A record $22 million was spent lobbying the state in 2007.

According to data compiled by the nonpartisan Democracy North Carolina, nearly 900 businesses, trade associations and nonprofits lobbied state officials in 2007, the last long session of the state legislature.

That amounts to nearly $125,000 for each of the 170 legislators.

The $19.5 million in compensation for individual lobbyists was $5 million more than reported in 2005, but executive director Bob Hall said that may be because we know more.

"That big a jump is largely due to the state's new ethics law that requires more groups to file more complete reports about more of their activities," he said.

The top lobbying groups were the N.C. Association of Realtors, which reported spending $972,384 on six lobbyists and other expenses; Land for Tomorrow, $403,092 on three lobbyists; and the N.C. Automobile Dealers Association, $287,959 on four lobbyists.

The highest-paid lobbyists were former state Sen. Steve Metcalf of Asheville, who reported $485,362 in compensation; former Secretary of State Rufus Edmisten, $396,764; and Alexander "Sandy" Sands of Womble Carlyle, $325,055.

Rufus Edmisten, a former attorney general and secretary of state, said former Gov. Bob Scott was "the last of an era."

"He was just the kind of man that you instinctively liked," Edmisten said. "There was no puffery about him. He said what he wanted, and didn't back away from it.

"He was very practical, very plain spoken. He didn't try to impress anybody with erudition he didn't have. He got right to the point."

North Carolina's politics have become nationalized.

Though Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spending time in the state, they are not giving speeches in tobacco warehouses or talking about guns.

A decade ago, candidates shifted their message and their tone to fit North Carolina's rural sensibilities. But shifting demographics have made the state more like the rest of the country, while the Internet has made it harder for candidates to localize their message.

"It's a totally different era," said Rufus Edmisten, former attorney general and Democratic nominee for governor in 1984. "Like it or not, we have lots of small, rural towns, but we're urbanized now. We're as sophisticated as any state in the union, and the campaigns reflect that."

Obama and Clinton are talking about jobs, health care and Iraq here, as they are in other states. (N&O)

Did Republicans Jim Holshouser and Jim Martin become governor because of Democratic infighting?

That's the argument made by D.G. Martin in a column in the Chatham Journal Weekly. He says that splits between Democrats in the 1972 and 1984 primaries led to acrimony in the general elections, allowing the Republican candidates to win.

In '72, the split was between Lt. Gov. Pat Taylor and Skipper Bowles. Though Bowles won, Taylor backers were disinclined to vote for him, Martin argues.

In '84, former Charlotte Mayor Eddie Knox bitterly fought Attorney General Rufus Edmisten. Though Edmisten won, Knox and some of his supporters did not back the winner, Martin says.

Martin makes the case that the same could happen because of the fierce battle between Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and state Treasurer Richard Moore for the Democratic nomination.

A couple quibbles: 1) The analysis is a bit blue-centric. Democrats lost, but Republicans also won. 2) In both cases, Martin's own history suggests the key test was after the primary, when Bowles failed to reach out and Knox refused to endorse. 3) With four candidates, the GOP may also split.

Hat Tip: Tom Jensen

In advance of Pat McCrory's announcement today, the Charlotte Observer has a nice recap of the supposed curse of Charlotte mayors who ran for higher office:

Eddie Knox
* 1984: Loses to Rufus Edmisten in the Democratic primary for governor

Harvey Gantt
* 1990: Loses to Jesse Helms in the general election for U.S. Senate
* 1996: Loses to Helms again in the general election for U.S. Senate

Richard Vinroot
* 1996: Loses to Robin Hayes in the Republican primary for governor
* 2000: Loses to Mike Easley in the general election for governor
* 2004: Loses to Patrick Ballantine in the Republican primary for governor

Sue Myrick
* 1992: Loses to Lauch Faircloth in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate

Rufus Edmisten is doing better.

The former secretary of state stopped to chat with reporters on his way into the Bill Clinton fundraiser at Brier Creek this evening.

He has been suffering from Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a nerve disorder that can leave you partially paralyzed. But the only visible effect was a certain raspy edge to his voice.

Told he looked better, Edmisten was quick with a retort: "I'd hate to have to go through all of that just to be told I'm looking good."

He then added that he had business to attend to.

"I'm here to see my friend, the president," he said, smiling. "I want to tell him thank you for a lot of things." 

State Sen. Janet Cowell said she raised close to $100,000 for her campaign for state treasurer.

The fundraiser was held at the home of Susan and Perry Safran of Raleigh on Thursday. Among those attending were former Attorney General Rufus Edmisten and Jim Goodmon, the chief executive of WRAL-TV, Rob Christensen reports.

Cowell is one of several people seeking the Democratic nomination for treasurer.

The incumbent, Richard Moore is running for governor.

Will Democratic in-fighting hand the Governor's Mansion to the GOP?

Some Democrats are concerned about the precedent set by the only two Republican governors elected in the 20th century in North Carolina: Jim Holshouser and Jim Martin.

Both won elections after brutal Democratic primaries. (Holshouser in 1972 over Skipper Bowles, who fought Pat Taylor in a tough primary; Martin in 1984 over Rufus Edmisten, who fought Eddie Knox in a crowded Democratic primary.)

With Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and state Treasurer Richard Moore already getting down and dirty, some Democrats fear and some Republicans hope that history will repeat itself.

Not so fast, says Ferrell Guillory, a former political reporter who now heads the program on public life at UNC-Chapel Hill.

More after the jump.

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Rufus Edmisten, an institution in Tar Heel politics, visited home Wednesday, after spending a couple of weeks battling Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

The former secretary of state and former attorney general has been at WakeMed receiving treatment for the disorder which attacks the body’s immune system, leaving a person weak in the legs and arms, Rob Christensen reports.

"It makes you wobbly," said Linda Edmisten, his wife. "The nerves have to heal themselves. The signals sent to the feet are not quite getting there."

Edmisten, who is now an attorney and lobbyist, has been receiving immunoglobulin therapy.

This is the same disease that struck actor Andy Griffith in 1982. Edmisten said her husband took courage in fighting his disease after reading an essay Griffith wrote on the subject.

"It's completely curable," Linda Edmisten said. "Over the last 25 years since Andy Griffith's battle, they have come up with a therapy to knock this out."

Edmisten, who was initially diagnosed with the disease on Aug. 24, still has a week or more physical therapy at the hospital before he can return home permanently, she said.