Tar Heels' Basketball Coach Roy Williams with the president

AP photo 

President Barack Obama got the Number One UNC basketball jersey but what he really wanted from the Tar Heels, he said, was a jump shot.

The president welcomed the NCAA champion Tar Heels to the South Lawn of the White House today, reports James Rosen of McClatchy Newspapers.

Obama, a fervent basketball fan who grew up playing hoops in Hawaii, told his visitors they'd all done pretty well since he famously scrimmaged with them during a North Carolina campaign stop in April 2008.

"I'm not sure whose luck rubbed off on who - there was some good vibe there - because they're now the national champions and I'm now the president," Obama said.

Obama thanked the Tar Heels, who waltzed through the NCAA Tournament this year, "for salvaging my bracket and vindicating me."

Obama filled out his March Madness brackets on live TV, picking UNC to win it all.

When presented with the Tar Heel jersey, Obama crowed, "That's what I'm talking about!"

It wasn't the Oscars, but it was a close second.

Gov. Beverly Perdue hobnobbed with other governors in the State Dining Room of the White House Sunday. Instead of Sean Penn and Kate Winslet, they heard from President Obama and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

Perdue, who skipped the president's inauguration to focus on work, said it was "a real privilege" to represent North Carolina.

"I don't have a bar to compare it to," she said. "It was very inviting — very beautiful, wonderful food, wonderful music, and the president spoke so eloquently. Everybody was dolled up, so it was a real special night."

Perdue sat with Govs. Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming, Brad Henry of Oklahoma and Jon Huntsman of Utah under a seating arrangement designed to bridge partisan and geographic boundaries.

She also met with other female Democratic governors, including potential Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Change has come to the White House web site. The site says it will be "a central part of President Obama's pledge to make his the most transparent and accountable administration in American history."

Alex Castellanos says Sen. Elizabeth Dole's latest ad is over the line.

Speaking on CNN's "Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer today, the Republican political consultant said that an ad attacking Dole's opponent, Kay Hagan, for accepting money from the founder of an atheist advocacy group.

"When you're making ads that say 'There is no God,' it usually means your campaign doesn't have a prayer," he said.

Castellanos, who grew up in Harnett County and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill, got his start in politics with the campaigns of Sen. Jesse Helms, creating the famous "White Hands" ad that claimed Harvey Gantt supported racial quotas.

Now a national political consultant, Castellanos told Blitzer that Hagan's links to a founder of the Godless Americans PAC are fair game, but he thought the ad took the wrong approach. 

"There's a way to make this attack," he said. "There's a way to say, 'Look this lady goes to church, believes in God, but look who she's taking money from.' ... There's a fair way to bring up who you're associated with. This seems to cross the line."

He said the ad also leaves Dole vulnerable to a counterattack from Hagan. 

Kieran Shanahan is going to see the pope.

The former four-term Raleigh City Councilman has been invited by President Bush to meet Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday on the South Lawn of the White House. 

Shanahan works as a lawyer in Raleigh. He recently ran unsuccessfully to become an N.C. representative on the Republican National Committee.

He attends St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Raleigh. 

A Jacksonville woman met President Bush on Friday and was honored for her work as the spouse of a Marine. Shannon Maxwell organized a program called Hope for the Warriors after her husband, Lt. Col. Timothy Maxwell, was severely wounded in October 2004 from a mortar attack.

The program works to improve the quality of life for wounded troops and their families. Shannon Maxwell has organized annual fundraising events, found temporary housing for families visiting injured Marines at Camp Lejeune and created the Wounded Warrior Spousal Support Group, according to a release from the White House.

She was awarded a President’s Volunteer Service Award. Friday was Military Spouse Day, an observance signed into existence by President Reagan in 1984.