It's his second day on the job and Tom Fetzer, the newly elected state Republican Party chairman, is already taking shots at the Democrats.

In his first press conference, Fetzer called on the Democrats to cancel a June 26 legislative fundraiser that he said violates the spirit of ethics laws.

The fundraiser is a reception for state legislators, and tickets range from $50 for individuals to $1,000 for sponsor groups. State Democrats said the party hosts this reception annually to recognize senators and representatives.

Fetzer said hosting the reception while the legislature debates the budget invites the perception the Democrats are allowing interest groups to influence the process.

"This is wrong, the timing is wrong," Fetzer said. "The Democratic party needs to cancel this fundraiser."

State law prevents legislators from raising money from political action committees while the legislature is in session. It does not prohibit the party from raising money. Fetzer said the Democrats should wait until the end of the session like the Republicans.

"At the very least this creates the appearance of pay-to-play politics," he said in a statement.

Correction: A previous version of this post misstated fundraising restrictions on legislators.

Former Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer has produced a video ad criticizing Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue as part of his campaign for state GOP chariman.

The ad, which is available on YouTube, is designed to show what Fetzer could do as party chairman. Fetzer is one of four candidates for the top Republican post which will be selected next weekend at the state GOP convention in Raleigh.

The ad criticizes Perdue for failing to take any action against a number of Democrats, including former Gov. Mike Easley, who are either at the center of controversy or who have gone to jail.

State Rep. Cary Allred will stick with his party after all.

Allred, a Burlington Republican, told reporters he was thinking about leaving the party after several of his Republican House colleages reported they were disturbed by his conduct on the House floor.

As late as Thursday, Allred was saying he was planning to switch his registration to "unaffiliated." Late Thursday, state Republican chairwoman Linda Daves called for his resignation.

By Friday he had a change of heart.

"I am not going to change my party," Allred said. "Friends of mine called and asked me not to."

He said he is not taking Daves' rebuke seriously.

"She never did anything to help me get elected. She doesn't know me. I don't know her," Allred said. "She does not know my constituents and my constituents don't know her."

John McCain's campaign says the election will be like past ones.

In a conference call with reporters this morning, McCain pollster Bill McInturff said that the breakdown of voters on Election Day will be similar to what it's been over the past 30 years.

He noted that Democrats Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton received roughly around 50 percent of the vote.

"It is very hard for a Democrat in a center-right country to get above that number," he said.

He argued that the historical voting patterns will be a "structural barrier" to Democrat Barack Obama winning the presidency.

McCain's national political director, Mike Duhaime, said that a high-level of cooperation between the campaign and the Republican National Committee will offset the spending advantage that Obama has.  

State elections director Gary Bartlett heard about the RNC conference call today saying that voter registration fraud is rampant in North Carolina, and wants to clarify the state board's position.

The state elections board takes voter fraud seriously, but organizations have the right to participate in voter registration drives, Bartlett told Lynn Bonner.

"Certainly, when someone tries to commit fraud...it does slow us down, there is no doubt about that, but we have to balance everything," Bartlett said. The suspicious forms are "just a small portion of many things we’ll be reviewing."

The state has not finished its investigation into the bogus registration forms submitted by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, he said, but it appears so far that the people who submitted them were motivated by "personal greed," not partisan politics.

"It doesn’t have anything to do with them supporting or opposing any cause," he said.

Update: Deputy Director Johnnie McLean told the Charlotte Observer that the bogus forms appear to have been filed by "a lazy worker" hired by ACORN. She says she does not see any evidence of voter fraud.

"For somebody to say that with no apparent evidence to support it, it just doesn't do very much to establish trust in the elections process," she said.

The Republican National Committee is arguing that voter registration fraud is "rampant" in North Carolina.

During a conference call with reporters this morning, RNC chief counsel Sean Cairncross and spokesman Danny Diaz argued that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, is submitting fraudulent registration forms here.

The State Board of Elections has found 135 bogus forms out of the nearly 28,000 submitted by the group in North Carolina this year, or about half of one percent.

Overall, more than 467,000 new voters have registered in North Carolina since the beginning of the year.

Diaz argued that the fraudulent forms are a burden to elections directors and risks leading to the disenfranchisement of legitimate voter registrations. He also argued that a percentage of the false forms may end up leading to voter fraud.

"It's hard to catch, but we do know in point of fact that these names get on the rolls," he said.

He pointed to a recent New York Post story that an Ohio man registered to vote multiple times and cast a ballot with a fake address.

Can the GOP platform be like the Linux platform?

National Republican leaders, led in part by U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, today will unveil a website encouraging national participation in shaping the GOP’s 2008 party platform.

The site will create an online community allowing anyone with access to a computer to offer ideas, to comment on others’ ideas, and even to submit videos explaining their views, Barb Barrett reports.

"I feel certain we’ll get some great ideas," Burr said in an interview Thursday. "Will that be the majority? I have no way of gauging."

The Winston-Salem Republican is co-chairman of the Republican platform committee alongside U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California.

The all-inclusive online effort comes as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain continues his work to keep the party’s most conservative and religious members inside the GOP fold and engaged through the November election.

The site also will hand the Republican National Committee a ready-to-go database of contact names for future fund-raising. Users will be required to register in order to comment.

State Sen. A.B. Swindell won't return $300 in campaign contributions he has received from Boyce Allen Hudson, a former state official who admitted to soliciting a bribe.

Swindell, a Nashville Democrat, said he has known Hudson for more than 25 years and considers him a friend. Hudson's wife, Maureen Hudson, is an assistant in Swindell's senate office. Hudson pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to extortion and money laundering. The charges arose from a scheme in which Hudson promised to guarantee a permit for an ethanol company in exchange for cash and a two-year consulting contract.

"I certainly don't cast my friends in a ditch," Swindell said. "This plea was between him and the courts. Obvously, my relationship with him has been as a friend and a professional."

On Friday, the state Republican Party issued a news release calling on Swindell to return the contributions: $100 given in 2000 and $200 given in 2008.

"Though Sen. Swindell may not have known of Boyce Hudson’s illegal activity, he badly misjudged the man’s character. Sen. Swindell should return his tainted money immediately," state GOP chariwoman Linda Daves said in a statement.

More after the jump.

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Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was such a crowd pleaser when he spoke to the GOP convention in New Bern two years ago that he has been invited back for an encore performance.

Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, is scheduled to speak to the Republican Convention at their luncheon on June 7th at the Koury Center in Greensboro, Rob Christensen reports.

The last time he addressed state Republicans, Huckabee was a virtual political unknown. But since then, Huckabee ran a surprisingly strong — and underfinanced campaign for president — before eventually withdrawing in favor of Arizona Sen. John McCain earlier this year.