A Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. David Price is running T.V. ads thanks to help from Ron Paul.

Cary resident B.J. Lawson has raised more than $460,000 from more than 3,000 individuals in North Carolina and around the country, according to a campaign spokeswoman.

He raised more than $177,000 in a single day of fundraising, thanks in part to an e-mail sent to supporters of Paul, a Texas Congressman and former Republican presidential candidate.

The fundraising success has allowed Lawson to air a television ad, something typically not seen in races against Price, who has represented the heavily liberal district since 1987, losing only one race.

The Lawson campaign is airing the ad, which criticizes Price for supporting the recent Wall Street bailout, on several stations on Time-Warner Cable, including MSNBC, News 14 Carolina and B.E.T., according to campaign media consultant Gail Marold.

"The economy is still crashing," a narrator says. "This election, fire David Price. Vote Lawson for Congress."

Mike Munger got double chilipunked today.

Aside from not being invited to an education debate at the SAS Institute in Cary, he was also dissed by an introductory video, which said North Carolinians will elect "one of two candidates" for governor this fall.

Munger is the Libertarian candidate for governor — the only third party candidate to appear on the ballot.

The event was sponsored by the Everybody's Business Coalition, the N.C. Cable Telecommunications Association, Time Warner Cable and SAS.

Robert Pittenger received $1.5 million in contributions by mid-April of 2008.

The candidate for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor raised $274,404 in the first quarter of 2008, according to his most recent campaign finance report.

Major donors included Raleigh developer Justus Ammons, Raleigh attorney Gene Boyce, Charlotte surgeon Todd Crowley, Eagle Limited chairman Buster Glosson and Holt Hosiery chairman Ralph Holt.

He received $9,250 from political action committees, including Time Warner Cable N.C. PAC, Presbyterian Anesthesia Associates PAC, Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants PAC, and Parker Poe PAC.

In addition, he received a $500,000 loan from his wife, Suzanne, in December. 

He spent on $969,460 office expenses, mailing, postage, Web site maintenance, consulting, and staff salaries in the first quarter of the year.

That left him with $331,809 in cash on hand. 

TV and radio stations are adjusting their prices for political ads.

Time Warner Cable wants to reset its advertising rates — most likely to raise them — each week between now and the May 6 primary, Mark Johnson reports.

"If this were a hurricane, we'd call it price gouging," said Republican political consultant Paul Shumaker. "The question is whether the public gets upset when it happens to politicians."

Mark Prak, a Raleigh-based communications lawyer, said Time Warner is managing a limited inventory of time when there's a sharp increase in demand for it.

Not only will the increased demand push up prices, but Congress passed legislation in 1972 that guarantees "reasonable access" for themselves and the presidential candidates. State candidates don't get that guarantee.

"The federal candidates get to go to the front of the line," Prak said. He cautioned, though, that campaigns get a price cut that other advertisers don't, and broadcasters try to accommodate all campaigns.

Richard Moore had a hefty cable bill last month.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate owed Time Warner Cable more than $25,000 for TV ads that aired in mid-January. During the same time period, rival Beverly Perdue, spent only around $4,000 on basic cable advertising, according to public records.

The candidates' advertising buys also included local TV stations, so their overall spending is different. No Republican candidate bought air time with Time Warner during that period.

Moore was unique in his broad use of basic cable. His ads aired on 14 different channels, including CNN, MSNBC, The Food Network, The History Channel, USA and TNT.

Some of the buys — such as BET and Lifetime — could be attempts to reach black voters and women, two groups in which he trails Perdue in the polls. He also aired 14 ads on Fox News, which attracts a more conservative audience.

By contrast, Perdue focused her attention on news channels, airing ads only on CNN and MSNBC. 

There was one exception for Perdue: A single ad, which cost $1,764, on the USA channel which ran once between 6 to 8 p.m. on Jan. 17. According to this schedule, back-to-back reruns of "Law & Order" aired during that time.

Perdue spokesman David Kochman said the campaign focused on news programming for cable ads because the audience was more likely to be politically active. He would not comment on the USA ad.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue held a fundraiser with federal lobbyists in Washington Friday.

Their state counterparts would not have been able to donate to her putative gubernatorial campaign under a state campaign finance law that went into effect Jan. 1.

Reform advocates said the event shows the limits of their efforts.

"I don't know how you would regulate it," said Louisa Warren, director of the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform.

Lobbyists for Rent-A-Center, Time Warner Cable and other companies met Perdue at the law firm of Oldaker, Biden & Belair. The fundraiser was expected to raise $20,000.

"Our campaign has raised almost every one of our dollars from inside North Carolina," said Peter Reichard, Perdue's finance director, "and it is well within the rules for us to have a fundraiser at a major Washington law firm." (Char-O)