Sen. Walter Dalton is seeking more than $277 million in state spending.

The Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor has sponsored nine bills and co-sponsored 18 bills seeking appropriations in the upcoming state budget. A longtime state senator, he is serving an advisory role on the budget in the short session.

Dalton is the primary sponsor on bills totaling $208 million: $135 million for grants for local water and sewer projects, $20 million for the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, $16 million for stem cell research, $14 million for the Cleveland Correctional Center, $10 million to provide services for the developmentally disabled, $5.8 million to help provide high-speed Internet access, $3 million for biotechnology training, $2.5 million for construction at historically black colleges and $2 million for small business entrepeneurship initiatives.

Among the larger appropriations bills he is cosponsoring: $44.7 million for Smart Start early childhood intiatives, $9.5 million for 4-H camps, $3 million for home foreclosure prevention, $3 million for loans for biotechnology start-ups, $1.6 million for a dropout prevention program in Durham and Vance counties, $1.4 million for water resource management and $1.25 million for biotechnology education.

He's also seeking a number of appropriations under $1 million: Teach for America, state GIS improvements, veterinary medicine teaching and research, a statewide infection control program, a literacy program, Kids Voting, a Teacher Cadet Program, an early chilhood initiative, a youth golfing program and a health information management study.

Previously: Sen. Kay Hagan seeks $48 million in state spending.

Hear Hillary Clinton speak on issues including the economy, infastructure, stem cell research, and the middle class Thursday at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh. (Staff video by Travis Long, Corey Lowenstein and Jason Arthurs)

As we noted earlier, it can be difficult to get folks to pay attention to the race for lieutenant governor.

We missed an announcement yesterday by state Sen. Walter Dalton, one of four Democratic candidates for the post, calling for North Carolina to become a leader in stem cell research technology.

Dalton is proposing the creation of a fund to provide grants to companies, universities and hospitals "with proven track records in stem cell research." He proposes to provide initial funding of $15 million a year.

Dalton says the funding should help pay for all types of stem cell research, "including the emerging field of amniotic stem cell research."

"Stem cell research has simply too much potential to not invest in it," Dalton said in a statement. "Not only will it bring a great industry to our state, but more importantly, it can save lives and cure diseases."

Two North Carolina bishops oppose state funding of stem cell research.

Roman Catholic Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of the diocese of Raleigh has written a letter to members of the N.C. House Committee on Science and Technology opposing the draft of a bill in the General Assembly that would publicly fund embyronic stem cell research, Yonat Shimron reports.

The letter, which he co-signed with Bishop Peter J. Jugis of the diocese of Charlotte, reiterates the Catholic teaching that embryos constitute human life.

Bishops Burbidge and Jugis said they supported adult and umbilical cord blood stem cell research.

"We stand ready to mobilize these citizens and their like-minded supporters of other beliefs and traditions to contact their legislators opposing this bill should it advance beyond the House Committee on Science and Technology," the two bishops wrote.

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler is the freshman most likely to vote against his own party.

According to a vote analysis by CQPolitics.com, the Waynesville Democrat voted with his party on highly partisan bills just 82.9 percent of the time — the lowest among first-year representatives and fourth lowest overall.

Shuler, who takes conservative positions on some social issues, voted against the bills to promote embryonic stem cell research and to classify certain violent offenses as "hate crimes." He also voted against a defeated bill, backed by 169 Democrats and two Republicans, that called for the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq within 180 days. 

House Democrats, by contrast, averaged a 96 percent party unity score overall, leading to criticism by Republicans that they are a "rubber stamp" for Speaker Nancy Pelosi.