* Candidates for N.C. Republican Party chair answer questions from Carolina Politics Online about what they'd do in the top job.

* Former Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer announces the backing of former Wake County GOP chairman David Robinson, an erstwhile competitor.

* Rudy Giuliani's son loses his lawsuit over being kicked off Duke's golf team; judge cites "Caddyshack" in legal opinion. 

* Greensboro blogger Joe Guarino discovers that U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx is of Italian descent and grew up in the Bronx.

Punishment? What punishment?

Remember back in January when South Carolina bucked Republican Party rules and scooted its primary up earlier to maintain its first-in-the-South status? The hammer came down. The Palmetto State's convention delegation was cut in half.

"We understand the penalties," state GOP chair Katon Dawson said during a delegation breakfast earlier this week, Mark Johnson reports.

They also understand the payoff.  South Carolina handed U.S. Sen. John McCain an essential early victory for his march to the nomination, something it couldn't have done without moving the primary. In return, S.C. delegates have been housed in the same hotel as McCain and his staff, along with another state that provided a key early win, New Hampshire. Even McCain's home state delegation from Arizona isn't in the hotel.

South Carolina enjoys prime real estate on the convention floor near the stage, and their daily breakfasts have been peppered with A-list speakers: Cindy McCain, Rudy Giuliani and McCain campaign manager Rick Davis among others.

So, yes, it's safe to say that South Carolina Republicans learned their lesson.

A top Republican fund raiser from Winston-Salem has earned a potential ambassadorship to the Netherlands.

James Culbertson will be nominated by President Bush for the job, the White House announced today. Culbertson was a "Ranger" for Bush in 2004, putting him in the top tier of fund raisers in the president’s re-election race, Barb Barrett reports.

Culbertson has been involved in Republican politics for decades, first volunteering for the state GOP party in the early 1970s, then starting his own company, Financial Computing Inc., according to Texans for Public Justice, which tracks Texas politics.

He was a major fund raiser for Sen. Elizabeth Dole and led Bush's state fund-raising efforts in 2000 and 2004.

Culbertson also has served on the North Carolina Banking Commission.

He and his wife, Germaine Culbertson, have given about $37,000 to federal Republican candidates since 1994, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit, non-partisan group that tracks spending in politics.

Last year, Culbertson was the state campaign chairman for presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani.

Culbertson has a bachelor's degree from the Citadel.

U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry has called for conservatives to unite around John McCain.

On Monday, the Cherryville Republican accused former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee of staying in the presidential race too long and being "in there for himself."

But the Washington Post reports that McHenry wasn't always a fan of McCain's:

At a private meeting of conservatives in the House of Representatives last month, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (N.C.) ridiculed Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), asking why his fellow right-wing activists "shouldn't be physically ill at the prospects of a President McCain."

In December, McHenry told the Washington Post that he had met with Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson. He also said that who would win the nomination process was "about as clear as mud."

In early January, he told the Charlotte Observer that he was uncommitted and would let the "party faithful" decide the nominee.

Could it be his universal health care plan? Or his anti-poverty proposals? Or how he looks in blue jeans?

For whatever reason, a new poll of South Carolinians has found John Edwards as the sexiest presidential candidate, Rob Christensen reports.

Edwards received 16 percent of the sexy vote, well ahead of Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton, who each received 11 percent, according a survey by Public Policy Polling of Raleigh. Barack Obama was a close third with 10 percent.

Some of the other candidates didn’t do so well: John McCain (4 percent) Fred Thompson (3 percent), Mike Huckabee (2 percent) and Rudy Giuliani (1 percent.)

Among Democratic voters there was virtually a three-way tie among Edwards, Clinton and Obama. But Edwards led because of crossover appeal among Republican women. Romney was regarded as the sexiest among Republicans.

The biggest category (41 percent) thought that none of the presidential hopefuls were sexy.

The survey of 1,279 likely primary voters was conducted Jan. 11-12 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percent.

John McCain is on the rise in North Carolina.

So say the results of Public Policy Polling's latest tracking poll on the Republican presidential race. The latest numbers show that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and McCain, the Arizona senator, are neck-and-neck in a survey of 978 likely Republican primary voters on Jan. 9.

That's a big leap for McCain, who was the choice of just 8 percent of those in PPP's December tracking poll.

The latest numbers:

Huckabee - 27 percent

McCain - 26 percent

Mitt Romney - 15 percent

Fred Thompson - 11 percent

Rudy Giuliani - 9 percent

Ron Paul - 4 percent

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.

John Edwards has already got two votes in New Hampshire.

Voting in the state's presidential primary began at midnight in the tiny town of Dixville Notch. Ballots by all 17 registered voters have already been counted.

Among Democrats, Barack Obama got seven votes; Edwards, two; and Bill Richardson one. Hillary Clinton did not receive any.

Among Republicans, John McCain got four votes; Mitt Romney, 2; and Rudy Guiliani, one.

The results are statistically meaningless and ultimately unimportant, but Dixville Notch has long used the publicity to promote the local ski resort, which Dome heartily recommends.

The Dome Office Pool is now closed.

The final tally shows some interesting results. There were 33 official entrants, including WUNC reporter Laura Leslie, Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Dan Besse, former Labor Commissioner candidate Wayne Goodwin and a host of Dome regulars.

* The most popular Democratic pick: Obama-Edwards-Clinton, with 16.

* The second-most popular: Obama-Clinton-Edwards tied with Edwards Clinton Obama, at 4.

* The most popular Republican pick: Huckabee-Romney-McCain, with 12.

* The second-most popular: Romney-Huckabee-McCain, with 10.

* Outliers: One picks McCain for first. One picks Giuliani for second. Two pick Biden for third place.

* Medians for Democrats: Obama 32, Edwards 31, Clinton 28.

* Medians for Republicans: Huckabee 30, Romney 29, McCain 19.

John Edwards came in fifth in fundraising among academics.

According to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education ($), the former North Carolina senator raised one-sixth as much money from college professors and administrators as Sen. Barack Obama.

Obama's $2.1 million haul made him the clear favorite. Sen. Hillary Clinton came in second with $1.6 million, followed by former Gov. Mitt Romney with $563,795 and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani with $461,925.

Edwards came in fifth with $351,261. 

Not surprisingly, he raised the most from employees of UNC-Chapel Hill, which gave $34,575. Law professors were also particularly generous.

Republican Mike Huckabee, riding a wave of success in recent presidential polls, drew around 400 supporters—including hundreds of home-schoolers and their children—to uptown Charlotte this morning.

Supporters clutching kids and signs crammed into a 27th floor restaurant in Charlotte Plaza, crowding elevators and creating temporary gridlock in the building's lobby, reports The Charlotte Observer's Jim Morrill.

The Charlotte stop kicked off a two-day swing through South Carolina for the former Arkansas governor. He'll visit Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Columbia and Greenville.

Two recent polls show Huckabee leading his GOP rivals in South Carolina. A new Associated Press poll released Friday shows he has surged to second in the GOP field behind former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. And a Des Moines Register poll this week showed him leading in Iowa, whose Jan. 3 caucuses kick off the presidential nominating contests.

Read more after the jump.

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