Who knew that serving as a goalie for N.C. State University's soccer team would come in so handy years later for Robert Gibbs?

Gibbs, who many expect to become the new White House press secretary for Barack Obama, played goalkeeper at N.C. State from 1990-92.

"To be a goalkeeper, you have to be a very special person," said his former coach, George Tarantini. "People remember only the goals. No one remembers how many saves you make."

Hmmm. sounds like pretty good training for a guy about to face the national press corps on a daily basis. (N&O)

With state Sen. Kay Hagan touting her bipartisanship, Dome decided to take a closer look.

One measure is the number of Republicans who signed onto legislation she sponsored.

In the 2007-08 session, the Greensboro Democrat was the primary sponsor of 33 bills. Of them, 15 had no cosponsors, 10 had only Democratic cosponsors and eight had Republicans.

But the Republican-cosponsored measures tended to have a number of supporters. Overall, her 83 cosponsors included 55 Democrats and 28 Republicans, or about a two-to-one ratio.

The most frequent GOP cosponsor was Sen. Stan Bingham of neighboring Davidson County, who signed on to Hagan bills on creating license plates for soccer and juvenile diabetes, funding a Triad crime lab and allowing the student member of the UNC Board of Governors to vote.

The UNC bill was the most bipartisan, with 14 Democratic and 15 Republican cosponsors, including Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger and former gubernatorial candidate Fred Smith.

Hagan also had Republican cosponsors on bills on computer equipment recycling, real estate settlement protection, rental car fee reform, and funds for the Children's Discovery Center.

Are soccer moms making a comeback?

State Sen. Kay Hagan, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, has co-sponsored three different bills related to soccer in the past two years.

One 2007 bill honored the UNC-Chapel Hill women's soccer team's 2006 national championship. Another bill invited the women players to the legislature for recognition. And a third bill filed this session would create special "Support Soccer" license plates.

Hagan, a 54-year-old mother of three, has been described as a "soccer mom from Greensboro" by both the N&O and the Charlotte Observer, as her daughter Carrie plays the sport. And in 1999, she led a fundraising effort for new soccer fields in Greensboro.

When Republicans proposed a redistricting plan that would have put her in a heavily Republican area in 2001, then state Sen. Brad Miller jokingly noted how it would affect her.

"I think under this plan, it would be easier (for you) to make it to your child's soccer games," he said.

Her Republican opponent, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, is no slouch in the soccer department either, co-sponsoring a 2007 resolution commending Wake Forest University's men's team.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated Miller's position at the time.

Immigration, energy efficiency, and soccer.

These are just a few of the topics taken up by state Sen. Kay Hagan in the current legislative short session. The Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate sponsored one and cosponsored 10 non-budget bills so far in 2008.

Two bills seem most likely to come up in her race against U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole. The first, which she cosponsored, would require employers use the federal E-Verify program to check that employees can legally work in the United States.

That program, you may recall, was touted by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Fred Smith, who used it at his road- and home-building businesses.

Another bill she cosponsored would create a state sales tax holiday for a week each April on energy-efficient light bulbs, home appliances, electronics and insulation. It would be similar to the popular back-to-school holiday already in effect.

On a lighter note, the bill she sponsored could also be used to remind political commentators of a popular swing vote constituency: Soccer moms. The bill would create a special "Support Soccer" license plate.

Other bills she cosponsored: Change the local requirements for recall petitions in the city of Greensboro. Increase the monthly pension for retired firefighters and paramedics. Limit or exempt baked goods from the state sales tax. Increase benefits from the State Health Plan. Allow the legislature to meet in Greensboro one day for its centennial. Honor Korean War Veterans. Commemorate Israel's 60th anniversary.

If it was attention that state Republican officials were seeking, they certainly got it.

The new ad by the N.C. Republican Party linking Democratic gubernatorial candidates Beverly Perdue and Richard Moore to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has yet to air.

But it's already been condemned by countless people, including officials at the Republican National Committee and Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee for president.

The ad, entitled "Extreme," has also become a YouTube favorite. As of this morning, it has been viewed 76,991 times. That puts it behind a video of David Cook's performance on "American Idol," but ahead of a video of a soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea.

It's not doing so well, though, in YouTube's rating system - averaging only 2.5 out of five possible stars in ratings by viewers. Cook and Liverpool vs. Chelsea have both scored 4.5 stars.

The N.C. GOP also hoped the ad would help them raise money. No word on how that's going.

Mike Munger will be at a debate in October.

The Libertarian candidate for governor has been invited to a debate at Queens University in Charlotte in early October with the Republican and Democratic candidates.

It will the final statewide debate for the nominees. According to Munger, it is the first time that a Libertarian gubernatorial candidate has been allowed to debate.

In an e-mail to Dome, Munger joked that he was disappointed by the invitation, since it upended his plans for his fall campaign.

"The entire strategy of the Munger for Governor campaign was built on a single premise: Cry and whine like a French soccer player over being kept out of the debates," he writes.

He adds that he planned to use this potential chilipunking to "obtain sympathy, and contributions."