The Legionnaires are no longer with us.

Since January, the Legion of Dome has been graced with the presence of five correspondents who helped us cover the 2008 gubernatorial primary and other political news.

They were chosen through a partnership with UNC-Chapel Hill's journalism program.

Karin Dryhurst, a recent graduate, should have earned extra credit towards a degree in constitutional law for covering Bob Orr. She proved her mettle with the governor's press office over an item on Easley not showing his colors.

Sam Wineka, a recent graduate, taught us a lot about how Bill Graham spends his millions: A 12,000-square-foot house, dresses owned by Princess Di and an office building for his consultant. Not to mention how he earned his money.

Cori Sue Morris, a recent graduate, sparred with the governor's press office over a pronoun slip that turned out to be meaningful after all. She also cornered Kenneth Starr over representing Blackwater at Campbell University.

Matt Tomsic, a rising senior, dug into Fred Smith's business ventures, learning about how he built roads, ran a steakhouse and checked his employees' immigration status. He also checked into Smith's somewhat surprising reading list.

Emily Stephenson, a rising junior, researched Beverly Perdue's extensive legislative record, and covered two Barack Obama rallies and Thomas Wright's expulsion. She also caught a candidate essentially admitting to smoking in the boys room.

If the future of journalism depends on the likes of these correspondents, we're in good hands. We wish them the best of luck in their careers. They will be sorely missed.

North Carolina and Indiana's primaries are today. How do they compare? 

North Carolina has 8.9 million residents; Indiana, 6.3 million.

North Carolina is 21.7 percent black; Indiana, 8.9 percent.

North Carolina is 48,711 square miles; Indiana, 35,867.

Bush won both states in the 2004 election.

The last time Democratic presidential candidate to win Indiana was Lyndon Johnson in 1964. The last Democrat to win North Carolina was Jimmy Carter in 1976.

North Carolina has 115 delegates up for grabs and Indiana has 72.

North Carolina race fans go to Lowe's Motor Speedway. Indiana's fans go to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

North Carolina's biggest industry is banking, with the headquarters of Bank of America, Wachovia and BB&T headquartered there. Indiana's industry is health care products and drugs, with the headquarters of Eli Lilly and Co., Anthem and Guidant.

Both states have a rich basketball tradition. Indiana has Larry Bird, Notre Dame, Butler and Purdue. North Carolina has Michael Jordan, UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University and N.C. State.

Famous Hoosiers include David Letterman, John Mellencamp and Steve McQueen. Famous Tar Heels include Billy Graham, Andy Griffith and Thomas Wolfe.

As of 2:15 p.m., 13 precincts in Wake County had reported early turnout numbers at the polls.

Precinct 1-15 had the highest percentage at 27 percent. The district is 90 percent white, 57 percent female and is located in a liberal enclave near Meredith College and N.C. State and not far from Whole Foods.

Precinct 1-29 had a turnout of 26 percent. It's 97 percent white and 53 percent female. The site is located in a middle-class neighborhood near the North Hills mall.

The precinct reporting the lowest turnout, 1-23, had received 7 percent of its voters at 1:30 p.m. The site is on the corner of Hillsborough Street and Pullen Road, mainly a neighborhood of college students. The district is 56 percent male.

The average turnout percentage for all reporting precincts was 16.8 percent. The highest number of voters at any one precinct so far was 698.

The numbers don't account for absentee and one-stop votes, which will be released at 7:30 p.m.

A steady stream of residents cast votes in Cary today for president. The reasons varied but most were firm in their decisions for commander in chief.

Sara and David Stealy are moving at the end of the week, but stopped at Cary Fire Station No. 1 to cast their last vote in that precinct. They differed in their choices.

Sara voted for Barack Obama because of his emphasis on diplomacy and his stance against a gas-tax holiday proposal.

"I voted for Obama because the whole gas tax thing in the past few days really made me mad," she said. "I think that’s a really stupid idea to eliminate the gas tax."

David chose Hillary Clinton.

"Because she has more experience. She has Bill Clinton and mostly the experience factor I guess."

Clinton's experience was also a factor for Lauren Mayr, of Raleigh.

"I agree in the views of her husband. I want better health care," she said. "She sent a postcard out that had four views on it and it was right in line with my beliefs."

Robert and Carol Denbleyker agreed on their votes, but didn't go with Obama or Clinton when they voted at Reedy Creek Elementary School.

"We voted for Ron Paul primarily for his fair tax, not that he's going to win, but it's a statement."

Rob Phillips, of Raleigh, echoed Obama's campaign slogan in his reasoning.

"I think he's got the best shot to get some change done and pull people together," he said.

Beverly Perdue's pledge to stay positive brought mixed reviews in Cary.

Preparing to cast her ballot at a Cary fire station, Sara Veldhuizen Stealy said she was turned off by Perdue's decision to pull her attacks ads off the air.

"I was really irritated by Bev Perdue's ad about how she pulled her negative ads because it was the right thing to do," she said. "If it was the right thing to do, she wouldn’t have run them in the first place."

Veldhuizen Stealy voted for Perdue's rival Richard Moore.

But Debbie Currie of Raleigh, who works for the N.C. State Library, said the pledge was one of the reasons she voted for Perdue, along with her experience as lieutenant governor.

"I also liked the fact that she decided to change the negative advertising that was going on," she said.

Bill Graham filed a 2002 lawsuit against a vaccine manufacturer that drew the ire of advocates for tort reform.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate was the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in John and Jane Doe v. Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics.

The 27-page summary of allegations charges that the company distributed a vaccine containing mercury that led to "severe neurodevelopmental disorders" in the couple's two-year-old son. In 2006, it was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Judge James Beaty Jr. for lack of a proper expert witness.

Some parents have blamed mercury-containing thimerosal in vaccines for causing autism, although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the "weight of scientific evidence" indicates that vaccines are not associated with the disorder.

Lawsuits over vaccines and autism have been criticized by conservative groups calling for tort reform.

"When you look at this Ortho-Doe case, it's precisely the junk science, junk claim that those of us in tort reform have opposed and harshly criticized," said James Copland, director for the Center for Legal Policy at the Manhattan Institute.

But Graham cautioned against making assumptions about the lawsuit.

"We didn't even say the word autism in the complaint," he told Dome. "To say that it had any relationship to autism ... it was never an allegation in the complaint."

Judge Beaty, however, did not shy away from the word, using "autism" or "autistic" 64 times in his 25-page opinion about the vaccine, called RhoGAM.

"Plaintiffs have failed to present sufficient evidence from which a jury could conclude the thimerosal in RhoGAM caused Minor Child Doe's autism," he wrote.

Graham said that he filed a number of subsequent cases regarding the same type of mercury poisoning without mention of autism. One of those plaintiffs, Laura Bono, co-founded the National Autism Association.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton won't be getting ripped off on advertising rates as they begin campaigning on television.

An FCC regulation puts restrictions on the rates that federal candidates for office pay for TV advertising. During the 45 days preceding a primary, candidates can only be charged the cheapest rate for ads running in the same class and amount of time.

That same regulation does not apply to candidates for state office, however.

The candidates assume the role of television stations' most loyal customers. Another stipulation reads that candidates will be charged no more than a station's "most favored commercial advertisers," and that any practices available to enhance the value of spots be offered to candidates equally.

Stations are not required to accept ads from candidates, but once they have accepted one, they must give equal opportunity to all candidates for the office. The stations have no censorship over the ads.

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and North Carolina native Gen. Hugh Shelton is among 19 retired military officers pledging support to Hillary Clinton.

Shelton made headlines in 2004 for his decision not to support then Democratic presidential nominee Gen. Wesley Clark. Clark did not win the nomination, but joins Shelton on the list of Clinton supporters.

In a press release, the officers repeat Clinton's phrase "who can be Commander-in-Chief on day one," and cite her experience on the Senate Armed Services Committee as reason for their support.

Reynolds American has launched an ad campaign against tobacco regulation by the FDA.

The television ad, featuring a man attempting to spin plates on top of sticks, says that the responsibility of $7 billion in tobacco regulation is being given to the FDA, and that the regulation would be "adding to the plate" of an already busy administration.

It closes with a message for viewers to call their congressman and tell them not to vote for the regulation.

G.K. Butterfield is named in the Raleigh-area ads as a person to contact. Butterfield is not a co-sponsor of the bill giving regulation to the FDA but he supports it for the most part.

His office said there are a "few things in terms of small manufacturing" that he still wants ironed out, but otherwise he is in favor.

The ads will be appearing during local news broadcasts, episodes of "CSI: Miami," "Dr. Phil," "The Late Show with David Letterman" and NCAA regional final and Final Four games.

Reynolds American, the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, has run similar ads before. In 2007, Reynolds and Phillip Morris combined to spend $10 million in efforts to defeat an Oregon cigarette tax that would have funded children's health care. The bill did not pass.