* U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry editorializes on 2010 Census in Washington Times, says Democrats "politicized our nation's largest peacetime mobilization."

* BlueNC finds President Obama's shoutout to Attorney General Roy Cooper in the official White House transcript.

* The Independent begins the speculation on who might fill soon-to-be-Sen. Dan Blue's old seat in the House by looking at his competitors.

* Spokesman for the N.C. Republican Party disappointed that N&O editorial didn't prominently mention Gov. Mike Easley's party. (It's Democrat.)

A new newspaper endorsement is a good news, bad news thing for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

On the bright side, the endorsement notes that "she's remained a fiscal conservative, in touch with her constituents," and focused on tobacco buyouts, immigration, military bases and other issues.

On the downside, it's from the conservative Washington Times — as in Washington, D.C., not Washington, N.C.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee immediately pounced, noting that Democrat Kay Hagan has received the endorsement of 11 state newspapers, including ones in Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, and Wilmington.

"North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan’s unanimous streak of newspaper endorsements finally came to an end today as Elizabeth Dole’s hometown newspaper, the Washington, D.C.-based Washington Times, became the first major newspaper to endorse her re-election," noted spokesman Matthew Miller, tongue in cheek.

The Washington Times has named Roy Cooper a "noble of the year."

Each year, the conservative D.C. newspaper names "nobles" and "knaves" voted by readers from recent news. It had praise for North Carolina's attorney general:

Just barely sneaking into the No. 5 position is North Carolina State's Attorney Roy Cooper, who dismissed the ludicrous lawsuit against three Duke University lacrosse players. The story made national headlines for months and turned into a media circus, with (former) runaway prosecutor Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong at the helm. 

To give you a sense of how unusual it was for the paper to select a top state Democrat, the knaves this year included Ted Turner, a Connecticut mayor running a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants, Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles and Keith Olbermann.