House Speaker Joe Hackney said this morning that the House likely has the votes to pass the budget, but he added that he is willing to give people time to examine it and make a final decision.

"We believe that we will have the votes to pass the bill," he said. "There are people obviously still reading the details of the bill, and we will be talking to people throughout the day."

The bill needs the support a majority of members to pass, and three Democrats are out of town this week. When the House passed the last version of the budget earlier this year by a vote of 64-53, two Democrats, Rep. R. Van Braxton of Kinston and Rep. Cullie Tarleton of Blowing Rock, voted against it.

Hackney said the undecided votes this time around probably could be counted on one hand, and he would know by the time the bill comes to the floor where everybody stands.

"We'll know that by the end of the day, and we'll make an intelligent decision about whether to go ahead today or not."

Correction: Post updates to state it takes a majority to pass a budget. 

SEANC is airing more ads against state legislators.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina is running radio ads against Reps. Ray Rapp of Madison County and Van Braxton of Lenoir County, both Democrats. 

As part of an ongoing campaign, ads criticize the legislators for voting for a bill designed to keep the State Health Plan afloat.

"Legislators need to understand this issue is not going away," said Executive Director Dana Cope in a statement. "We will hold them accountable when they make bad decisions, and SEANC will educate constituents when their legislators decide to put a multi-million dollar nonprofit's interests ahead of North Carolina taxpayers."

Previous ads have targeted Senate Majority Leader Hugh Holliman and Reps. Margaret Dickson, Bruce Goforth and Pryor Gibson. 

Who's in the Tobacco Growers' Caucus?

After Dome noted which legislators represented major cigarette manufacturing employers in North Carolina, a reader noted that others represent tobacco growers.

According to records at the N.C. Department of Agriculture, 11 counties each produced more than $20 million worth of tobacco in 2007: Sampson, Johnston, Wilson, Wayne, Nash, Pitt, Lenoir, Harnett, Greene, Edgecombe and Duplin.

That means the following members represent growers:

In the House: Reps. Larry Bell, James Langdon, Leo Daughtry, Jean Farmer-Butterfield, Joe Tolson, Van Braxton, Efton Sager, Lucy Allen, Angela Bryant, Randy Stewart, Marian McLawhorn, Edith Warren, Arthur Williams, William Wainwright, David Lewis, Jimmy Love, and Russell Tucker.

In the Senate: Sens. Charlie Albertson, David Rouzer, A.B. Swindell, Don Davis, Clark Jenkins, and Harris Blake.

During a 2007 House vote, Reps. Bell, Farmer-Butterfield, Allen, Bryant, Wainwright, Love, and Tucker voted for a smoking ban, while Langdon, Daughtry, Tolson, Braxton, McLawhorn, Warren, Williams, and Lewis voted against it.

Sager and Stewart were not in the House at the time.

The N.C. Democratic Party edited Wikipedia entries on Auditor Les Merritt, Sen. Katie Dorsett and UNC basketball coach Dean Smith.

A new software program called Wikiscanner revealed the edits, which previously were anonymous.

The changes to Merritt's are the most interesting. Someone using a computer at the state party's headquarters reworded criticism of Merritt's handling of a voter registration audit and added information about a controversial part-time job:

As of June 2007, Merritt has come under scrutiny because of an attempt to block a Senate Bill that would have authorized same day registration. Merritt's based his concern on a report his office produced which he quickly withdrew due to substantial inaccuracies.

The other revisions added information on Dorsett's background, noted Smith's role in Devout Democrats, a political action committee that ran ads about religious Democrats, and fixed a misspelling in former Kinston City Councilman Van Braxton's bio.

All of the changes can be viewed here.

Political action committees associated with four major tobacco companies gave about $28,000 since 2000 to 11 of the 17 Democrats who voted against the smoking ban.

As Dome noted earlier, they were the crossovers who went against party line, helping defeat the bill.

Lorillard, R.J. Reynolds, Standard Commercial Tobacco, Philip Morris and its parent company Altria gave mostly small donations of $250, $500 or $1,000 through their PACs, typical of their contributions to other legislators.

The biggest recipient was Rep. Nelson Cole of Reidsville, who got $8,750 between 2000 and 2006. Rep. James Crawford of Oxford received $5,500 during that same time period.

Both represent tobacco-growing areas in North Carolina.

Reps. R. Van Braxton, Walter Church, Mary McAllister, Timothy Spear and Edith Warren were not listed on campaign finance reports filed by the tobacco companies' PACs.

Among the Republicans who voted for the bill, Rep. Julia Howard received $4,200 and Rep. Jeff Barnhart received $2,250.