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RACE TO ETHICS: Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue unveiled a package of proposed ethics reforms and Republicans were quick to claim they were the party of ethics. With both parties running on ethics, might we actually see meaningful reforms this year?

FOR EFFECT: The Senate is losing some of its most effective Democrats, according to the biennial legislative effectiveness survey by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research. Over in the House, Republicans were mostly shut out of the top spots for effectiveness. '

THANK HIM LATER: Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge says he's not worried about how his vote on the Democratic health care law will affect his chances of keeping his seat in Congress. The bill was not popular in his district, but Etheridge said that he believes voters will change their minds.

IN OTHER NEWS: Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr says he has $5.3 million in his campaign account. Ruffin Poole, an aide to former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley has pleaded not guilty to 57 corruption-related charges. Republicans are keeping up the pressure on Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper to join a multi-state lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health care reform law.

Every day, scores of motorists heading to downtown Raleigh look up and say to themselves, "What is the question?"

That's because the N.C. Republican Party spent $1,400 on a billboard on southbound Capital Boulevard that reads: "Answer the question BEV."

The party put up the sign for a month. It's part of a concerted effort to tar Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue with the same type of ethical and legal issues that have been swirling around her predecessor, Democrat Mike Easley.

So far, the party's efforts have been focused on news conferences. The billboard is a new front, although it's unclear how effective it has been since most people have no idea what it means.

Party Chairman Tom Fetzer said the billboard refers to a series of questions that essentially ask whether Perdue's campaign engaged in practices meant to skirt campaign finance law.

The questions, Fetzer said, include whether Perdue asked Wilmington financier and N.C. Board of Transportation member Lanny Wilson to give money to the N.C. Democratic Party with the understanding that the money would be funneled back to Perdue. Wilson, in an elections board hearing on Easley's campaign, testified that he funneled money through the party for Easley.

The questions further ask if Perdue's former chief of staff, Zach Ambrose, announced his decision to leave Perdue's office because of what Fetzer said were Ambrose's close ties to Wilson. Ambrose announced his departure on the same day Wilson quit the transportation board, which was also the day a federal indictment against former Easley aide Ruffin Poole became public. Wilson's dealings with Poole figured prominently in the indictment.

When asked by Dome to produce evidence supporting the allegations against Ambrose, Fetzer declined.

A spokesman for Perdue's campaign said the allegations were absolutely false.

"Fetzer continues to use this campaign of innuendo to draw associations. It's like McCarthyism," said Marc Farinella, a spokesman for Perdue's campaign. "Nothing like that transpired, and Fetzer should be embarrassed that he would malign somebody without a shred of evidence to back it up."

When reached Thursday, Ambrose, who was also Perdue's campaign manager, said: "There's no truth to any of that. It's hogwash."

N.C. Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer says he believes the genesis for the current run of corruption in state government began in 1977, when the state changed the Constitution to allow governors to serve two consecutive terms.

That prompted the legislature to end its practice of limiting leaders leaders of both chambers to serving only one term, Rob Christensen reports. Powerful lawmakers could then hold onto power.

"I trace the end of good government back to 1976 when Jim Hunt changed the Constitution to succeed himself," Fetzer told News and Observer editors and reporters Wednesday. (Hunt was elected in 1976 but the Constitution was changed in 1977.) "I would personally advocate that we pass a constitutional amendment to get the governor back to one term."

Fetzer said he was saddened to see the campaign finance investigations surrounding former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, noting that he often chatted with Easley while hitting balls on a public driving range off Yonkers Road on Sunday afternoons.

"On a personal level," Fetzer said, "I like Mike Easley. I think he has made some horrible mistakes. I think he and State of North Carolina are going to pay a price for those mistakes. I think that is sad."

There's was a noticeable verbal play at work when State Board of Elections member Bill Peaslee began his questioning of former N.C. Democratic Party Executive Director Scott Falmlen.

Peaslee, at right, is a former high ranking official within the N.C. Republican Party. And Peaslee repeatedly referred to Falmlen's party as the "Democrat Party," as in:

"Did the Democrat Party at any point arrange for travel for Gov. [Mike] Easley?" Peaslee asked.

"Not that I'm aware of. No sir," Falmlen answered.

Dropping the "ic" from "Democrat," of course is often meant as a little tweak. It serves as a reminder that the Board of Elections is a partisan body with three Democrats and two Republicans.

And to be fair, Bob Cordle, a Democrat pictured at right, has earned some attention this week for the tone of his questions. Columnist and Dome's distinguished colleague Rob Christensen noted that Cordle's questions have coddled witnesses all week.

Board Chairman Larry Leake, whom some Republicans had criticized for holding a fundraiser in 2000 for Easley, continued his persistent and professional questioning. The same could not be said for Bob Cordle, whose unfettered flattery of all Democratic witnesses, including Easley, is cringe-inducing.

State Republicans seem to be in a good mood these days. They have a couple reasons to be optimistic about their political futures.

House and Senate seats all face election next year, and Republicans in the legislature have clearly had future campaign literature on the brain.

Here are five reasons state Repubilcans may be smiling today.

1. Everyone is taking a hit. House and Senate Democrats got stuck on how to reform the state's tax code. The compromise plan raises everyone's sales and income taxes. So mailers and campaign flyers don't have to be targeted to specific industries or demographics. They can begin, "Dear North Carolina taxpayer..."

2. Painful cuts still ahead. Even with the new taxes, the budget will include cuts to state services. Republicans in the legislature often complain that they are shut out of the budget process. But the good news is that being shut out means they can blame Democrats for any and all cuts.

3. Gov. Beverly Perdue. The Democratic party's most visible figure has been facing lots of bad polling news lately. While there is plenty of time for her to turn things around, numbers as low as she is facing now may be a drag on the party for some time.

4. Mike Easley. Federal investigators continue to call witnesses to testify in what appears to be an ever-widening probe of the former governor and his wife's lucrative job at N.C. State University.

5. They may be due for a win. Democrats dominated state politics for much of the last 100 years. The other side has to win sometime, right? Well, maybe not. They didn't take the legislature in 2006 when then-Speaker Jim Black was deeply mired in scandals that eventually sent him to prison.

"Republicans have had a great knack in our state of not picking up on issues and snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory," said Jack Hawke, a Republican consultant. "I'm a Republican through and through, but I have to admit we're pretty inept."

N.C.'S STATE: Something was rotten at N.C. State. After a series of articles in the N&O revealed the involvement of former Gov. Mike Easley in the hiring of his wife, the provost and the chancellor resigned and Mary Easley was fired. (The chairman of the board of trustees had already left.) Though an interim chancellor has already been named, the university is not out of the woods yet. Expect further turmoil.

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM: The N.C. Republican Party met in Raleigh to plan a comeback. Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory was scheduled to outline his path to victory this morning, while delegates debated whether candidates should pledge loyalty to the state platform, whether primaries should be closed and — in what's turned out to be the nastiest race in years — who should be the party's new chairman.

SENATE BUZZ: U.S. Sen. Richard Burr says he's not thinking about which Democrat might run against him next year. He's the only one, apparently. The chattering classes spent more time this week wondering whether Secretary of State Elaine Marshall or U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre might make another run for it, while Iraq veteran Cal Cunningham and Obama fundraiser Kenneth Lewis kept trying to build buzz.

IN OTHER NEWS: The fight over the state budget continued, with House Democratic budget writers calling for $784 million in new taxes. ... A House committee passed a bill to allow billboard companies to cut down more trees. ... Elon University police detective Dan Ingle was chosen by Alamance County Republicans to replace former Rep. Cary Allred.

Former Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer has produced a video ad criticizing Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue as part of his campaign for state GOP chariman.

The ad, which is available on YouTube, is designed to show what Fetzer could do as party chairman. Fetzer is one of four candidates for the top Republican post which will be selected next weekend at the state GOP convention in Raleigh.

The ad criticizes Perdue for failing to take any action against a number of Democrats, including former Gov. Mike Easley, who are either at the center of controversy or who have gone to jail.

Linda Daves is also calling for a special prosecutor.

The head of the N.C. Republican Party echoed calls by Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger for an independent investigator to look into former Gov. Mike Easley's dealings.

"If Roy Cooper cannot complete a more thorough investigation of the matter than can be conducted by an enterprising journalist, then he cannot be trusted with the task of leading this investigation," she said in a statement.

She noted that Cooper spokeswoman Noelle Talley had cited investigations into other top Democrats, such as Jim Black and Meg Scott Phipps.

"The very fact that his spokeswoman can list fellow Democrats that he has investigated only goes to prove that Democrats in state government are a particularly at-risk population for corrupt behaviors," she said.

* U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry editorializes on 2010 Census in Washington Times, says Democrats "politicized our nation's largest peacetime mobilization."

* BlueNC finds President Obama's shoutout to Attorney General Roy Cooper in the official White House transcript.

* The Independent begins the speculation on who might fill soon-to-be-Sen. Dan Blue's old seat in the House by looking at his competitors.

* Spokesman for the N.C. Republican Party disappointed that N&O editorial didn't prominently mention Gov. Mike Easley's party. (It's Democrat.)

Who will replace Jerry Meek?

With all the speculation about who will be in Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue's Cabinet, who might run for U.S. Senate in 2010 and who will run the state GOP, you'd think the chattering classes would be content.

But of late they've also been guessing at who might run for chair of the N.C. Democratic Party.

Some of the early names to surface are David Parker, a Statesville attorney and presidential superdelegate who's reportedly long been interested in the job; and state Rep. Grier Martin, who is reportedly not interested.

Meek, who has run the party since 2004, is leaving to work for a law firm. His successor will be chosen at a meeting of the state Democratic Executive Committee on Jan. 31.

Although the party chair has typically been chosen by the governor, Meek won the job without Gov. Mike Easley's imprimatur. The major question is whether his successor will be another member of the grassroots, or someone who has worked with Perdue and party leaders before.