Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge is going to decide soon whether he’s running for U.S. Senate.

Any day now.

Etheridge figured in August he’d have a decision by September. Earlier this week, he was expected to reach a decision by the end of the week. This morning, he told Dome it would be by this weekend, but not today or tomorrow.

(So, not until after Saturday’s anticipated health care vote, about which Etheridge has yet to take a position.)

He’s heard from supporters. He’s heard from the White House. He’s heard from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He’s heard from his wife and family.

The conversations with his family, Etheridge said, might be the most important. In running for state-wide office, he would be away for the next year criss-crossing the state. Etheridge routinely returns home to Lillington on weekends to spend time with his grown children and grandchildren.

“You’ve got to weigh a lot of factors,” Etheridge said. “And I’m grateful to have the opportunity to be in the position, but I’m also in the position to help people right where I am.”

Etheridge last year was appointed to the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means, a role he has sought for years.

State GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer said Tuesday's election results are good news for Republicans.

"I think the pendulum is turning back as it always does," Fetzer said in an interview with reporters and editors of The News & Observer. "I think there is a wave cresting right now that bodes well for Republicans."

Fetzer said Tuesday's elections, in which Republicans captured the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey, reminded him of the run up to the 1994 elections which turned into a national GOP landslide led by Newt Gingrich, reports Rob Christensen.

Fetzer said the N.C. Republican Party would focus on the re-election of U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and winning control of at least one chamber in the state legislature during the 2010 mid-term election. He said the key issues will be ending the "culture of corruption" in Raleigh and better management of taxpayer's money.

NOT SO FAST: The N.C. Office of the Commissioner of Banks has proposed new regulations that would stop foreclosure once a homeowner asks for a loan modification. The rule would give homeowners more time to try to keep their homes. (N&O)

TO THE RIGHT: Independents who swept Barack Obama to a historic 2008 victory broke big for Republicans on Tuesday as the GOP wrested political control from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, a troubling sign for the president and his party heading into an important midterm election year. (AP)

TAX TALKS: Lawmakers met for the first of a series of meetings that will focus on proposals to overhaul the state's tax system. (AP) 

Sen. Richard Burr is the target of a new Internet ad campaign that seeks to tie his political contributions from the defense industry and the Chamber of Commerce to his vote on a bill involving how overseas American contractors handle allegations of rape.

"Did Sen. Burr Put Campaign Cash Above Victims of Gang Rape?" says the online ad that is scheduled to begin running today by Change Congress, a Washington-based group that pushes campaign finance reform.

The group is currently running ads on other issues targeting Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, all Democrats.

"We've had a series of campaigns that have tried to point out cases where members have voted consistent with contributors but inconsistent with their constitutuents," Larry Sessig, the co-founder of Change Congress said in an interview.

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A new poll has found that 42 percent of North Carolinians say someone else should have U.S. Sen. Richard Burr's seat.

The Elon University Poll found that 19 percent of state residents believe Burr deserves another term in office, according to the survey of 703 state residents that was conducted Oct. 26-29.

The poll also found 29 percent of respondents said they "don't know" if Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, deserves re-election.

Burr’s approval rating stands at 37 percent, the poll found, while 22 percent of respondents disapprove of the way he is handling his job. Forty-one percent don’t know how they feel on his job performance.

Two Democrats have formally entered the race. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and lawyer Kenneth Lewis have filed candidate paperwork.

The poll also asked respondents for their opinions on other political figures.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan: 35 percent approve, 35 percent disapprove, 29 percent don’t know.

Gov. Beverly Perdue: 36 percent approve, 47 percent disapprove, 18 percent don’t know.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Update: The National Republican Senatorial Committee weighed in on the poll. Expect to see this one a lot from Colin Reed, a spokesman for the committee:

In the words of Erskine Bowles just last week, 'nobody works harder or smarter for North Carolina than Richard Burr does.' It speaks to Senator Burr’s strength at home that as national Democrats struggle to recruit a strong challenger, his former opponent continues to offer nothing but praise for his hard work on behalf of North Carolina in the U.S. Senate.

And the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee issued it's own statement from spokesman Eric Schultz.

Whether it was its when he suggested a run on the banks, his hypocrisy over stimulus funding, or his inexplicable vote against justice for victims of sexual assault, it should come as no surprise that Richard Burr is the most vulnerable Republican in the United States Senate. 

Senate spouse Brooke Burr has sent out invitations for her husband's annual birthday bash.

The event this year is on his actual birthday, Nov. 30, at the Forsyth Country Club in Winston-Salem, Barb Barrett reports.

Her husband, Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, faces re-election next year.
The Birthday Bash event began 10 years ago, Brooke Burr wrote in her e-mail to friends.

"In the years since, it has become a major fundraiser for the campaign and a special way for women of North Carolina to show their support for Richard," she wrote.

By tradition, women serve as hosts ($500, with three guests) or sponsors ($250, with one guest). They can invite even more guests for $75 a person. Money goes toward Burr's re-election campaign.

Special guests include former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and her husband, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

"Thanks for your past support and I hope I can count on you to be with us to celebrate Richard's birthday on November 30th," Brooke Burr wrote. "I am sure you know the importance of this election and this event."

Burr will be turning 54.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr has $3,461,445 in his campaign account.

Burr has received more than $3 million in contributions since 2007, according to federal campaign finance records. Of that amount, $1.4 million came from individual contributions and $1.2 million came from political action or other committees.

Contributors include the Associated Builders and Contractors ($5,000), a Bank of America PAC ($5,000), a Federation of American Hospitals PAC ($5,000), Thomas Mann of Raleigh, chairman of GE Insurance ($2,000), Duke Energy President James Rogers of Charlotte ($2,400) and Jerry Smith, CEO of Le Bleu water company ($2,400).

Previously: Democrat Kenneth Lewis who is running against Burr has $184,000. 

Democratic Senate candidate Kenneth Lewis has received some help from one of the major heavy hitters in the Democratic Party.

Peter L. Buttenwieser of Philadelphia, a long-time Democratic fund raiser, gave Lewis $1,500 to Lewis, an attorney from Chapel Hill, who is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Richard Burr, according to Lewis' latest campaign report.

Buttenwieser is well known in Democratic circles as a big-time fund raiser, Rob Christensen reports. He is also a major donor having contributed about $3 million to the Democratic Party or Democratic candidates during the past decade, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Lewis met Buttenwieser during a fund raising trip to Philly.

Lewis faces Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and possibly other candidates in next May's Democratic primary.

Republican Sen. Richard Burr has been accused by a Democratic opponent of voting against protecting rape victims working as contractors in Iraq, a charge that he denies.

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall noted that Burr was one of 30 Republican senators who voted last week against an amendment that grew out of a publicized case of a Halliburton employee who was gang-raped by co-workers, Rob Christensen reports.

"Senator Burr has obviously been in Washington too long," said Marshall, who is one of two Democrats who say they will challenge Burr's 2010 bid for a second term. She is also a founder of a rape crisis center. "This is a clear-cut case of right versus wrong, and Richard Burr got it wrong."

Burr has also drawn criticism from TV comedian/commentator Jon Stewart.

But a Burr spokesman said the case was far more complicated, and the amendment offered by Democratic Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., would not have accomplished what its supporters advertised.

"Senator Burr believes violence against women is despicable and intolerable, and those who have committed or abetted such heinous crimes should be subjected to the full weight of the law," said David Ward, Burr's chief spokesman. "Unfortunately, the Franken amendment would not do anything to protect women from violence or to punish criminals. If it had, Senator Burr would certainly have voted for the amendment."

U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge has $1,006,000 in his campaign account.

Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, has no opponents yet in next year's Congressional elections. Democrats have been courting Etheridge to consider a run against Republican Sen. Richard Burr.

Since 2007, Etheridge has received $480,000 in contributions, mostly through political action committees, according to federal campaign finance records. Individuals have contributed $165,000. Notable contributors include Jerry Smith, CEO of Le Bleu water company ($2,400); Rickie Day, owner of Carolina Specialty Towing ($2,400); a cotton producers PAC ($5,000) and a PAC of the International Union of Operating Engineers ($5,000).