Wake County Commissioner Paul Coble took the rumor that he might run for governor in 2012 so seriously that he couldn’t stop laughing.

"They haven’t even sworn in Bev yet," Coble said. "My comment is: 'Stop the madness.'"

Coble did acknowledge that some folks have asked him if he is interesting in running for governor in four years, Rob Christensen reports.

He is a former Raleigh mayor and a member of one of North Carolina's most famous political families. His uncle is the late Sen. Jesse Helms.

With one governor still in office (Mike Easley) and another about to take office (Beverly Perdue), Coble said it way too early to be thinking about the next governor’s race.

"People always want to know what you are going to do next," Coble said. "Next I'm going to celebrate Christmas. It's way too far out to speculate on the future."

Jesse Helms wanted his family to keep the peace.

In a will filed in Wake County courts July 16, the late U.S. senator asked his children not to squabble over his estate, worried about who would get his desk and gave his Congressional papers to his wife.

Helms left most of the details of the estate up to his children and two executors, grandson Charles Knox Jr. and Wake County commissioner Paul Coble, his nephew.

"I ask that my children try to be as understanding and tolerant of each other as possible," Helms wrote, "and to make every effort to avoid disharmony among themselves."

He stipulated that if no one in his family wanted to use his Senate desk, then it should be given to the Jesse Helms Center Foundation until a family member wanted it.

He also repeatedly used the term "death taxes" to refer to estate, inheritance and other related taxes. (Char-O)

Bob Orr received $284,318 in donations by mid-April of this year.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate raised $76,845 during the first quarter of 2008, according to a campaign finance report that went online today.

Major donors included retired Chapel Hill attorney James Ball, Raleigh developer Max Barbour, Wake County Commissioner Paul Coble and John W. Pope's widow, Joyce.

In addition, Orr loaned his campaign $15,000 in January. Previously, he loaned his campaign $5,000. That raised his campaign's coffers to $304,318 in total.

In the first quarter of this year, Orr spent $68,286 on salaries, office expenses, staff, fundraising and a mailing with the Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, which endorsed him.

He ended the quarter with $10,371 in cash on hand.

Clarification: From the Orr campaign: "We did not do a mailing with the Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. They were raising money for a voter information mailer and we sent them a small contribution."

Correction: Dome mistakenly included loans in Orr's totals in an earlier version of this post.