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One of the most passionately fought campaigns of this year’s primary season is the slugfest between former federal prosecutor George Holding and Wake County Commissioner Paul Coble, who are vying for a seat in Congress.

The race has produced North Carolina's first super PAC. It ranks No. 9 as the most active super PAC playing in a congressional race in the nation. And like other super PACs in this new world, how The American Foundations Committee is permitted to operate is somewhat controversial and sometimes unclear. Click here to read more, see a list of donors and get a primer on super PAC rules.

To get your political fill, here are more big headlines from this weekend:

--Newt Gingrich tries to keep GOP race alive. In stumping across the state, Gingrich mainly ignored Romney, but stepped up his criticism of Obama, describing him as "a Chicago-machine politician dedicated to Saul Alinsky’s radicalism." Here's a dispatch from his statewide tour, including stops at a tea party rally in Greensboro and Raleigh. He also visited the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte.

A North Carolina-based super PAC launched two TV ads worth this week supporting Rick Santorum in the Republican presidential primary.

Keep Conservatives United is the brainchild of Bob Harris, the legendary research for Jesse Helms' Congressional Club. He loaned his super PAC $14,000 in March to fund the advertising, according to federal campaign finance reports.

The first 30-second spot, above, hits Newt Gingrich for his marital affairs. (Key line: "An affair because you worked too hard. Sit down, Newt.") And the second ad, below, hits Mitt Romney on the issue of healthcare, saying he can't attack the president on Obamacare because of his Massachusetts record. (Key line: "Mitt Romney and Barack Obama stole people's freedom with their mandates.")