Welcome to North Carolina, D.C. Reporter.

We're glad that your national publication found our state worthy of coverage, especially with all that stuff going on in your usual haunts: New York, California and Iowa.

In the past, some of your colleagues have made dumb mistakes when writing about North Carolina, so here are a few tips:

THE OBSERVERS: A lot of our newspapers have similar names: The Charlotte Observer, the Raleigh News & Observer and the Fayetteville Observer. Try to keep them straight.

RALEIGH, DURHAM: Yes, the hyphen at the airport is confusing. But there is no such place as Raleigh-Durham. They're separate cities. (Winston-Salem is one city, though.)

TAR HEEL: That's two words. It's the name of UNC-Chapel Hill (called Carolina or North Carolina in sports) team and one name for residents of the state.

NORTH, SOUTH: We're not South Carolina, and we hate being confused with it. For starters, Charleston is in South Carolina; Charlotte, in North Carolina.

BARBECUE: That's a noun, not a verb. It's made with pork. There's two kinds: Eastern style has a vinegar sauce; Lexington style, a tomato-based sauce.

That should cover the basics. Now get to reporting!

David Young is going on a listening tour.

The former Buncombe County commissioner, currently the odds-on favorite for Democratic Party state chair, will head to seven cities to meet with local organizers and volunteers.

After a stop in Fayetteville Tuesday, Young will be in at the state Democratic Party headquarters in Raleigh at noon around the opening of the legislative session. 

He'll be at Foster's Market in Durham at 8 a.m., then at the Chapel Hill Library at noon tomorrow, followed by stops in Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Charlotte. (A full schedule is here.) 

Young has the backing of outgoing chair Jerry Meek and Gov. Beverly Perdue, among others. Since he announced last week that he was running, two other candidates have dropped out. 

Tom Lambeth remembers the bad-old days of campaign finance.

As chief of staff to Rep. Richardson Preyer in the 1970s, he recalls the days before post-Watergate reforms when lobbyists would hand cash-filled envelopes to Congressmen.

During his tenure as head of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem, he helped direct grant money and host conferences on campaign finance that indirectly led to the public financing of judicial campaigns and some Council of State races.

Now he's getting ready for an even bigger reform.

Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue has said she will appoint Lambeth to run an endowment that would providing public financing for gubernatorial candidates who pledge to run positive campaigns.

Lambeth, 73, says he spoke with Perdue about the endowment earlier this year and most recently about six weeks ago. He knows her from their work together on the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center and as a legislator.

More after the jump.

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Barack Obama's crowds in North Carolina have gotten bigger.

Below are crowd estimates from events held during the primary and general election by the Democratic presidential candidate.

In all, they total 194,050, although presumably some people attended more than one rally.

Before Election Season:

Durham, Nov. 1, 2007: 4,000

Before Primary (57,550):

Fayetteville, March 19: 150
Charlotte, March 19: 2,500
Greensboro, March 26: 2,400
Raleigh, April 17: 2,000
Greenville, April 17: 8,000
Wilmington, April 28: 6,000
Chapel Hill, April 28: 18,000
Winston-Salem, April 29: 2,000
Hickory, April 29: 2,500
Raleigh, May 2: 5,000
Charlotte, May 2: 9,000

On Primary Day:

Raleigh, May 6: 2,000

After Primary (133,000):

Raleigh, June 9: 500
Raleigh, Aug. 19: 2,500
Charlotte, Sept. 21: 20,000
Greensboro, Sept. 27: 20,000
Asheville, Oct. 5: 28,000
Fayetteville, Oct. 19: 10,000
Raleigh, Oct. 29: 25,000
Charlotte, Nov. 3: 25,000

Joe Biden compared the presidential race to a real race Thursday.

"Everyone talks about North Carolina being the capital of NASCAR," the Democratic vice presidential candidate told about 4,000 to 5,000 people at a nighttime rally at Meredith College. "Right now, our campaigns are trading paint. That means we are banging each other. What most worries me is that the McCain campaign is getting a little loose on the road out there." 

The Delaware senator barnstormed by bus across the state, seeking to counter two recent visits by Republican Sarah Palin. He drew 1,200 people in Charlotte and 4,500 in Winston-Salem.

He argued that John McCain's campaign should stop running negative robocalls and took exception to Palin's recent comment that North Carolina was part of the "pro-American part of the country."

"There are heroes all over Amercia in every state and in every town," he said. "We all love this country." (N&O)

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden's campaign says the candidate plans a Thursday tour of three North Carolina cities.

The Delaware senator will visit the Charlotte area, Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem and Meredith College in Raleigh, the Associated Press reports.

Details of the stops in the Charlotte area haven't been announced.

Biden last visited the state in September, when he appeared with party presidential nominee Barack Obama in Greensboro.

Obama and Biden have consistently campaigned in the state, and their presence has forced Republican rival John McCain to dispatch resources to North Carolina. Both Obama and McCain were in North Carolina this past weekend.

Charlotte is in the middle of adjusted tax rates among major North Carolina cities.

Because counties adjust property values in different years, the property tax rates for cities and towns are not directly comparable on their own.

But the N.C. Department of Revenue calculates an adjusted (or effective) rate based on how long ago the counties reassessed local properties.

According to a list of adjusted tax rates, Greensboro, Durham and Winston-Salem have higher rates than Charlotte, while Asheville, Raleigh and Wilmington were lower.

Below, the 2006-2007 rates per $100 of valuation, adjusted to account for years since most recent revaluation.

Greensboro: .5911
Durham: .5411
Winston-Salem: .4699
Charlotte: .4300
Asheville: .4192
Raleigh: .3674
Wilmington: .3097

As noted previously, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County are more closely integrated than other North Carolina cities and counties.

Charlotte's local property tax rate is in the middle of other major N.C. cities.

According to research by the N.C. Department of Revenue, the Queen City has a lower property tax rate than Greensboro, Durham and Winston-Salem, but higher than Raleigh, Asheville and Wilmington.

Property tax rates can be misleading, however, since local property values can differ substantially. A lower tax rate in a posh suburb, for example, could still lead to a higher bill for most taxpayers than a higher tax rate in a lower-valued neighborhood.

Below, the rates per $100 of valuation.

(A $100,000 home, for example, would pay $635 in Greensboro, for example.) 

Greensboro: .6350
Durham: .6130
Winston-Salem: .4900
Charlotte: .4586
Raleigh: .4350
Asheville: .4200
Wilmington: .3000

Another factor complicating the numbers is that Charlotte and Mecklenburg County are more closely integrated than other North Carolina cities and counties.

The News and Observer's political columnist will be at the Barnes and Noble in Winston-Salem tonight at 7 p.m. discussing his new book, "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics."

He will also be at the Barnes and Noble in Fayetteville on Saturday at 3 p.m

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama denounces remarks by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, in Winston-Salem today.