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VOTER ANXIETY: In North Carolina, the mood in the electorate reflects a dark anxiety about the economic recovery beginning to take hold. Many residents around here see the economy edging toward a turnaround, but they also feel irritated - and angry - at how the federal government responded to the worst conditions since the Great Depression. (N&O)

CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES: Televised debates between incumbent Democratic congressmen and their Republican challengers highlighted the stark differences between candidates vying to represent Triangle residents in Washington next term. (N&O)

ASK ERSKINE: At some point during this Senate campaign, Erskine Bowles became the Oracle of Chapel Hill, Rob Christensen writes. Whenever they were asked how the budget should be balanced, Democrat Elaine Marshall and Republican Richard Burr have both replied: Ask Erskine. (N&O)

Republican Sen. Richard Burr filed for re-election Monday, saying he thought his record of supporting small government and low taxes was in tune with Tar Heel voters.

Burr said Congress has been at odds with public opinion on such issues as health care, tax policy, spending and debt, Rob Christensen reports. 

"I continue to be disgusted with the amount of spending that Congress continues to undertake, the size of the debt," Burr said at a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Winston-Salem. "As the father of a 24 and 25-year old, the most important thing that I can do is to positively impact the future of my children and eventually my grandchildren."

He said his special focus will be in trying to restart the economy. He said he was also "passionate" about finding a market-based solution to the health care problem, noting that he has been a vocal critic of Democratic plans now being considered by Congress.

Although this year looks like an anti-incumbent year, Burr said he believes he has a record he can take to the voters. Burr starts the race with relatively low favorability ratings. Burr said that is a reflection of North Carolina being a high growth state, where many voters did not live in the state when he first won in 2004, defeating Democrat Erskine Bowles.

Burr said he expected to raise at least $15 million for his campaign. But he also said was also wary of the 2008 campaign in which the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spent $11 million on behalf of Democrat Kay Hagan to help defeat Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole. Burr said the key was to make sure the North Carolina Senate race was not close this fall, and therefore not a target of national Democrats .

Karl Rove, the chief strategist for President George W. Bush, will be coming to Raleigh next month to help raise money for the re-election campaign of Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr.

Although details have not yet been announced, Rove agreed to be the headliner at a fundraiser on Jan. 28 in Raleigh, Rob Christensen reports. The event is being put together by Louis DeJoy, a Greensboro businessman who was state finance chairman for the McCain-Palin ticket in 2008. Also helping out is Jim Cain, a Raleigh lawyer and former U.S. ambassador to Denmark who was also a Bush fundraiser.

Rove was not only closely associated with Bush, but he also helped recruit both Burr and former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole to run for the chamber.

Rove appeared at a Winston-Salem fundraiser for Burr when he ran in 2004 against Democrat Erskine Bowles. Since leaving the White House, Rove has worked as a political analyst for Fox News, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal.

BOOMERANG: As stunts go, the Republican Party's "Conservative Voter Survey" ranks right up there with some of Evel Knievel's work. A wheelbarrow full of surveys was meant to show how many people don't like Gov. Beverly Perdue, a Democrat. Over at Perdue's office, staff members sifted through the surveys and found plenty of irate voters upset with Republicans as well as a campaign contribution that was intended for the Republican Party.

I LOVE YOU, MAN: Republican Sen. Richard Burr's economic development summit in Durham will be remembered as a great moment in political reconciliation. Burr and the man he beat almost six years ago, UNC system President and Democrat Erskine Bowles, traded fawning, appreciative comments about each other. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination next year to challenge Burr will surely be seeing lots of Bowles' comments in TV ads.

PRO, CON: In Washington, Burr decried the stimulus package. In North Carolina, at a fire station that was getting a grant from stimulus funds, Burr celebrated it.

IN OTHER NEWS: Sen. Kay Hagan and U.S. Rep. Brad Miller are pushing for a coin to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro civil rights sit-ins. Perdue says a 20-year old affair by the head of the highway patrol is irrelevant to his job qualifications. The Gallup Poll has found that John Edwards’ standing in the minds of Americans has dropped further than Sammy Sosa's image after the slugger was discovered corking his bat.

The parking sign outside the meeting Monday morning called it the "Burr-Bowles Summit" but it could just have easily called it a "love fest."

Republican Sen. Richard Burr and the man he defeated in 2004, Democrat Erskine Bowles, now president of the University of North Carolina, were the stars of the North Carolina Economic Development Summit, Rob Christensen reports.

"I've had a chance to work with this guy for four full years and nobody works harder or smarter for North Carolina than Richard Burr does," Bowles told about 200 people at N.C. Central University. "His focus on this state is truly unbelievable."

In introducing Bowles, Burr said: "Erskine Bowles is the best president of the university system we had the pleasure of having."

Sen. Richard Burr, who is seeking to raise his visibility across North Carolina, is planning to hold a state-wide economic development summit later this month in Durham.

Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, is holding an event that will focus on partnerships between the education and business sectors on Oct. 19th, Rob Christensen reports.

Among those scheduled to attend are Scott Ralls, president of the N.C. Community College System and Erskine Bowles, the president of the University of North Carolina system.

Burr and Bowles have developed a friendship since Burr defeated Bowles in the 2004 Senate race.

The event will be held at 9:30 a.m. at N.C. Central University's H.M. Michaux  Jr. School of Education.

BOWLED OVER: UNC system President Erskine Bowles says the system's top board members first supported, then flip-flopped on a deal to pay a healthy severance to outgoing N.C. State University Chancellor James Oblinger. Bowles made that revelation in a visit to The News & Observer’s editorial board. Bowles also said former Gov. Mike Easley wasn’t bothered by the newspaper "picking on" him, but had a real problem with the paper picking on his wife. What really got Dome’s attention was that apparently, the most powerful man in state higher education, eats Chick-Fil-A twice a day. No word on whether he prefers Barbecue or Polynesian sauce.

IN A PERFECT WORLD: The state School Board did some dreaming at its retreat this week. Dome expects an army of four-foot high protesters, armed with spitballs, to protest the board's pipe dream of lengthening the school year.

LOST IN TRANSLATION: Gov. Beverly Perdue is headed to China and Japan to drum up business for the state. Let’s all give a collective cross of the fingers that a mis-translated malaprop won’t accidentally lead to an international incident. Sure would love to see some video of the governor performing at a Karaoke bar, though.

IN OTHER NEWS: Bill Hefner, the one-time dean of the state’s Congressional delegation, died this week. U.S. Sens. John McCain and Mitch McConnell joined Sen. Richard Burr for a health care forum at an invitation-only event. District Attorney Rex Gore has recused himself from deciding whether to prosecute state Sen. R.C. Soles in an incident in which Soles shot a would-be intruder.

Sen. Richard Burr is building up a sizable campaign kitty as he prepares for his re-election bid next year.

The Winston-Salem Republican reported having $2.5 million on hand at the end of June, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission, Rob Christensen reports. He raised $1.8 million during the first six months. The rest of it was money he carried over from the previous year.

He is raising money at about the same pace as he did during his 2004 campaign, in which he defeated Democrat Erskine Bowles. (Burr raised $1.8 million during the first half of 2003. But he had more money on hand at a similar juncture in the last campaign – $3.4 million – because he had rolled $1.7 million over from his U.S. House Committee.)

As he has in the past, Burr is strongly supported by the business community, especially the health care, pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

Among his contributors are political action committees belonging to Abbott Labaratories, AFLAC insurance, the American Bankers Association, Americans Health Insurance Plans, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Bank of America, Chevron Employees, Exxon Mobil, and Wal-Mart, Schering-Plough, Smithkline Beecham, Merck & Co., and Baxter Healthcare, American Academy of Dermatology, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American College of Physicians, American College of Radiology, American College of Rheumatology and the American College of Anesthesiologists.

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall's name has not been on any Democratic U.S. Senate lists, but maybe she should be.

Marshall said running against Republican Sen. Richard Burr next year is something she might consider, although she is not actively testing the waters  now.

"It's on my radar screen," Marshall said. "I have not excluded myself from that. Right now we have a world of hurt down at the General Assembly."

Marshall, a 63-year old Lillington attorney and former state senator, became the first woman, to win a state-wide executive office in 1996, when she defeated NASCAR legend Richard Petty. She has been easily re-elected since then.

But her one effort to move up fell far short, when she finished third in the 2002 Senate primary behind Erskine Bowles, now the University of North Carolina president, and former House Speaker Dan Blue, now a state senator.

Bowles won 43 percent, Blue 29 percent and Marshall 15 percent.

More after the jump.