Two things are certain about the Senate race next year.

Democrats think they can beat Sen. Richard Burr. And party faithful seem worried about the candidate roster. Over the weekend, articles in The American Spectator and The Hill ruminated on the would-be or wouldn't-be candidates.

The Spectator article dismissed Cal Cunningham and Kenneth Lewis as "no-name lawyers." The piece focused on why top-tier candidates, including Attorney General Roy Cooper, decided not to run.

So why did Cooper brush aside a Senate bid? We'll never know for sure, but two possibilities come to mind. One is the heat Cooper has taken from Republicans, which has trickled into the wider electorate, for going soft on former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley. Easley is under state and federal investigation for alleged ethics violations and campaign finance malfeasance.

A second reason is a defamation lawsuit filed against Cooper nine years ago. The suit alleges that Cooper defamed his Republican challenger during a race for attorney general by airing a misleading television ad. A superior court judge recently denied Cooper's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, allowing the case to go to trial.

The Hill piece wonders whether Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who is clearly trying to generate buzz for a run, could follow in the steps of Kay Hagan, who was seen as a long-shot candidate who went on to defeat Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Still, thanks to the decisions of state Attorney General Roy Cooper and a few members of the state’s congressional delegation to pass on the race, Marshall appears next in line.

Nobody is getting terribly excited about her candidacy, but nobody was terribly excited two years ago either, after a similar cast of characters passed on a challenge to Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Hunter. Senator. Beauty.

Sen. Richard Burr has been named one of Washington's most beautiful people by The Hill, which compiles an annual list of, well beautiful people in Washington.

Burr's write-up focuses on his hunting-trophy laden office, as well as his handiness around the house.

His tanned skin reveals that he is a well-rounded outdoorsman who golfs in what little spare time the Senate provides. He and his wife have recently taken up fly-fishing.

Burr is also an ex-athlete — he played football at Wake Forest University — who has held on to his competitive spirit. He is part of the group of Congress members who have recently taken to the P90X video workouts from fitness guru Tony Horton.

"Every job — especially this one — requires some type of daily release,” he says in confiding that his new exercise routine is more physical demanding than even his college football workouts. “It probably helps get me through the very difficult days."

The Hill, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill, has a brief profile today on U.S. Rep. Brad Miller of Raleigh and his role alongside Financial Services committee Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts.

Miller, a Democrat, isn’t one of the House’s better-known members, but as The Hill says, he has “become a critical player” in the ongoing battles in Congress between consumers and financial institutions, reports Barb Barrett.

The Hill reports:

While Miller has had a hand already in a broad range of housing and mortgage lending issues, his most critical work this year will come as Congress debates setting up a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to oversee products like mortgage loans and credit cards.

Reaction to Attorney General Roy Cooper's decision not to run against Sen. Richard Burr:

Swing State Project: "This is a major bummer, no doubt. Most polls had Cooper running neck and neck with Burr, holding him well under 50% in all cases -- the best numbers any Democrat have yielded in a hypothetical head-to-head."

Politico: "Cooper is the second high-profile Democrat -- after Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) -- to decide not to run against Burr, and puts Democrats back to the drawing board to find a credible candidate against Burr."

The Hill: "Burr could still be vulnerable to the right kind of challenger. Democrats fell back on state Sen. Kay Hagan (D) in the 2008 race against Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and still unseated the incumbent with relative ease."

The Fix: "A big recruiting setback for Senate Dems in NC."

N.C. GOP spokesman Brent Woodcox: "Wrote a press release, issues memo, sent out a news update, got Roy Cooper to not run for Senate. That's what I do before lunch."

N.C. Democratic Party staffer Jerimee Richir: "Roy Cooper out of NC Senate race. Let the brawl ensue."

Draft Coop: "What do we do now?????"

Members of Congress ranked two North Carolinians among the most partisan.

Over the last few months, Washington-based newspaper The Hill asked more than 100 lawmakers to name the most and least bipartisan colleagues, off the record.

"Questions about the least bipartisan members were posed on a not-for-attribution basis so that lawmakers could discuss their views frankly," the paper noted.

Reps. Virginia Foxx and Patrick McHenry were ranked second and fourth among the most partisan Republicans on the survey.

Rep. Walter Jones, meantime, was ranked among the 10 most bipartisan Republicans.

None of the state's Democrats made either list.

Get ready for the parachutists.

With U.S. Sen. Richard Burr's re-election campaign heating up already, the national media are taking another look at lil ol' North Carolina.

And that means another round of annoying mistakes and misconceptions from reporters who've parachuted into the state.

The latest example is a tried-and-true of the genre: Confusing the Raleigh News & Observer with the Charlotte Observer. (Insert McClatchy merger joke here.)

Glenn Thrush of Politico referred to an article about Burr in "the Charlotte News & Observer" in his blog recently. Then, likely because of Thrush, The Hill's Briefing Room blog made the exact same mistake.

We at Dome pointed out the error to both blogs, but neither has fixed it. 

Meantime, we got to thinking about what the national reporters need to know before reporting on North Carolina: Raleigh-Durham is not a city, Strom Thurmond was from South Carolina, Tar Heels is two words, etc.

Post your suggestions in the comment thread or e-mail dome@newsobserver.com and we'll post the best.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr said he panicked when he first learned of the banking crisis.

The Winston-Salem Republican told the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce that he called his wife, Brooke, and told her to withdraw money from the bank after talking with former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

The remarks, first reported by the Hendersonville Times-News, have since been picked up by The Hill, a Washington-based newspaper, and various political blogs:

"On Friday night, I called my wife and I said, 'Brooke, I am not coming home this weekend. I will call you on Monday. Tonight, I want you to go to the ATM machine, and I want you to draw out everything it will let you take. And I want you to tomorrow, and I want you to go Sunday.' I was convinced on Friday night that if you put a plastic card in an ATM machine the last thing you were going to get was cash."

Burr also said that he does not think the current economic problems — which he termed a depression — would have a U-shaped or V-shaped recovery, as past recessions have had.

"Those are the only things they talk about," he said. "Either it’s a lack of imagination or some belief that you can make everything fit into those two. Let me suggest to you today, I think we are in a Nike swoosh."

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield is keeping a donation from Rep. Charlie Rangel.

In recent years, the Wilson Democrat has received $5,000 from Rangel, a powerful New York Democrat who faces an investigation by the House ethics committee that Butterfield just joined, The Hill reports.

A spokesman for Butterfield said he may recuse himself from Rangel's case, but he doesn't believe the contribution could bias him for Rangel:

"The congressman got the donation long before he even considered joining the ethics committee,” said spokesman Ken Willis. "[Butterfield] was a judge in North Carolina for 15 years and certainly understands how to proceed in a judicial and nonpartisan manner.

"His integrity is not for sale, and certainly not [for] $5,000," Willis added.

Another member of the committee returned nearly $20,000 in donations he received from Rangel.

In a recent interview, Butterfield said he would be more circumspect in his interactions with other members because of his position on the committee.

It's official: A staffer for U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is one of the beautiful people.

David Ward, a Raleigh native who serves as Burr's press secretary, was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill" by D.C. paper The Hill today.

The item on Ward notes the 25-year-old's "swoon-worthy blue eyes" and notes his hobbies:

When not working for the people of North Carolina, Ward travels back to the state he represents to surf and fish. But this might not be often. Ward also reminds us that "the people's work never sleeps."

A Wake Forest graduate, Ward previously worked as an intern to U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx.

Burr's office is something of a Ford Modeling Agency. Last year, his mail manager — a "6-foot-1, tanned, surferesque Republican" — also made the list.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is voting with the Democrats more lately.

The Salisbury Republican has broken with her party more this year than she did in 2007, according to an analysis of her voting record by The Hill, a Washington-based political paper.

Leaving out missed votes and bills that both parties favored, Dole voted against a majority of her party 25.5 percent of the time this year, versus 6.6 percent in 2007, 6.4 percent in the 2005-06 session and 4.3 percent in the 2003-04 session.

Dole was one of seven Republicans who voted for a climate-change bill, among other things:

Some of Dole’s most significant breaks with the GOP include backing a Democratic economic stimulus measure, supporting Medicare legislation that Bush vetoed, endorsing an amendment to expand children's healthcare coverage to pregnant women and voting for an expansive amendment to lengthen dwell-time for troops before they return to Iraq.

In an interview with the paper, Dole said that she is voting for what's "best for the people of my state," saying she was not moving to the middle because of the upcoming election.

Democratic opponent Kay Hagan's campaign e-mailed a link to the story to reporters.