* Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum notes that he and Jesse Helms voted for Sonia Sotomayor before, but says they wouldn't again.

* Scheduler for U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx gets in trouble for a tweet about drinking "office beers" on "taxpayer time."

* U.S. Senate could take up bill regulating tobacco as soon as today, Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan have vowed to fight it.

* Charlotte officials wonder if they should put in a bid for the 2012 Democratic or Republican national conventions, given a $60 million price tag.

A new ad from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee attacks U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole on a number of votes.

What it says: The ad shows images of Dole and an Alaskan landscape, including a brown bear. Narrator: "Why is Elizabeth Dole ranked 93rd in effectiveness? She voted for millions in pork, including Alaska's bridge to nowhere. But for North Carolina? She voted with George Bush 92 percent. Against raising the minimum wage time after time. Against helping families struggling to keep their homes. For the largest cut ever in student loans. Elizabeth Dole, fighting for ... Alaska? Definitely out of touch with North Carolina. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising."

The background: The ad makes several claims about Dole's voting record.

BRIDGE TO NOWHERE: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens requested an earmark in the 2006 budget for the proposed $398 million Gravina Island Bridge, nicknamed the "Bridge to Nowhere" by detractors because it serves an island with just 50 residents.

In October of 2005, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn proposed an amendment to the bill that would have shifted $75 million from the bridge and another project in Alaska to the rebuilding of a bridge destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The amendment failed, 15-82, with Dole voting against it.

Congress later stripped the earmark, but gave the state of Alaska an equivalent amount of money for any use it considered appropriate.

MINIMUM WAGE: Starting in 2005, Senate Democrats attempted to raise the federal minimum wage.

In March, Sen. Ted Kennedy proposed raising it by $2.10 over the following 26 months. As a counterproposal, Republican Sen. Rick Santorum proposed raising it by $1.10 over 18 months while exempting more businesses.

Either would have been the first increase in the federal minimum wage since 1997.

The amendments both came on a bill overhauling bankruptcy regulations. Both proposals could have complicated efforts to pass the overhaul, since House leaders had said they would only consider the bill if the Senate did not add unrelated amendments.

The Kennedy amendment failed, 46-49, while the Santorum amendment failed, 38-61. Dole voted against the first amendment, but for the second.

In October, Senate Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to raise the minimum wage by $1.10 an hour over 18 months. Dole voted against that raise as well.

After Democrats gained control of the Senate in 2006, they pushed the minimum wage hike again. Dole voted for the first, which was never signed into law. The wage hike was later included in an emergency spending bill that Dole voted for as well.

ENERGY ASSISTANCE: The fine print on the section of the ad on struggling families cites a vote on home energy asistance.

In 2006, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine proposed spending an additional $1 billion in the 2007 budget for one-time assistance to people who need help paying their heating and cooling bills.

Dole voted against an amendment on the measure, which later passed by a voice vote.

Spokesman Dan McLagan said Dole objected to how the money would be spent.

"The vast majority of the package was aimed at cold-weather states," he said. "All this money was going to go to northern states for a winter that had been mild, versus southern states that had a hot summer."

In 2008, Dole successfully pushed another measure for more spending on the same energy assistance program. She received an award for her efforts from the National Fuel Funds Network, a nonprofit coalition of energy assistance providers.

CREDIT COUNSELING: In April, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray proposed spending another $100 million on foreclosure counseling this year.

At the time, Congress had already budgeted $180 million for credit counselors.

Murray argued that spending more to prevent homeowners from going into foreclosure was "a smart investment," although it would require suspending budget rules that require any new spending to be matched by an equal cut somewhere else.

Senate Republicans argued that they needed to investigate whether the money was being spent appropriately before budgeting more. If more was spent, they argued it should be done through the regular budget process, not an amendment.

The amendment failed 44-40, with Dole voting against it.

PREVIOUS CLAIMS: Washington-based news service Congressional Quarterly compiles yearly figures for how often senators vote with the stated position of the president. The 92 percent figure comes from an average of the yearly scores for Dole, though Congressional Quarterly researchers says that method is inaccurate. Based on its overall score through August, they say the correct figure for Dole is 88 percent. The effectiveness ranking comes from an annual study conducted by the data service Knowlegis.

Is it accurate? Some of the claims are true: Dole voted against a measure to strip funding for the "Bridge to Nowhere," her effectiveness ranking was 93rd, and she voted against more credit counseling for families facing foreclosure. Two other claims are missing context: She voted against raising the minimum wage and providing more energy assistance, though she later voted for both. In addition, the vote on energy assistance had little to do with foreclosure. The figure for her votes with President Bush is off by a few percentage points.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole voted for and against two other proposed minimum wage hikes in 2005.

In March of that year, Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy proposed raising the federal minimum wage by $2.10 over the following 26 months, while Republican Sen. Rick Santorum proposed raising it by $1.10 over 18 months while exempting more businesses.

The amendments both came on a bill overhauling bankruptcy regulations.

The Kennedy amendment failed, 46-49, while the Santorum amendment failed, 38-61. Dole voted against the first amendment, but for the second.

Both proposals could have complicated efforts to pass the bankruptcy overhaul, since House leaders had said they would only consider the bill if it passed the Senate without any unrelated amendments.

According to The Boston Globe, Senate Republican leaders didn't want either proposal to pass — Santorum was quoted saying as much — but some senators wanted a chance to show their support for a more modest increase.

A recent ad by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee criticizes Dole for opposing minimum wage increases.

It cites her opposition to the Kennedy amendment, but not her support for the Santorum amendment.

Kay Hagan had about five minutes Tuesday to prove to U.S. Senate Democrats that she could be a winner in North Carolina.

During her speech in the closed-door caucus meeting in Washington, she talked about education, about fiscal responsibility and about what North Carolina needs in its next senator, said Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat who watched the speech.

"You have a very limited time to get your message across," Casey said. "She did it succinctly, with a lot of enthusiasm. … She's a very dynamic candidate."

Casey, a freshman senator, has been in Hagan's place before. He beat well-financed incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Santorum in 2006, Barb Barrett reports.

Hagan has her own tough race, against "rock star" Sen. Elizabeth Dole, a Salisbury Republican.

"I can understand some of what she's going through," Casey said in an interview. He, too, spoke to a caucus luncheon as a candidate — an opportunity not given to every Senate challenger.

"That's not an easy group to impress," Casey said of the caucus. "These are people who've been elected to the Senate and hear a lot of speeches."

Casey had met Hagan before and called her a "top-tier challenger."

"She has a lot of energy," he said. "She gives a very positive and forward-looking message, and I think she'll be a very effective candidate." 

One of Gov. Mike Easley's former campaign consultants is a certified "maverick," according to Details magazine.

An article in a recent edition of the men's fashion magazine anoints Jay Reiff among "27 agents of change," including hip hop CEO Damon Dash, fashion designer Tom Ford and um, Ryan Seacrest.

Reiff, a consultant for state Treasurer Richard Moore, gets props for leading Democrat Bob Casey to victory over Sen. Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania in November, in part by reading up on the hardball tactics of Lee Atwater.

Reiff's approach — taking the fight to Republicans on their own turf — is seen as essential for the Democrats in 2008, especially in red states like North Carolina, where he helped Democratic governor Mike Easley cruise to victory in '04 by playing up Easley’s undying love for Nascar. "But it's got to be genuine," says the Carhartt-wearing Reiff. "You can't fake it."

Especially since no true-blue Details reader would throw on a pair of Carhartt coveralls — unless it was in some irony-drenched Ashton Kutcher-in-a-trucker-hat kind of way.