* U.S. Sen. Richard Burr praises Sen. Ted Kennedy's bipartisanship, saying he wishes every bill was co-sponsored by him.

* Gov. Beverly Perdue will speak at funeral services for state Sen. Vern Malone at Martin Street Baptist Church in Raleigh tomorrow.

* If Congress moves to impeach federal Judge Jay Bybee over the torture memos, Reps. Howard Coble and Mel Watt will be on the committee.

* U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan takes umbrage at the U.S. trade representative saying there's no need to reconsider the NAFTA trade agreement. 

Barack Obama's top economics advisor said his plan would help the middle class.

Responding to a conference call by Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign today, Obama advisor Jason Furman told Dome that cutting taxes for the middle class and small businesses would turn the economy around.

"Barack Obama's tax plan is centered around tax cuts for middle-class families and small businesses because they're responsible for the majority of job creation in America," he said.

He said that the tax cuts would be "evened out" by increases in taxes on higher income earners, who received breaks under President Bush, arguing that would "restore fairness to the tax code."

Furman disagreed with the McCain campaign's characterization of Obama as being against free trade.

He said that Obama favors amending free trade agreements such as NAFTA to include stronger protection for labor and the environment.

"In the last eight years, trade policy has gone wrong in this country, and John McCain is defending what George Bush has done," he said. 

Kay Hagan is borrowing Barack Obama's line on trade.

On Friday, the Democratic Senate candidate attacked U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole for backing free trade agreements that she said hurt North Carolina workers.

But she stopped short of calling for the North American Free Trade Agreement or the Central American Free Trade Agreement to be thrown out. Instead, she proposed a "mend it, don't end it" approach reminiscent of remarks by Obama during the state primary here.

Her trade policy calls for adding enforceable labor and environmental standards to prevent companies from moving overseas and giving the U.S. Department of Justice enforcement powers over trade agreements.

Dole spokesman Don McLagan told the Associated Press that CAFTA removed tariffs in other countries that were keeping North Carolina-made pharmaceutical and agricultural products out of those marketplaces.

"I believe the only jobs Hagan has created are those for tax collectors," he said.

Barack Obama outlined his economic policies today.

In a speech at the N.C. State Fairgrounds, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate called for a $50 billion economic stimulus package, help for homeowners facing foreclosure with refinancing and mortgage tax credits and expanded health care coverage.

He attacked "special interest loopholes" in the federal tax code and continued his attacks on free-trade agreements.

After an introduction from Gov. Mike Easley raised the issue, Obama repeated his concerns about the fairness of existing agreements like NAFTA.

"There is nothing protectionist about demanding that trade spread the benefits of globalization as broadly as possible," he said.

In North Carolina towns, where the loss of manufacturing jobs to Mexico is hardly news, voters wonder who can help.

Bill Clinton visited Alamance County on Thursday to stump for his wife. In this corner of the state, residents and workers agree on this much: The economy feels horrible. And they aren't certain how the next president can reverse the trend.

"I wish they could stop all these people from sending jobs overseas and throwing people out of work," said Era Edwards, 90, a Clinton supporter who can see the mill from her backyard.

"Ain't nobody got no money," said R.L. Justice, a McCain supporter and owner of the Trollinger Street auto garage a block away, where business is the worst it has been in 24 years. "When that mill closes up, it's gonna hurt."

"So many things are negative," said Shannon Alston, an Obama supporter who paints brilliant pictures of trees that he says are divinely inspired.  (N&O)

Photographs of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are featured in four new TV ads being aired in South Carolina by John Edwards.

In each 10-second ad, the announcer shows a photograph of Obama and Clinton and asks one of four questions:

Which Democrat opposed NAFTA and other trade deals that send American jobs overseas?

Which Democrat has never taken a dime of campaign money from Washington lobbyists?

Who's the Democrat who would ban Washington lobbyists from the White House staff?

Who's the only Democrat that beats all the Republicans in the recent CNN poll?

In each instance, the ad switches to a photograph of Edwards and the announcer says "John Edwards is the only one."

PAKISTAN CALLING: John Edwards responded to the death of Benazir Bhutto by leaving a message for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who later called back. He wore a suit instead of the usual jeans yesterday and spoke seriously on the issue, CBS News reports. Too bad Iowa voters didn't care.

WEATHER MAN: Iowa co-chairman Rob Tully tells Politico that Edwards has " a really good ground game." With more die-hard supporters and seasoned veterans who know how to work the system, he says they'll do the best if weather is bad. Forecast: Clear skies.

NORTH AND SOUTH: In Indianola, Iowa, Edwards and Hillary Clinton's campaign share the same building, the Des Moines Register reports. Clinton has the north side of the building, natch, and Edwards the South. The Mason-Dixon line must be somewhere in the bathroom.

IN OTHER NEWS: Edwards tells curious voter he's seen "Bowling for Columbine" and "Sicko" but not "Fahrenheit 9/11." No mention of "Roger and Me," though. So much for that whole anti-NAFTA crusade. ... Edwards uses "academic" as an attack word on Barack Obama's approach to the issues. Don't tell the folks at UNC-Chapel Hill. ... Edwards, Obama, Clinton locked in a three-way tie in Iowa, according to L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll. So all of this campaigning was for nothing?

Were the '90s a holiday from history or the calm before the storm?

In their presidential campaigns, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton and former senator John Edwards have put forward very different visions of the same decade.

Seeking to draw on her husband's time in the White House, Clinton has pushed them as an economic boomtime when the budget was balanced and the country at peace.

"It took one Clinton to clean up after the first Bush," she says. "It will probably take another." 

But at his rallies, Edwards points out what he thinks were disastrous decisions on the North American Free Trade Agreement, the failure of health care reform and the rise in donations to Democrats from major corporations.

"What has America got in return?" he asks of the trade deals. "Millions of dangerous Chinese toys." (N&O)

The Mexican Labor Ministry is questioning North Carolina's ban on collective bargaining.

Under a side accord of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico, Canada and the United States can receive and investigate charges that labor conditions are being violated in partner countries.

This week, the National Administrative Office of Mexico's trade pact enforcement agency used that authority to ask questions about the rights of North Carolina's government workers.

It sent a six-page letter to its U.S. equivalent about a North Carolina statute that prohibits labor unions from negotiating a contract for state government workers.

The complaint came on behalf of the N.C. Public Service Workers Union, which represents municipal employees. 

Elizabeth Edwards is stepping up criticism of Sen. Hillary Clinton's support for universal health care.

Edwards, the wife of presidential candidate John, claims Hillary and her husband Bill abandoned their effort for a universal health care plan in the 1990s to concentrate on pushing for ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Rob Christensen reports.

"They lost the fight in 1993, pulled it out because they wanted to use their political capital to get NAFTA passed as opposed to universal health care in '94," she told The New York Daily News.

She said Clinton's health care plan is nearly identical to the one her husband unveiled early this year, with one exception: Clinton would negotiate with the insurance companies.

"We think that's the wrong direction to go," Edwards said of negotiations.

Elizabeth Edwards, who is fighting cancer, has been hammering away at Clinton's health care plan since the New York senator introduced it last week.

Tying health care to NAFTA also has the advantage of helping Edwards with the labor vote which he is avidly courting.

John Edwards is in Chicago this afternoon to address the Change to Win labor federation, which includes such major labor unions as the Teamsters.