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If health care widened the chasm between the parties, maybe baseball can bring them back together.

Six North Carolina Congressmen, three Democrats and three Republicans, sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission chairman urging a swift end to a long-running dispute between Time Warner Cable and the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).

MASN has the rights to broadcast Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals games. The channel also shows college football and basketball games.

Time Warner wants to put the channel on a more expensive programming tier while MASN says it deserves to be included in a basic cable package.

As N&O columnist Luke DeCock notes, resolution is now in the hands of the FCC. 

The dispute between MASN, the network that carries the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals, and the cable giant has dragged on through arbitrators and government agencies long enough to buy a few dozen lawyers a few dozen new yachts. Every decision MASN won, Time Warner would appeal. Litigation spawned litigation.

As this latest baseball season without baseball on basic cable approaches, Time Warner hasn't done a thing to slow the process down lately. As trendy as it is these days, blame the government.

That's where the members of Congress come in. Republican U.S. Reps. Howard Coble and Walter Jones joined Democratic U.S. Reps. Mike McIntyre and G.K. Butterfield and Sens. Richard Burr (Republican) and Kay Hagan (Democrat) in signing a letter urging the FCC to end the dispute.

"Although you have acknowledged the need to resolve this dispute, it has been pending for more than a year and we would like to know when our constituents can expect some final resolution?" they wrote in a letter to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.

An annual list of how members of Congress stack up, ideologically speaking, has U.S. Rep. Mel Watt as the most liberal member of the state's House delegation while U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry is the most conservative.

National Journal studied 97 roll-call votes that it used to establish where House members ranked in terms of how liberal or conservative they were.

Watt, a Charlotte Democrat, was among eight House members who were tied for the most liberal in the chamber. Watt was the 423rd most conservative House member.

McHenry, a Cherryville Republican, was the 17th most conservative member of the chamber and the 413th most liberal. Virginia Foxx, a Banner Elk Republican, was the 19th most conservative member and the 411th most liberal. 

No other members of the state's delegation cracked the top 20 as either conservative or liberal.

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx is the richest member of the state's U.S. House delegation.

Foxx, a Banner Elk Republican, has a minimum net worth of $2.4 million, according to an analysis of disclosure forms by the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat is the second richest with $2.3 million in assets. U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell, a Biscoe Democrat, has a negative net worth of $2,000. Numbers reflect a minimum because members of Congress report a range of net worth.

Foxx: $2.4 million

Shuler: $2.3 million

Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican: $945,000

David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat: $896,000

G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat: $786,000

Bob Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat: $418,000

Mel Watt, a Charlotte Democrat: $330,000

Patrick McHenry, a Cherryville Republican: $217,000

Sue Myrick, a Charlotte Republican: $167,000

Walter Jones, a Farmville Republican: $125,000

Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat: $65,000

Mike McIntyre, a Lumberton Democrat: $18,000

Kissell: -$2,000

Hat tip: RTB

Update: Post now clarifies that the Roll Call analysis looked at members of the U.S. House and did not include the Senate. 

Here's a summary of what members of Congress had in their campaign accounts through September 2009. The remaining members of the state's delegation will be added to the list.

G.K. Butterfield: $231,000.

Howard Coble: $525,000.

Bob Etheridge: $1 million.

Virginia Foxx: $1.1 million.

Walter Jones: $127,766.

Larry Kissell: $244,000. Businessman Lou Huddleston has raised $57,641 from individuals and loaned himself $45,125. Tim D'Annunzio, who owns a skydiving business, has loaned himself $303,000 and raised $8,400. Hamlet resident Darrell Day has raised $30 and loaned himself $3,000. Republican Thomas Sweeney has not reported raising any money.

Patrick McHenry: $158,000. Iredell County Commissioner Scott Keadle has loaned himself $250,000 to challenge McHenry for the Republican nomination.

Mike McIntyre: $824,917. Republican Will Breazeale has received $3,800 in individual contributions and has $400 in his campaign account.

Brad Miller: $148,000. Challenger William Randall II has not reported raising any money.

Sue Myrick: $236,305.

David Price: $218,000. Republican challenger Frank Roche has raised $10,879, mostly through individual contributions. Republican George Hutchins has loaned himself $5,000.

Heath Shuler: $1.1 million.

Mel Watt: $140,000.

No, not the kind you're thinking about.

In this case, we're talking about what's known as "the other white meat."

Seven of North Carolina’s members of Congress have asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect the pork industry from its economic troubles by buying $100 million worth of meat for the USDA’s federal food assistance programs.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, they say the recession and the recent swine flu outbreak have hurt the industry. The lawmakers thanked Vilsack for his push earlier this year to call the swine flu virus H1N1 to disassociate it from pork products, but they said the impacts of the scare have hurt the industry.

The letter notes that USDA already has announced $30 million in purchases through the end of the fiscal year, reports Barb Barrett.

“We asking for additional help with the economic crisis the U.S. pork industry currently faces,” the letter reads. “Without your assistance, we are putting thousands of rural jobs and businesses at risk.”

The N.C. lawmakers are Democratic U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge, Larry Kissell, Mike McIntyre, Brad Miller and G.K. Butterfield, along with Republican U.S. Reps. Howard Coble and Walter Jones. Fifty-five other lawmakers also signed the letter.

They want Vilsack to use $100 million to buy pork for federal food assistance programs, with an emphasis on sow meat to reduce breeding stock.

North Carolina Public Television is planning a call-in show on health care that will be brought to you by the letters "D" and "R."

UNC-TV intends to air the live show 9 p.m. Tuesday. All members of the state's congressional delegation have been invited. So far, Democratic Reps. David Price, Bob Etheridge, Brad Miller and Mel Watt have accepted, according to a UNC-TV spokesman. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican confirmed his participation Thursday afternoon.

Sen. Kay Hagan (D), and Reps. G.K. Butterfield (D), Howard Coble (R), Virginia Foxx (R), Walter Jones (R), Sue Myrick (R), Mike McIntyre (D) and Heath Shuler (D) have declined the recently issued invitations.

Reps. Larry Kissell (D) and Patrick McHenry (R) have not yet responded.

Perhaps UNC-TV should sweeten the pot with a few tote bags and mugs.

Update: Post includes updated list of who has decided to participate. 

If money is the mother’s milk of politics, then Congressmen Health Shuler, a Democrat, and Virginia Foxx, a Republican, are the two members of the Tar Heel delegation who are well provisioned at the moment.

Both have over $1 million in their campaign war chests as of June 30, according to campaign reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission, Rob Christensen reports.

Shuler, a Bryson City Democrat whose name had been bandied about at one time as a potential U.S. Senate candidate, had $1.1 million in his campaign committee. Foxx, a Republican from Banner Elk had $1,006,121.

The middle weights in campaign war chests were Democrat Bob Etheridge of Lillington ($895,137), Democrat Mike McIntyre of Lumberton ($696,540), Republican Howard Coble of Greensboro ($505,759), Democrat David Price of Chapel Hill ($271,619), Democrat G.K. Butterfield ($225,204), Democrat Larry Kissell of Bisco ($214,051) and Republican Sue Myrick of Charlotte ($160,751).

The light wallet crowd included Democrat Mel Watt of Charlotte ($123,767) Republican Patrick McHenry of Cherryville ($119,270), Republican Walter Jones of Farmville ($85,424) and Democrat Brad Miller of Raleigh ($70,654).

As far as fundraising during the past three months, the big three are Etheridge ($326,561), Kissell ($322,631) and Shuler ($314,753).

What does North Carolina's delegation talk about in Congress?

The Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on government transparency, has created a fun new way to answer that question.

The Capitol Words project uses speeches recorded in the Congressional Record to measure the frequency of specific words used by each member of Congress.

Some results from the past year are obvious. Reps. G.K. Butterfied, Mike McIntyre, Heath Shuler, Howard Coble and Bob Etheridge basically said "North Carolina" the most. 

Sen. Richard Burr, who is the ranking member of a Veterans Affairs committee, said the word "veterans" the most — some 277 times.

Rep. Walter Jones, who represents Camp Lejeune, said "Marine" 98 times, while Rep. David Price, who chairs an Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, said "security" 48 times.

Other results were a bit surprising. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican, said the word "Democrats" some 428 times — the most of any word used by the delegation. 

To see North Carolina's words by year, month and session, click here. 

How much did North Carolina's delegation get in earmarks last year?

Here is a breakdown of the approved earmarks in last year's spending bills, as compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste:

Sen. Elizabeth Dole: 110, $133.6 million

Sen. Richard Burr: 89, $117.1 million

Rep. David Price: 51, $56.8 million

Rep. Robin Hayes: 44, $48.6 million

Rep. Bob Etheridge: 29, $38.3 million

Rep. Mike McIntyre: 31, $37.9 million

Rep. Heath Shuler: 30, $28.8 million

Rep. Mel Watt: 28, $28.5 million

Rep. Sue Myrick: 13, $20.9 million

Rep. Walter Jones: 12, $20.3 million

Rep. Howard Coble: 15, $17.2 million 

Rep. Patrick McHenry: 10, $16.8 million

Rep. G.K. Butterfield: 17, $14.4 million

Rep. Brad Miller: 14, $12.7 million

Rep. Virginia Foxx: 10, $12.4 million

In all, the delegation received 219 earmarks worth a total of $216.4 million.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated Jones' earmark total.

North Carolina's U.S. representatives have $4.3 million in cash on hand.

Campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show most of the dozen House members with decent war chests at the end of the first quarter of 2009.

Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler of Waynesville was doing the best, with $1.1 million leftover after his recent election to a second term in Congress. Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of Banner Elk was a close second, with around $942,000.

In general, the state's Democrats were doing better than the Republicans. Democratic Reps. Bob Etheridge of Lillington and Mike McIntyre of Lumberton had more than a half-million dollars, and Rep. David Price of Chapel Hill more than a quarter-million.

Meantime, Republican Reps. Sue Myrick of Charlotte and Patrick McHenry of Cherryville had less than $100,000, and Rep. Walter Jones had just $9,170.

Democratic Rep. Brad Miller of Raleigh had only $37,310.  

The list after the jump.