What bipartisan efforts has U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole worked on?

At Dome's request, the Salisbury Republican's staffers sent a list of bipartisan efforts that she is most proud of from the past six years:

* Climate Change: Dole co-sponsored a "cap and trade" bill to reduce carbon emissions by Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman and Republican John Warner this session.

* Military Family Leave: Dole co-sponsored a bill by Sen. Hillary Clinton to allow some workers 12-month leaves to care for family members wounded in action.

* Lumbee Recognition: Dole worked with Gov. Mike Easley, U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski, among others, on legislation to recognize the Lumbee tribe.

* Tobacco Quota Buyout: Dole worked with U.S. Reps. McIntyre and Bob Etheridge on a tobacco quota buyout program included in a 2004 jobs bill.

* Catching Fugitives: Dole co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Richard Durbin to give law enforcement agencies help capturing fugitives from the U.S. Marshals.

Dole's staffers also cited her work on 211 expansion with Clinton, creating infrastructure bonds with Sen. Ron Wyden, requiring a White House conference on nutrition with Sen. John Kerry, demanding Iraq fund a greater share of its reconstruction with Sen. Ben Nelson, and amending trade adjustment laws and calling for an Oil and Gas Market Fraud Task Force with Sen. Maria Cantwell.

Previously: Dole's Democratic cosponsors 2003-08.

A former smoker says Barack Obama should light up again.

In a guest column in the New York Times today, author Tony Horwitz says that taking back up the smoking habit might help the Democratic presidential nominee:

Bottom line: small-towners in the Rust Belt and Appalachia don’t cling to guns and religion so much as they do cigarettes.

By rejoining them, Mr. Obama would also touch voters in several heavy-smoking swing states: Michigan, Missouri and Nevada. Added bonus — Virginia and North Carolina, two leading tobacco-producing states, are both in play this election.

The state Senate wants to ban driving while smoking — at least for state employees.

Senators voted 37-7 Monday to prohibit state employees from smoking inside a vehicle owned or leased by state government, David Ingram reports. The bill would also allow local governments to place similar restrictions on vehicles they control.

Violating the law would carry no punishment, though the person in charge of assigning the vehicle would be required to place a no-smoking sign in at least one "conspicuous" area inside.

It would apply to all vehicles assigned by the N.C. Department of Administration's motor pool division.

There was little discussion before senators voted for the bill, which is aimed at improving health. A final Senate vote could happen as soon as Tuesday. If successful, the bill would then move to the House.

Seven bills would deal with North Carolina's signature crop.

The ones most likely to pass deal with where you can smoke.

One bill would prohibit smoking in state and local government buildings. Another bill would outlaw smoking in state-owned vehicles. A third bill is both more discretionary and more expansive, allowing community colleges to prohibit all tobacco products — including chew — on campus.

All three have multiple sponsors and companion bills.

A House bill, meantime, would study whether smoking should be prohibited in foster care homes.

Two other House bills would affect Big Tobacco's bottom line, but the odds area against them.

One bill would increase the state cigarette tax 75 cents per pack — far above Gov. Mike Easley's proposed 20-cent hike and in line with an anti-smoking campaign's push. Another bill would repeal manufacturing tax credits related to exported cigarettes.

Neither has a companion in the Senate.

Only one piece of legislation is relatively friendly to the tobacco industry, and that's not saying much.

That bill, filed by Burlington Republican Rep. Cary Allred, would allow school districts to choose whether to go tobacco-free, essentially undoing an Aug. 1 mandate created by a 2007 bill.

But the bill is not likely to go far any time soon, although it passed a first reading. It has only one sponsor, and there is no companion bill in the Senate.

Drivers under 21 could soon get vertical licenses.

Under a bill being considered by state legislators, drivers who aren't old enough to buy alcohol would have licenses that are turned on their side to make it easier for store clerks to spot them.

Twenty-one other states have used the approach, and the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force is pushing the idea.

State driver's clienses are now color-coded in a red-yellow-green system that signals clerks when buyers are old enough to buy tobacco (over 18) and alcohol (over 21). Store clerks also have calendars, notices and cash register gadgets to help them.

But state Alcohol Law Enforcement survyes have shown that more than half the clerks who check IDs from underage buyers still sell them alcohol.

The statistics indicate "a problem with those vendors accurately reading the IDs," said Selena Childs, the task force's executive director. (N&O)

The N.C. Alliance for Health says 20 cents is not enough.

The nonprofit coalition of health care associations argues that Gov. Mike Easley's proposed increase in the cigarette tax from 35 to 55 cents a pack will not stop people from smoking.

In a press release, the group argues that tax increases of 20 cents per pack or less "provide no significant smoking reductions" or related savings in health care costs.

Instead, using the slogan "75 Saves Lives!," it argues that the state should raise the tax 75 cents.

The group argues that would preent nearly 95,000 pre-teens and teen-agers from starting to smoke while causing a 16 percent decrease in youth smoking. It would also raise $347 million, as opposed to the $111.4 million the lower increase would generate.

North Carolina currently as the seventh-lowest cigarette tax in the country. The tax has been raised only three times in the past 17 years, and legislators are skeptical about the latest proposal.

The state cigarette tax has gone up only three times in the past 17 years.

According to research by the N.C. Department of Revenue, the state's cigarette excise tax increased from 2 cents a pack to 5 cents a pack on Aug. 1, 1991.

It increased to 30 cents a pack effective Sept. 1, 2005.

And it increased again to 35 cents a pack effective July 1, 2006.

Those last two increases occurred during Gov. Mike Easley's watch. Easley has proposed raising the cigarette tax another time to 55 cents a pack in his 2008-09 budget in order to pay for raises for public school teachers.

The state currently has the seventh-lowest cigarette tax in the country.

Gov. Mike Easley may be courting the legislature.

On the heels of state legislators talking skeptically about his proposed increases in "sin taxes" on alcohol and cigarettes, Easley will reportedly be making a personal visit this afternoon.

It is unusual for Easley — or any other governor — to make their budget pitch directly. They usually leave that to the designated number cruncher — in Easley's case, Dan Gerlach.

This could be a sign that Easley is concerned his budget may not pass. Or he's feeling more gregarious after spending all that time campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

Or he's not coming after all, and this is all a ruse to get us to pay more attention to Gerlach.

Update: Easley's not coming, after all. No word on how the rumor started. 

Republicans object to the so-called "sin taxes."

At a press conference this morning, Republican leaders of the state House and Senate said that the state budget should not raise taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.

"In tough economic times, it is not the time to raise taxes, particularly the taxes that hit the poorest people," said Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger.

He called the governor's budget "an attempt at legacy building."

For their budget priorities, Berger and House Minority Leader Paul Stam called for cutting spending, completely ending the annual transfer from the Highway Trust Fund, putting a roads bond before voters in November and not raising any state taxes.

On non-budget items, they called for lifting the cap on charter schools, putting constitutional amendments banning gay marriage and curtailing the use of eminent domain before voters, making the murder of an unborn child a crime and ending the de facto moratorium on the death penalty.