Ten North Carolina mayors are going to Washington this weekend.

The group will join over 250 mayors from across the country to call for local help in the upcoming Congressional stimulus package.

Expected to attend are Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the former GOP gubernatorial candidate; Durham Mayor Bill Bell; Fayetteville Mayor Tony Chavonne; Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines; Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy; and the mayors of Asheville, Concord, Gastonia, Salisbury and Waxhaw.

They will be attending the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The conference will release a report this weekend on projected job losses in metropolitan areas, a particular concern for McCrory, who founded the N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition to concentrate on urban issues.

SALISBURY — Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory helicoptered across the state Saturday, reminding voters of his pledge to overhaul Raleigh and work with both parties.

McCrory, the Republican candidate for governor, started his day in Concord. He  stopped at his alma mater, Catawba College, joking: "I found the library" as he spoke from in front of the building, Mark Johnson reports.

He accused Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, the Democratic candidate of lying in her ads.

"She's trying to win this election by not telling the truth," McCrory told a crowd of about 75.

Running ahead of schedule, McCrory asked the helicopter pilot to land at 11:30 a.m. in the Wal Mart parking lot in Mocksville, where he shook hands.

"I need your vote, now," he said, sticking his hand in a car window to greet a voter.

A new ad from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole touts her childhood in Salisbury and her votes on taxes and offshore drilling.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory was involved in a fender-bender in between campaign appearances today.

McCrory was a passenger in a car that collided with another in Salisbury, said Jack Hawke, a campaign strategist, Dan Kane reports.

Neither McCrory, the GOP nominee for governor, nor the campaign aide driving the car were hurt, Hawke said. They used the same vehicle to go to the next event in Winston-Salem.

The campaign aide told Hawke that the driver of the other vehicle apologized after the accident, and admitted to not seeing McCrory's car.

Correction: An earlier version incorrectly stated that McCrory had used another car to go to the next event.

Bill Clinton will have a whirlwind tour on Friday.

The former president will campaign on behalf of his wife in Greensboro, High Point, Salisbury, Kannapolis, Gastonia, Hickory and Asheville.

The day begins with a stop at the Bryan Family YMCA in Greensboro.

He'll also stop at a student center at High Point University, the historic Salisbury train station, A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis, the Highland School of Technology, St. Stephens High School and Asheville High School.

His campaigning will last from 7:45 a.m. to 8:15 p.m., although given the number of stops it's not likely he'll remain on schedule for most of the stops.

Kay Hagan wants to send U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole "home."

Speaking at a Groundhog Day event in Dunn, the state senator and candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate said that it's time for change in Washington, the Dunn Daily Record reports.

"We need to give Sen. Elizabeth Dole a pair of ruby red slippers so she can click her heels together three times and go back to Kansas with her husband where she came from," Ms. Hagan said. "We need a senator from North Carolina again."

Dole grew up in Salisbury. Her husband, Bob, was a U.S. senator from Kansas for 27 years.

U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, lieutenant governor candidate Pat Smathers and state Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson were also at the event. 

Pat McCrory namedropped no fewer than three North Carolina cities in his speech. 

At his kickoff on the steps of the Jamestown public library today, he noted that he grew up in the small town outside Greensboro. 

"It is here in Jamestown where I got my values," he said. "I then moved to Salisbury to Catawba College where I attained my higher education and I got my teaching degree. ... And from Salisbury after college, I moved to Charlotte, and the people of Charlotte allowed me to become a leader." 

Democratic pollster Tom Jensen points out that all three are on Interstate 85, where he so far is polling the best. (You may recall that polling consultant Brad Crone argued a while back that the road is the state's new political lifeline.)

In addition, Salisbury is the home of one of his GOP rivals, Bill Graham.

Just as the Charlotte mayor chose to officially start his campaign in Jamestown, though, Graham went to his childhood hometown of Dunn for his kickoff. Fred Smith, who lives in Clayton, went to the former orphanage in Raleigh, where he grew up.

Bob Orr didn't have a kickoff.