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Teamsters Local 391 endorsed Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton in the Democratic primary for governor.
Local 391 is the largest of the three locals in North Carolina, with 8,000 members from the Triad to the coast.
Dalton is in a crowded primary where the other main competitors are former U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge and state Rep. Bill Faison.
With two of his children at his side, Democratic state lawmaker Bill Faison filed paperwork Monday afternoon to run for governor, enduring questions about his messy divorce in front of a bank of television reporters reacting to today's N&O story.
Faison, pictured center, said he is ready the primary campaign, even if it gets negative. "My kids and I have discussed this and we are together in moving forward to do the right thing," he said. "Ultimately the truth is the thing that is going to win out. The truth is that my kids are with me and the truth is that I have been with them and made choices, difficult and hard choices, in their best interest.
"You'd rather things be another way but they are not. I'm content to go forward and so are they," he concluded, turning to his daughter Courtney, pictured right, and son Stone, left. (UPDATE: See video of Q&A with reporters below.)
State Rep. Bill Faison started his campaign long before the other Democratic candidates for governor but the four-term Orange County Democrat's head start hasn't erased obstacles between him and the May 8 primary election. He had a dismal showing in the first poll of gubernatorial candidates. And Faison, 65, has been going through a protracted divorce that has aired nasty accusations that could be used against him.
The divorce - which includes accusations of extramarital affairs - would be an unfortunate but common he-said-she-said break-up that would not be a matter of broader interest were Faison not running for the highest office in the state. His decision to run in spite of it raises the question about how much a candidate's private behavior matters these days.
Faison, in an interview in his office in the state Legislative Office Building last week, seemed unperturbed about the prospect of it tarnishing his campaign. He said he is not worried because the accusations are untrue. Read more here.
State politicos are waiting for former UNC President Erskine Bowles to say whether he'll run for governor.
With Gov. Bev Perdue bowing out of the race, other Democrats are weighing their chances against the soon-to-be-official GOP candidate, former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory.
Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and state Rep. Bill Faison have already announced they are running. Public Policy Polling has Bowles as the strongest Democratic candidate.
But Bowles, as he announced his retirement from the UNC presidency in 2010, said he'd never run for political office again. He ran for U.S. Senate twice and lost.
"I have empirical data that I was a terrible politician," he said.
