Gov. Beverly Perdue helped Teamsters president James P. Hoffa dedicate a renovated union hall in Greensboro over the weekend.

The governor showed up for the dedication of the offices of Teamsters Local 391, which had been heavily damaged during storms last year, Rob Christensen reports.

Perdue told the 400 people attending the event about her visit to an unemployment office in Raleigh, where she chatted with people who have lost their jobs during the recession.

Perdue was elected last year with significant support from organized labor.

"Clearly the governor gets a lot of requests (for public appearances,)" said Rob Black, a spokesman for Local 391. "The fact that she honored the Teamsters is testament that we have worked with her since since her days in the state Senate. Our working relationship goes back a long way."

In an historical footnote, Hoffa’s father, former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa, dedicated the grand opening of the building in 1962.

Not all convention experiences are the same, says Rob Black, a Democratic delegate from Apex.

State delegates and Washington D.C. insiders can share a city for a week, but their activities beyond the convention floor vary greatly, he said.

“It’s apples and oranges,” said Black, 39.

Black should know. This is his fifth convention, but his first as a delegate.

Black spent years working in Washington and had attended conventions since 1992 because they had something to do with his job.

“If you come from D.C. as a Beltway politico, you are much more plugged in to the parties,” he said. “They are the coin of the realm for D.C. politicos. If you come from the states, you’re not as plugged in to the social circuit or the buzz as to what the hottest party is.”

Black, who owns a political communications and lobbying firm that specializes in labor union work, called Dome this afternoon from a light rail station.

The North Carolina delegation was put in a hotel some miles from downtown Denver, but close to the rail line.

That’s what the delegation is using most to get around, he said.