Could the Democratic convention come to Charlotte in four years?

It will if Susan Burgess has anything to say about it, reports Jim Morrill.

Burgess is Charlotte's mayor pro tem and a member of the Democratic National Committee. She wants to push for the next convention to be held in the Queen City. A few years ago, local Republicans talked about hosting their national convention in the city, but Charlotte didn't make the cut.

"It's because we didn't have the hotels," said Burgess. In recent years, hotels have gone up, a rail line has opened and Uptown has a new arena. By 2012, there not only will be more hotels but more  museums and attractions, Burgess said.

She said the economic impact of a convention is "tremendous."

The superdelegates in North Carolina mostly backed Barack.

Here's a breakdown of the state's 19 superdelegates in the Democratic presidential primary race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Clinton

Gov. Mike Easley
U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler
Susan Burgess, Charlotte Councilwoman

Obama

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield
U.S. Rep. David Price
U.S. Rep. Mel Watt
U.S. Rep. Brad Miller
Jerry Meek, N.C. Democratic Party chair
Dannie Montgomery, N.C. Democratic Party vice chair
Everett Ward, former Democratic Party director
Joyce Brayboy, public policy lobbyist
Jeanette Council, Cumberland County commissioner
Muriel K. Offerman, Democratic National Committee
David Parker, Statesville attorney
U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge
U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre

Carol Peterson, Buncombe County commissioner
Two delegates to be named at the state convention.

Forget red states and blue states. At the Legislative Building today, it was red t-shirts and blue name tags.

Residents against forced annexation wore the shirts, and the pro-annexation N.C. League of Municipalities wore the name tags. All were there to talk to legislators about their issues, Lynn Bonner reports.

The anti-annexation folks are trying to pressure the legislature to approve a one-year freeze on forced annexations. They said they did not want to be forced to pay taxes for services they don't need.

The protest became irreverent at times, One woman had an anti-annexation bumper sticker attached to her pants. She said she pressed her rear end to the glass of the Senate gallery door so those inside could see her message.

They have some legislators behind them.

More after the jump.

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Susan Burgess, a superdelegate from Charlotte who supports Hillary Clinton, said she wants the senator to run for vice president this year, and told a member of her staff that morning.

"I sense a division in our party that must be breached," Burgess said. "The best way to do that is to run together on the dream ticket."

Burgess said Clinton has tremendous influence among the electorate. "She has more leverage than anyone in America with millions of voters behind her,"' Burgess said.

North Carolina mayors say fighting the growth in gangs is not a partisan issue.

But when they walked into the legislature today to advocate for anti-gang legislation at a news conference, only Democrats were given the microphone, reports Dan Kane.

State Sen. Malcolm Graham, a Charlotte Democrat who led the news conference, said Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy and Charlotte Mayor Pro-Tem Susan Burgess were invited to speak because they are leaders of statewide municipal organizations.

Foy leads the Metrolina Coalition of N.C. Mayors; Burgess is president of the N.C. League of Municipalities.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican candidate for governor who has long advocated for gang prevention measures, could only stand along with roughly two dozen mayors, police chiefs and lawmakers in the legislature's room for news conferences.

He said he was invited to the news conference, but not to speak.

"I didn't mind not talking," McCrory said. "I do wish that they had a little bipartisanship up there."

He got his opportunity. Reporters and TV cameras swarmed him once the event ended.

Joyce Brayboy has endorsed Barack Obama.

The Democratic superdelegate, whose day job is as a Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist, made the decision recently.

Previously, she told Dome that she would study both candidates' electability and their stances on health care and education before making a decision.

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield and two other superdelegates, Everett Ward and Dannie Montgomery, are also backing Obama, while Charlotte City Councilwoman Susan Burgess backs Hillary Clinton.

Susan Burgess has known Hillary Clinton since before she was First Lady.

The Charlotte City Councilwoman, currently serving as mayor pro tem, will be a superdelegate at the Democratic National Convention, and so far she's the only one from North Carolina committed to Clinton.

She and her husband met the Clintons in 1990 at a Renaissance Weekend in Hilton Head, S.C. She said that the New York senator is much different from her public image.

"She is a very warm and wonderful person," she said.

Burgess, 61, was chosen as a superdelegate because she is currently chairing the National Democratic Municipal Officials Conference. She served as a regular delegate at the 2000 convention and on the rules committee in 2004.

She said she's also impressed with Barack Obama, however. Could she see herself voting for him in the right circumstances? 

"Of course I would, but not on the first ballot," she told Dome. "On the first ballot, I'm committed to Hillary Clinton."