Gov. Beverly Perdue is writing her own story.

Literally.

A new feature on Perdue's Web site includes a brief biography of each of North Carolina's governors.

"No North Carolina governor, with the exception of Zebulon B. Vance, has been as venerated as Charles Brantley Aycock (1859-1912), with whose term the Democratic Party inaugurated a seventy-two year hold on the office," reads the biography of Aycock, which also helps explain, by the way, where this weekend's Vance-Aycock dinner got its name.

It's notable, if not entirely unexpected, to find that the biography of the current governor is both longer and more boosterish than any other on the list.

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State Republicans seem to be in a good mood these days. They have a couple reasons to be optimistic about their political futures.

House and Senate seats all face election next year, and Republicans in the legislature have clearly had future campaign literature on the brain.

Here are five reasons state Repubilcans may be smiling today.

1. Everyone is taking a hit. House and Senate Democrats got stuck on how to reform the state's tax code. The compromise plan raises everyone's sales and income taxes. So mailers and campaign flyers don't have to be targeted to specific industries or demographics. They can begin, "Dear North Carolina taxpayer..."

2. Painful cuts still ahead. Even with the new taxes, the budget will include cuts to state services. Republicans in the legislature often complain that they are shut out of the budget process. But the good news is that being shut out means they can blame Democrats for any and all cuts.

3. Gov. Beverly Perdue. The Democratic party's most visible figure has been facing lots of bad polling news lately. While there is plenty of time for her to turn things around, numbers as low as she is facing now may be a drag on the party for some time.

4. Mike Easley. Federal investigators continue to call witnesses to testify in what appears to be an ever-widening probe of the former governor and his wife's lucrative job at N.C. State University.

5. They may be due for a win. Democrats dominated state politics for much of the last 100 years. The other side has to win sometime, right? Well, maybe not. They didn't take the legislature in 2006 when then-Speaker Jim Black was deeply mired in scandals that eventually sent him to prison.

"Republicans have had a great knack in our state of not picking up on issues and snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory," said Jack Hawke, a Republican consultant. "I'm a Republican through and through, but I have to admit we're pretty inept."

Rob Christensen, political writer for The News & Observer, will speak at the N.C. Museum of History on Sunday at 3 p.m. about his book, "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics." A book signing will follow.

Rob Christensen will speak about his book, "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics: The Personalities, Elections and Events that Shaped Modern North Carolina" at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Old House Chambers of the Capitol.

Christensen, a political columnist for The N&O, will sign copies of his book after the talk.

His talk is part of the Capitol Lecture Series.

Negative nicknames aren't new in North Carolina.

During the 1960 Democratic primary for governor, Terry Sanford was tarred with three nicknames by his political opponents: Terrible Tax Terry, High Tax Terry and Tall Talking Terry, according to Rob Christensen's recent book "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics."

He won the primary and the governorship anyway.

But when he was running for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 1992, Sanford was given yet another nickname for the fact that he voted three different ways on a federal highway bill in 1987: Turnaround Terry.

He lost that election to Republican Lauch Faircloth.

The News and Observer's political columnist will be at the Barnes and Noble in Winston-Salem tonight at 7 p.m. discussing his new book, "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics."

He will also be at the Barnes and Noble in Fayetteville on Saturday at 3 p.m

You can catch Rob in Charlotte this weekend.

The longtime N&O political reporter and columnist Rob Christensen will be speaking Saturday at Park Road Books in the Queen City at 2 p.m.

He'll be reading from his book, "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics," and answering questions.

You have another chance to ask Rob a question.

N&O reporter and columnist Rob Christensen will at Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe in Asheville at 7 p.m. Saturday talking about his new history of 20th century state politics, "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics."

Among other topics, Christensen will be talking about Asheville's own, U.S. Sen. Robert Reynolds, the five-time married playboy who became such a Nazi sympathizer that he became known as The Tar Heel Fuhrer.

For a previous Q&A with Christensen, see here.

Rob Christensen recently took Dome reader questions on his new book, "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics."

Here are his answers to a few of those questions: 

Is the book you wrote the book you set out to write? If different, how so?

This is pretty much the book I set out to write. I wanted to write the book that I wanted to read: a book that connected the dots, that provided some context, and that involved some story-telling.

In reviewing the period covered, did you have any eureka moments? What were they?

A long the way, there were a number of surprises. Who knew that we almost had a governor lynched or that the first woman candidate for governor was a KGB agent, or that a North Carolina senator was a Nazi sympathizer? But what was most interesting to me is how the same issues play out time and time again. As Harry Truman once remarked, the only thing new in the world is the history you don't know.

Who was the most fascinating unheralded political figure you encountered or learned about?

Gov. O. Gardner, who was elected in 1928. He was a textile plant owner and a lawyer who pretty much invented state government as it exists today. After leaving office, he moved to Washington to become one of the first of the super lobbyists. But for 20 years he continued to run the state from his suite in the Mayflower Hotel.

Is there anyone who in your estimate should have but didn't achieve political success warranted by his or her ability? Who was the most memorable overachiever?

The memorable overachiever was two-term Sen. Robert Reynolds (1932-1944) who won election saying that the sitting senator, Cameron Morrison, a Charlotte plutocrat, ate fish eggs and red Russian fish eggs at that, and wasn't it time to elect a senator who didn't mind eating regular old North Carolina hen eggs.

What would be the subject of a book about N.C. politics that you have no intention of writing?

A boring history of the administration of each governor.