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U.S. Rep. Walter Jones will have some major Tar Heel political figures help him celebrate his birthday next month – and raise money for his re-election.

Former U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth of Clinton, former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and state Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer have agreed to attend a Jones event to celebrate his 67th birthday, reports Rob Christensen.

The event is scheduled for Feb. 18 at the Whitley House in Farmville, at a cost of $250 per couple. Sponsors pay $1,000.

Jones, a Republican, who represents the 3rd District, was first elected in 1994.

Former Charlotte Mayor and Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory said it's time for North Carolina to get out of the liquor business.

McCrory, in an editorial published today in The N&O said that he is troubled that Gov. Bev Perdue was not aware that local ABC boards were accepting illegal gifts or earning large salaries.

It's troubling that the governor, a former ABC board member herself and a 22-year veteran of state government, had no idea these problems existed. Even so, the governor has released statements saying that she would like to reform the ABC system by banning gifts to the 163 local ABC boards across the state, and she has installed a new alcohol chief at the state level. The governor's error is that she wants even more government influence to fix the state-run liquor business, when the government selling liquor is itself the problem.

Perdue and the state legislature should get North Carolina out of the liquor business entirely, by transferring the sale of liquor to the private sector.

McCrory said the state could use a $700 million windfall from privatizing the system to build roads. 

Anyone sense a campaign issue for 2012?

Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has gone to work for Charlotte-based law firm Moore & Van Allen as a public policy consultant.

In that full-time position, he'll focus on helping clients on energy, the environment, transportation, governmental affairs and other issues and public policies, The Charlotte Observer reports.

McCrory, a Republican, has hinted that he is considering a re-match against Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, who narrowly defeated McCrory in a year in which President Barack Obama lifted Perdue and many other Democrats on the ballot.

McCrory is a busy guy — he's on two corporate boards (which pay him $86,000 a year) — and the firm isn't interested in curbing his activities, political or otherwise.

"Part of his value is being known for the things he's accomplished and what he may accomplish in the future," said Ernie Reigel, the firm's chairman. "We don't want to hold him back. We all understand that as he decides what he wants to do with his future, that's just part of the deal. We're not choosing sides on any particular thing. We're really saying, 'Here's a talented guy, he's been on a lot of sides of a lot of different issues and we think he's got some value to bring to the table.'"

A year after Pat McCrory ran a statewide campaign as the Republican candidate for governor, 45 percent of voters say they don't have an opinion of him, according to a new poll.

Public Policy Polling asked 593 likely North Carolina voters for their opinion of McCrory, who recently ended his run as Charlotte's mayor. The poll found that 32 percent had a favorable opinion of McCrory and 23 percent viewed him unfavorably. The "no opinion" response, 45 percent, suggests that McCrory fell fast from the public consciousness.

The good news, PPP's Tom Jensen notes, is that McCrory's 32 percent favorability rating is five points higher than the 27 percent favorability rating Gov. Bev Perdue recently got in a PPP survey.

McCrory has more than hinted that he's thinking about a rematch against Perdue in 2012.

The poll had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Renee Ellmers says fear is preventing an economic recovery.

Ellmers, 45, is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat.

"I'm running for Congress because I'm a mom and I'm very afraid of where our country is going and where the current administration in Washington is taking us," said Ellmers, a registered nurse and first-time political candidate who became politically active during the summer debates over health care reform.

Ellmers said Democratic proposals such as health care reform and a cap-and-trade system to limit carbon emissions have prevented businesses from growing and hiring. 

"Businesses aren't hiring because they're too afraid of what's pending. They're too afraid of government-run health care and cap and trade and the effects they might have on their business," Ellmers said. 

Ellmers said she believes she can present a strong challenge to Etheridge.

"Although he considers himself a fiscally conservative Democrat, it would be hard to see that based on his most recent voting record," she said.

"I am a woman and that is not something he has come up against before."

Republican Tim D'Annunzio, a wealthy Hoke County businessman running for Congress in Democratic U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell's district, has hired former N.C. Republican chairman Jack Hawke as a top strategist.

"It's obviously a wide-open race," Hawke said today. "Tim has the resources to be a formidable candidate."

D'Annunzio is one of at least five GOP candidates trying to unseat Kissell. So far, D'Annunzio has had the deepest pockets, Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer reports. He put $300,000 of his own money into the race shortly after announcing this fall.

Hawke was top strategist for Republican Pat McCrory's gubernatorial campaign last year. On Sunday D'Annunzio lost another former McCrory adviser when Chris Emanuel of Charlotte resigned as deputy campaign manager, citing "managerial differences."

Emanuel, meanwhile, was among more than a dozen veterans of the McCrory campaign who met for a holiday party last night at Charlotte's "Tavern on the Green." McCrory said it wasn't a preview of a possible 2012 race.

"I always said we'd stay together regardless of what happens in the future," he said.

As Charlotte Mayor and 2008 Republican gubernatorial nominee Pat McCrory leaves office, he leaves little doubt of his views on other political players.

McCrory turns the mayor's gavel over to Democrat Anthony Foxx today and offered a few parting thoughts recently, the Charlotte Observer's Jim Morrill reports.

McCrory on:

Incoming Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx: "Great potential. Good family man. Needs to give himself time to learn and be patient as I had to."

Sarah Palin: "She shouldn't have quit (as governor). Needs experience."

The Republican Party: "Finding its way. My main recommendation … is not to change its philosophy but to change its tone. Comes across as angry and self-righteous."

The Democratic Party: "Gone too far to the left. As divided as the Republican Party."

Barack Obama: "Professorial. Lacks decision-making experience that's desperately needed."

Bev Perdue: "High-energy. Somewhat Machiavellian."

2010: "Republicans are going to make a comeback, not because of them but because of the lack of focus in the Democratic Party."

It has become an annual Thanksgiving tradition for Dome to imagine what some of the state's politicos may be most thankful for during this holiday season.

For the full list, check out Under the Dome in print editions of The News & Observer. Dome online will be running a light schedule until Monday. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Mike Easley: The former Democratic governor should be thankful that Thanksgiving is a federal holiday, meaning the courthouse where a grand jury has been questioning witnesses about his administration will be closed.

Richard Burr: The Winston-Salem Republican is probably thankful that the only Democrats who are running for his seat don't impress the national Democrats who could pour millions of dollars into the race. They have been begging candidates to jump in, all but ignoring the two declared Democratic candidates - Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and lawyer Kenneth Lewis.

Pat McCrory: Last year's Republican candidate for governor is thankful there's only three more years until the next gubernatorial election. He's already counting the days.

Bev Perdue: The Democratic governor may be thankful she still has three years to get her poor poll numbers up before she's up for re-election.

Martin Nesbitt: Is thankful Sen. Tony Rand decided enough was enough at the legislature, and that nobody apparently likes Sen. Dan Clodfelter. How else does a mountain populist become the leader of a bunch of pro-business Democrats in the state Senate?

Federal prosecutors: Are thankful for North Carolina's elected officials, otherwise known as fish in a barrel.

Phil Berger and Paul Stam: The Republican legislative leaders must be thankful for a coming election year that seems a perfect recipe for a big win.

N.C. Democrats: Are thankful for the state's Republicans, whose history of infighting and squandering opportunities could easily spoil that perfect recipe.

RAND OUT: State Sen. Tony Rand is quitting the Senate. The news that the chamber's chief Democratic enforcer and most formidable political gamesmen is leaving likely thrilled liberal Democrats and conservatives alike. Rand is one of the great characters in state politics and the legislature just got a little more boring.

HOW MANY IS THAT: Gov. Bev Perdue's communications director David Kochman has resigned as her approval numbers remain in the sub-basment. From her days as lieutenant governor, Perdue has had four communications directors in six years, making the job a little bit like being the drummer for Spinal Tap. With luck, Perdue's approval rating will go above 11.

REP. HYPERBOLE: U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx said the Democrats' health reform proposals are more dangerous than terrorists. Republicans may have more to fear from Foxx's own mouth than anything Democrats have to say.

IN OTHER NEWS: President Barack Obama has nominated two North Carolina judges to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has had only six Tar Heels since 1801. With the election of a new mayor in Charlotte, Pat McCrory will be out of elected office, but his loss to Perdue is apparently still gnawing at him, so don't expect McCrory to be out of politics. N&O political cartoonist Dwane Powell has retired after 35 years of skewering politicians.

Charlotte defied what there was of a national tide Tuesday night, electing a Democratic mayor and 8 to 3 Democratic majority on city council.

Anthony Foxx became Charlotte's first Democratic mayor in 22 years and the second youngest in memory, defeating Republican John Lassiter on a night when Republicans won the Virginia and New Jersey governor's races. The explanation lies at least partly in Charlotte's demographic changes and the lack of a Democratic challenger with any political muscle in past races.

Now-U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Republican, defeated then-Mayor Harvey Gantt, a Democrat and African-American, in 1987, beginning a GOP hold on the office that didn't end until last night. But Myrick won by fewer than 1,000 votes in a city that was then 25 percent black. Charlotte is now 35 percent black, and Foxx will be the second African-American mayor.

In seven campaigns over 14 years, outgoing Mayor Pat McCrory never faced a strong Democratic opponent. He does, however, enjoy wide bipartisan support that a recent poll indicated was helping Lassiter.

Lastly Republicans failed to expand their base of support beyond the south-to-southeast wedge of Charlotte that has long been their base.