Sen. Richard Burr will be part of a small congressional delegation who will lead the Memorial Day Ceremonies at the Normandy American Cemetery in France.

The Winston-Salem Republican will deliver a speech and help lay a wreath in honor of the thousands of American servicemen who lost their lives during the D Day invasion and its aftermath during World War II.

Burr, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, will be going with Senators Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Rep. John Kline of Minnesota.

The trip is being sponsored by the Senate Intelligence Committee and the delegation will also visit other unspecified countries.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr will look into terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction.

The Winston-Salem Republican announced today that he and Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, are starting the Senate Caucus on WMD Terrorism.

The bipartisan group of eight senators will highlight the problem of terrorist groups obtaining nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and discuss policy responses.

"We must ensure the U.S. government continues to make the prevention of, and preparedness for, bioterrorism and other WMD threats a top priority," Burr said in a statement.

The other members of the caucus are Democratic Sens. Evan Bayh and Russ Feingold; Republican Sens. James Inhofe, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson; and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman.

MINNEAPOLIS — So Sen. Richard Burr's sitting at the bar Wednesday night.

He's in the Hilton hotel, toniest address in town, hanging with his boys Sen. Lindsey Graham, Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Iowa Rep. Tom Latham, kickin' it after the vice presidential nominee's big speech, Barb Barrett reports.

All the bigwigs are staying at the Hilton, from Burr to Sen. John McCain himself. Who knows who could walk into the bar?

"...when Sarah Palin came down!" Burr told the North Carolina delegation at its breakfast the next morning.

"It turned into quite an event," he said.

Burr didn't say what she was drinking.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole also ranks poorly compared to the rest of her class.

Of the nine senators elected in 2002 still in office, Dole is ranked eighth in power rankings put together by the nonpartisan Congressional data company Knowlegis.

Here's the ranks of her classmates:

Lamar Alexander: 32nd
Lindsey Graham: 60th
Saxby Chambliss: 61st
Mark Pryor: 62nd
John Cornyn: 80th
Norm Coleman: 82nd
John Sununu: 89th
Elizabeth Dole: 93rd
Lisa Murkowski: 96th

Except for Pryor, all of Dole's 2002 classmates are Republicans.

Knowlegis cofounder Brad Fitch said that comparing senators to others who took office in the same year is the best way to gauge their power, since seniority gives senators more power. 

Will U.S. Sen. Richard Burr win his campaign for a leadership post?

A closer look at campaign finance records by the Sunlight Foundation gives reason for skepticism.

The numbers suggest that his competition for the Republican conference chairman, Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Lamar Alexander, have better odds.

Hutchinson has 20 former staffers now working as lobbyists, compared to three for Burr and none for Alexander. Her leadership PAC raised $632,000, compared to $215,000 for Burr's and $15,000 for Alexander's.

"If you're just following the money, you might infer that more people with more at stake on Capitol Hill have a vested interest in Hutchison moving up as opposed to Burr or Alexander," the Foundation notes. 

In addition, Hutchinson got more earmarks in agriculture, defense, energy and water and other bills.

On another front, the group found that Burr's votes most often match Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss and least often match Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.