure you know the importance of this election and this event."

Burr will be turning 54.

BOWLED OVER: UNC system President Erskine Bowles says the system's top board members first supported, then flip-flopped on a deal to pay a healthy severance to outgoing N.C. State University Chancellor James Oblinger. Bowles made that revelation in a visit to The News & Observer’s editorial board. Bowles also said former Gov. Mike Easley wasn’t bothered by the newspaper "picking on" him, but had a real problem with the paper picking on his wife. What really got Dome’s attention was that apparently, the most powerful man in state higher education, eats Chick-Fil-A twice a day. No word on whether he prefers Barbecue or Polynesian sauce.

IN A PERFECT WORLD: The state School Board did some dreaming at its retreat this week. Dome expects an army of four-foot high protesters, armed with spitballs, to protest the board's pipe dream of lengthening the school year.

LOST IN TRANSLATION: Gov. Beverly Perdue is headed to China and Japan to drum up business for the state. Let’s all give a collective cross of the fingers that a mis-translated malaprop won’t accidentally lead to an international incident. Sure would love to see some video of the governor performing at a Karaoke bar, though.

IN OTHER NEWS: Bill Hefner, the one-time dean of the state’s Congressional delegation, died this week. U.S. Sens. John McCain and Mitch McConnell joined Sen. Richard Burr for a health care forum at an invitation-only event. District Attorney Rex Gore has recused himself from deciding whether to prosecute state Sen. R.C. Soles in an incident in which Soles shot a would-be intruder.

U.S. Sen. John McCain and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell told a Charlotte audience this morning that Congress and the president should "start over" on health care reform.

"It's time we started back at the beginning," McCain of Arizona told medical professionals at Carolinas Medical Center, reports Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer.

The two Republicans joined GOP Sen. Richard Burr in the invitation-only town hall that drew about 250 people to a hospital auditorium.

The three acknowledged that health reform is needed. But they advocated a go-slow, incremental approach and criticized Democratic proposals.

"Our goal ought not to be to have the cheapest health care in the world," said McConnell, of Kentucky, adding that government-run health care would lead to "massive rationing."

He also said reaction from people who have swarmed public meetings across the country on health care could help slow the process.

"The reaction of the American people has been helpful to us in achieving our goal, which is a little more modest and (doing) it the right way," McConnell said.

In a later conference call with reporters, Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge of North Carolina said Republicans' plan wouldn't help consumers.

"It really leaves the individual right where they are today," he said, "to negotiate with the insurance companies. And they don't have the muscle or the authority to deal with them in order to get the costs down."

In contrast to other meetings on the subject, the hospital gathering was civil. One Charlotte doctor, however, questioned the senators' statements that Americans have "the best heath care in the world." Dr. David Jacobs, a surgeon, also questioned McCain's suggestion that the real number of uninsured Americans is 12 million to 15 million, not the 47 million often quoted.

"On both sides of the fence, I don't think the American people are hearing the whole story," Jacobs said.

Sen. Richard Burr, (left) Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Mitch McConnell at a forum at a Charlotte hospital on Tuesday.

McCain, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008 linked to the low-res photograph from his Twitter feed. McConnell is the Senate minority leader.

The event, which was not open to the public, was held at Carolinas Medical Center.

Burr, up for re-election in 2010, has offered an alternative to Democratic health care reform proposals that would give tax credits of up to $5,700 for families to pay for health insurance.

The parent company of the hospital has been a big spender on health care lobbying.

Hat Tip: JonThompsonDC 

The hospital system welcoming Republican heavyweight Sens. John McCain and Mitch McConnell on Tuesday has spent $1.2 million in the past 18 months lobbying Congress, reports Barb Barrett.

Carolinas HealthCare Systems, which runs 25 hospitals in Charlotte and South Carolina, will host a health-care event Tuesday for Sen. Richard Burr. Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, is running for re-election in 2010.

McCain, the GOP presidential candidate last year, and McConnell, the Senate majority leader, will speak at the event.

Carolinas Healthcare Systems was one of North Carolina’s biggest lobbying spenders on health care issues in the past two years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group in Washington that tracks spending in politics. The hospital’s lobbying documents show that it is interested in health reform, pharmacy legislation and issues related to Medicare and Medicaid.

Spokesman Kevin McCarthy said earlier this summer that in the context of the current health reform debate, the hospital system wants to increase Medicare reimbursements to doctors and help uninsured and underinsured patients find a medical home.

Sen. John McCain, the Republicans' 2008 nominee for president, and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell are expected to join Republican Sen. Richard Burr in Charlotte on Tuesday for a "hospital forum" at Carolinas Medical Center.

The Charlotte Observer reports that with hospital employees and Burr's invited guests attending, there will likely be little room for the public in an auditorium that holds fewer than 300 people, said a spokeswoman for Carolinas HealthCare System.

The 90-minute event is at 9 a.m. Calls to Burr's spokesman were not returned Sunday.

Like Burr, McCain, R-Ariz., and McConnell, R-Ky., oppose many of the Democrats' proposals for health care reform, including a public option that would compete with private insurance companies.

Burr, up for re-election in 2010, has offered an alternative that would give tax credits of up to $5,700 for families to pay for health insurance.

Tobacco interests have given U.S. Sen. Richard Burr $355,000.

Since he was elected to Congress in 1995, the Winston-Salem Republican has received substantial money from tobacco companies and employees.

He was second only to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has accepted $390,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Burr's biggest contributor, with $194,000, is R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and its parent company, which are based in Winston-Salem.

"Senator Burr has represented the state for a long time, either in the Senate or the House, and I think through that long representation he has done an excellent job of being receptive to business issues of all types," said Maura Payne, a spokeswoman for Reynolds American. "Given that receptivity, we have supported his campaigns."

Burr and Sen. Kay Hagan co-sponsored a bill that would create a new agency to regulate tobacco, an alternative to a more popular bill to put the Food and Drug Administration in charge of oversight.

Update: Hagan received $19,450 from tobacco contributors in 2008. (Char-O)

Linda Daves had some harsh words for Sarah Palin.

At a recent question-and-answer session with top-ranking Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the North Carolina GOP chairwoman brought up a lingering issue from the 2008 campaign, according to MSNBC:

Another interesting moment during the question-and-answer session came when North Carolina Party Chair Linda Daves rose to ask if there was a budget for clothing candidates, an obvious -- and sharp-edged -- reference to Sarah Palin's paid-for campaign wardrobe.

In response, a Republican National Committee member in charge of the budget blamed the McCain campaign, which had blamed the RNC during the campaign.

Two prominent North Carolina conservatives oppose two of President Obama's appointments.

Bob Luddy, a major Republican donor and founder of CaptiveAire, and GOP political consultant Marc Rotterman are among the 14 conservatives who signed a recent letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

The letter states that they oppose the confirmations of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Attorney General Eric Holder and "ethical and philosophical grounds."

It notes that Geithner failed to pay income tax in previous years. It does not state any specific objections to Holder, though some conservatives have complained about his role in Bill Clinton's pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

"This is a seminal moment for the GOP," the letter reads. "Will it continue as the party of George Bush, or will it return to its populist roots of Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater?"

Oddly, the letter ends by asking McConnell to oppose the confirmation of "these three men," but it does not mention a third appointee.

Other signatories include the editor of RedState.com, the director of the American Conservative Union, the publisher of the American Spectator magazine and direct-mail pioneer Richard Viguerie.

Update: Dome was inadvertently sent a previous version. The final version reads "these two men."