Hillary Clinton's campaign opened her North Carolina headquarters this evening.

About 100 people attended the hourlong kickoff, including Wake County commissioners Lindy Brown and Betty Lou Ward, fundraiser Richard Sullivan and former Democratic Party chairman Tom Hendrickson, who owns the building near Raleigh's trendy Glenwood South area.

Hendrickson noted that the Clinton campaign brought in organizer Ace Smith to head up its North Carolina campaign, after similar efforts in California and Texas.

"They have sent us the A-team," he said. 

Spokeswoman Cary Lindauer said that the campaign will open about a dozen offices around the state in the next few weeks, beginning with Charlotte. The state headquarters will also double as the Raleigh field office.

The crowd also included Gene Conti, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation from 1998 to 2000; Mike Schaul, a member of the N.C. Democratic Party's executive committee; and noted open space advocate Sig Hutchinson, who said he came because of his wife.

The guest who attracted the most attention, however, was Hendrickson's long-haired Chihuahua, Izzy. Several people in the campaign took turns holding the puppy during the event. 

A few more people in the audience at the Hillary Clinton event at Wake Tech today:

Former Raleigh City Councilman Mort Congleton, former state Democratic chairman Tom Hendrickson and Clinton fundraiser Richard Sullivan. 

Richard Sullivan is Hillary Clinton's man in North Carolina.

According to a 2007 profile by Rob Christensen, the Raleigh public affairs consultant is the Democratic presidential candidate's biggest booster in the state.

Although he has a low profile here, Sullivan — or "Sully" to his friends — is well-known on Wall Street, K Street and Hollywood.

The son of a South Carolina legislator, he first became involved in Dick Gephardt's 1988 presidential campaign, then became a protege of Clinton fundraiser Terry McAuliffe.

He moved to Charlotte in 1997, then to an inside-the-Beltline neighborhood in West Raleigh in 2001.

His wife, Carolina Finklea Sullivan, worked as a fundraiser for state Sen. Marc Basnight and the Democratic Senate caucus.

The full profile after the jump.

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