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Norris Tolson is an insider's insider.

One of three leaders of Governor-elect Beverly Perdue's transition team, Tolson is a former state secretary of Commerce, Transportation and Revenue and the current head of the N.C. Biotechnology Center.

He has worked for Govs. Jim Hunt and Mike Easley, served in the state House and briefly ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination himself in 1999.

As N&O columnist Rob Christensen wrote during that campaign, Tolson is also a member of the "N.C. State University mafia" — a group of powerful state politicians who cut their teeth on 4-H and Future Farmers of America organizing in college.

"The NCSU mafia has so dominated the Democratic Party that there has not been a governor with an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since Sanford was elected nearly 40 years ago," he wrote.

(That is no longer true. Easley graduated from UNC in 1972.) 

Tolson's appointment is partly an indication of his status as one of Raleigh's "wise men." But it could also be a sign that Perdue is taking advice from Tolson's old friend, Hunt. 

The full column after the jump.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue is airing a new ad touting her record in office.

What it says: The ad shows images of Perdue from her early life and her political career. A narrator says, "Bev Perdue. Neither of her parents finished high school, yet she became a teacher and earned a Ph.D. She's spent a lifetime fighting for the middle class — Smart Start for our kids, cutting the sales tax on food, saving our military bases from closure. In these tough times, she'll lead the way — a higher minimum wage, property tax relief for seniors, creating the jobs of the future. Bev Perdue, a governor for us."

The background: Perdue taught in public schools in Georgia and Florida from 1970 to 1974. She received a doctorate in education administration in March 1976 from the University of Florida.

Gov. Jim Hunt and the legislature created Smart Start, a statewide pre-school program, in 1993 when Perdue was in her second term in the state Senate. That year, Hunt appointed her as one of 16 initial members of a board to oversee Smart Start.

Then-Gov. Terry Sanford helped establish a statewide sales tax on food in 1961 to pay higher teacher salaries. It was supposed to be temporary, but it lasted almost four decades. Lawmakers cut it from 4 percent to 3 percent in 1996 and eliminated it two years later.

Perdue was co-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee when lawmakers eliminated the tax. She voted in favor of doing so, but was not a champion of the cause. An unusual coalition of liberal lawmakers and anti-tax Republicans pushed for eliminating the tax, while the Senate’s leadership was less enthusiastic.

"I have long believed it is the wrong item to tax and there should be a total elimination," Perdue told The Charlotte Observer in August 1997. But, she added, "You have to look at fiscal responsibility. The priority, I believe, in addition to cutting the food tax, is to provide adequate funding for teachers and to clean up the environment."

Gov. Mike Easley appointed Perdue, as lieutenant governor, to lead the state's efforts to protect North Carolina’s military bases from closure by the U.S. Department of Defense. The multi-year process is designed to be insulated from political pressure, and it involved work from a large number of people, including the state's congressional delegation.

Perdue has called for increasing the minimum wage in North Carolina by one dollar to $8.25, from the minimum of $7.25 an hour set to take effect in July 2009.

She also says she favors expanding the state’s homestead exemption and freezing the property tax revaluations for seniors who make less than $50,000 and have lived in their homes for at least 20 years.

Is the ad accurate? Yes, though there is no way to quantify how much Perdue helped the state's military bases.

— David Ingram

The first boos of the night came for Mike Easley.

As Hillary Clinton was going through her list of thank-yous at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, she mentioned former party chairwoman Barbara Allen, party chairman Jerry Meek and the state's Congressional and legislative Democrats.

But when she named Easley — and specifically his endorsement of her — some in the crowd began to boo.

It was not clear exactly why they were booing, but based on calls to the governor's office, some were upset that he took a stand in the contentious race.

Clinton then praised Easley's wife, Mary, and former governors Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt.

By then, the crowd settled down.

Later, she praised John Edwards and his focus on ending poverty, promising to appoint a Cabinet-level officer to work on the issue.

Edwards has not endorsed in the presidential race, but his wife, Elizabeth, has praised Clinton's health care proposal.

She also name-checked former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hugh Shelton, a native North Carolinian who has endorsed her. 

Four out of five of the candidates for governor in 2008 are wealthy.

Republicans Salisbury lawyer Bill Graham and state Sen. Fred Smith as well as Democrats Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and state Treasurer Richard Moore are millionaires.

Only former state Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, a Republican, is not wealthy.

That contrasts with recent governors, Mike Easley, Jim Hunt, Jim Martin and Jim Holshouser, who were largely middle class when they were elected.

Democratic consultant Gary Pearce said that money is a shortcut:

"You can buy immediately what someone like Jim Hunt, Terry Sanford and Jim Martin had to build over years and years of work to put themselves in a place to run and raise money," Pearce said. "It's not just North Carolina. It's happening everywhere. It's harder for a person who doesn't have a lot of wealth to get into the game." (N&O)