Former state Sen. J.J. "Monk" Harrington died Wednesday.

Harrington, 89, of Bertie County, served in the Senate from 1963 to 1988 and was a fixture in North Carolina politics. He was one of the state's rural political barons and host of a legendary deer hunt.

"Monk was a giant of a man in the Senate," said former Gov. Jim Hunt. "He was a great big man physically. He was a big man in his influence and friendliness in the state Senate. He was always deeply devoted to his county and to his community and the whole of northeastern North Carolina."

Harrington was best known for the annual deer hunts he held — one of the last of the state's rural political traditions that included the Rat Killing in Pitt County and the Ramp Festival in the mountains.

Every December, Harrington would host hundreds of lawmakers, lobbyists and candidates, who smoked cigars, drank bourbon and ate venison stew to prove they weren't stuffed shirts. (N&O) 

Political observers are mourning the passing of T.G. Joyner.

The longtime yellow-dog Democrat, nicknamed "Sonny Boy," was a key advisor and staffer for Govs. Terry Sanford and Bob Scott and a longtime party activist.

On his Talking About Politics blog, Democratic strategist Gary Pearce writes that Joyner helped put Northampton County in George McGovern's camp in the 1972 election, making it one of only two North Carolina counties not to vote for Richard Nixon.

"Like his name suggested, he was a country boy," he writes. "All smiles and laughter. Pumping everybody for political gossip. Pounding on people in Raleigh to get things done for his neighbors."

On This Old State, Charlotte Observer columnist Jack Betts laments the decline of the political nickname, noting U.S. Rep. Wilmer "Vinegar Bend" Mizell, state Sen. J.J. "Monk" Harrington and gubernatorial candidate Hargrove "Skipper" Bowles, among others.