Dome's Rob Christensen and WUNC's Laura Leslie have been nominated as the best political reporters in the state on The Fix.

Chris Cillizza asked readers of his Washington Post blog, The Fix, to nominate the top political reporters by state. And Christensen and Leslie made the cut.

Dome readers, of course, know Christensen as the veteran political reporter, columnist and historian, who literally wrote the book on North Carolina politics in the 20th century. Dome knows him as the human encyclopedia who often saves us from having to look it up.

Our distinguished colleague, Leslie is the barkeep over at Isaac Hunter's Tavern. Congratulations to both.

* The Union Correctional Center in Monroe survives budget cuts year after years thanks to inside political connections, stubbornness.

* Washington Republicans wonder who they might field for a House seat if Rep. Heath Shuler runs for Senate.

* N&O columnist Rob Christensen ponders how North Carolina would stack up to Sweden if it seceded from the union.

* A budget cut blocks a new center on public safety leadership to be run by former First Lady Mary Easley at N.C. State University.

Rob Christensen, political writer for The News & Observer, will speak at the N.C. Museum of History on Sunday at 3 p.m. about his book, "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics." A book signing will follow.

Rob Christensen will speak about his book, "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics: The Personalities, Elections and Events that Shaped Modern North Carolina" at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Old House Chambers of the Capitol.

Christensen, a political columnist for The N&O, will sign copies of his book after the talk.

His talk is part of the Capitol Lecture Series.

Norris Tolson is an insider's insider.

One of three leaders of Governor-elect Beverly Perdue's transition team, Tolson is a former state secretary of Commerce, Transportation and Revenue and the current head of the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

He has worked for Govs. Jim Hunt and Mike Easley, served in the state House and briefly ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination himself in 1999.

As N&O columnist Rob Christensen wrote during that campaign, Tolson is also a member of the "N.C. State University mafia" — a group of powerful state politicians who cut their teeth on 4-H and Future Farmers of America organizing in college.

"The NCSU mafia has so dominated the Democratic Party that there has not been a governor with an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since Sanford was elected nearly 40 years ago," he wrote.

(That is no longer true. Easley graduated from UNC in 1972.) 

Tolson's appointment is partly an indication of his status as one of Raleigh's "wise men." But it could also be a sign that Perdue is taking advice from Tolson's old friend, Hunt. 

The full column after the jump.

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The N&O's political columnist did not give money to a gubernatorial candidate.

A recent campaign finance report for Republican Pat McCrory mistakenly lists longtime columnist and author Rob Christensen as having contributed $100 on Oct. 9.

The McCrory campaign said the listing is an error. The contribution came from a Robert James Christensen of Sherrills Ford, N.C.

When the other Christensen failed to include his employer and occupation, a McCrory staffer called the house in Sherrills Ford. Failing to reach the contributor, they Googled "Rob Christensen" and found the columnist instead.

"Who knew there was more than one Rob Christensen in the world?" said McCrory campaign manager Richard Hudson. "We had hoped there was only one."

Hudson said the campaign finance report will be amended.

Negative nicknames aren't new in North Carolina.

During the 1960 Democratic primary for governor, Terry Sanford was tarred with three nicknames by his political opponents: Terrible Tax Terry, High Tax Terry and Tall Talking Terry, according to Rob Christensen's recent book "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics."

He won the primary and the governorship anyway.

But when he was running for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 1992, Sanford was given yet another nickname for the fact that he voted three different ways on a federal highway bill in 1987: Turnaround Terry.

He lost that election to Republican Lauch Faircloth.

The National Enquirer is enjoying an extended victory lap since it exposed former Sen. John Edwards' affair with a campaign worker.

National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" program on Wednesday included Enquirer senior executive editor Steve Plamann in its discussion of how the media should handle rumor.

"We got a little lucky, and we’re also a little bit good," Plamann said of the Enquirer's series of stories on Edwards dating back to October.

The panel also included News & Observer political reporter Rob Christensen and Brian Ross, chief investigative correspondent for ABC News, the network that landed the interview in which Edwards admitted to an affair two years ago with Rielle Hunter.

In his segment, Ross said it wasn’t just luck that enabled the Enquirer to corner the market on key sources on the story.

"They pay people to talk to them. We're not in a position to do that," Ross said. "Again and again in trying to pursue this story, we would be asked by people who were central to it, 'What’s in it for me? They've [the Enquirer] offered me $50,000. What do you have?' We have a cup of coffee. So we're at a disadvantage there."

More after the jump.

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The News and Observer's political columnist will be at the Barnes and Noble in Winston-Salem tonight at 7 p.m. discussing his new book, "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics."

He will also be at the Barnes and Noble in Fayetteville on Saturday at 3 p.m