The N.C. Democratic Party is in quite a quandary.

The Vance-Aycock Dinner has been an annual tradition for nearly a half century, rallying the faithful, serving as a touchstone for western Democrats and raising substantial amounts of money.

But it's named for two folks — onetime Confederate Zebulon Vance and 1898 race riot participant Charles Brantley Aycock — who have fallen out of favor with history.

At least one major Democratic officeholder called for the name to be changed, but no one has a good alternative. Rename it a generic "Asheville Dinner" and you risk losing the brand. Naming it for someone else risks bringing up a whole new set of issues. But doing nothing looks insensitive.

Dome has a "modest proposal" for the Democrats — and it even has a North Carolina connection.

Back in Seattle where we grew up, the local municipal government was named "King County" in the 1850s for former Vice President William Rufus King, who was born in Sampson County and served in the North Carolina legislature.  

By the mid 1980s, the slaveholding vice president had fallen out of favor with history as well, and had no special hold on the Northwest. 

The King County Council adopted a resolution opting for a name change. The new name? King County, after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. After the state government approved the change in 2005, they changed their logo to a silhouette of King as well.

So, all the North Carolina Democrats need to do is come up with a new Vance and a new Aycock to rename the dinner after.

With only a few minutes research on the Internet, we came up with two suitable replacements: Former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and former UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor William Brantley Aycock.