Joe Biden gave some shoutouts to local officials today.

Speaking at a welcome-home ceremony at Fort Bragg, the vice president noted the presence of three Democratic members of Congress: 

And I want to thank the members of the Congress again, Senator Kay Hagan, and -- who is a welcome addition and a good buddy of mine. And I hope you're enjoying the Senate as much as I did when I was there, Kay; and Bob Etheridge, who you all know well, and Mike McIntyre -- two stalwart members of the United States Congress...

He also gave a shoutout to Fayetteville Mayor Tony Chavonne and Spring Lake Mayor Ethel Clark, who were also in the audience.

Ten North Carolina mayors are going to Washington this weekend.

The group will join over 250 mayors from across the country to call for local help in the upcoming Congressional stimulus package.

Expected to attend are Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the former GOP gubernatorial candidate; Durham Mayor Bill Bell; Fayetteville Mayor Tony Chavonne; Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines; Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy; and the mayors of Asheville, Concord, Gastonia, Salisbury and Waxhaw.

They will be attending the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The conference will release a report this weekend on projected job losses in metropolitan areas, a particular concern for McCrory, who founded the N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition to concentrate on urban issues.

Hillary Clinton does not have any mayoral endorsements to announce yet.

"As the campaign continues to ramp up its efforts, we will be announcing endorsements," spokeswoman Carly Lindauer said in an e-mail to Dome today.

Yesterday, we noted that rival Barack Obama has already lined up notable endorsements from the mayors of Durham and Greensboro, as well as Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Cary, Asheville, Boone and Carrboro.

Obama may have the advantage in larger cities, which have significant black populations. Still up for grabs: Wilmington and Winston-Salem, among other smaller cities.

Fayetteville mayor Tony Chavonne was at a recent Obama event, but he said he intends to remain neutral.

Charlotte's also off the table, since Republican Pat McCrory is mayor of the Queen City.

FAYETTEVILLE—Barack Obama began at 11:03 a.m. with some shoutouts to local politicians.

He specifically thanked Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Moore, state Sen. Larry Shaw and state Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, who are all in the audience.

He also name-checked Fayetteville Mayor Tony Chavonne, slowing down to pronounce his last name, sha-VOHN-ay, carefully.

"When your name is Barack Obama, sometimes your name is mispronounced," he said. 

FAYETTEVILLE—A number of prominent local Democrats are on the guest list.

Fayetteville Mayor Tony Chavonne is at the Barack Obama event, although he took pains to say that he is neutral in the presidential race, Rob Christensen reports.

The mayor of nearby Spring Lake, Ethel Clark, is also here, as it state Rep. Rick Glazier.

No word on Clark's thoughts, but Glazier said he is backing Obama.

"I've supported him for some time," he told Dome. "He has the capacity to bridge partisan and economic groups."

Also expected are state Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, namesake of the student center where Obama is speaking, and Reps. Margaret Dickson of Fayetteville and Marvin Lucas of Spring Lake.

Not on the guest list: Three kids from Mebane.

Tina Salvatore, 18; Emily Mason, 17; and Joseph Byrd, 21, got up at 2:45 a.m., grabbed some sandwich meat and bread and drove three hours, thinking it was a public event.

Wearing homemade Obama T-shirts outside, they said they would listen to the speech on loudspeakers set up by Fayetteville Tech.

After that, they said they might go to the beach. 

Pat McCrory founded the N.C. Metropolitan Coalition of Mayors in 2002.

But when the group meets Thursday in Chapel Hill to tackle the issue of global warming, McCrory will be leaving early.

Mayors of some of the 25 biggest cities in the state, including Bill Bell of Durham, Allen Joines of Winston-Salem, Tony Chavonne of Fayetteville and Bill Saffo of Wilmington, will meet Wednesday and Thursday.

McCrory, who is the immediate past chairman of the group, will be there all day Wednesday, but he'll head out after just a half hour Thursday morning.

The mayor's office told Dome that McCrory has "other meetings" that day. They would not say whether that includes, say, a trip to Jamestown.

Beau Mills, director of the Metropolitan Coalition, said that he did not know why McCrory was leaving early.

"I'm not sure about that," he said, laughing. "You'll have to ask him."

Dome left a message for the mayor to call us back.