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President Barack Obama closed his party’s convention in Charlotte on Thursday night by laying out a case for a second term and casting the election as a choice between “two fundamentally different visions for the future.”

Speaking to a national audience and an overflowing uptown arena, the president – joined by over 40 other Democratic speakers – offered a spirited defense of his record and a sharp contrast to Republican Mitt Romney on issues, from Medicare to mending the economy. Read the full story here.

More political headlines:

--Rob Christensen: Democratic convention showcases the new North Carolina.

--DNC wrap: What it's like to be the N.C. delegation. A final night photo gallery. Charlotte man arrested for Twiter threats against the president. Truth is the casualty at conventions. How did Charlotte do, compared to Tampa? Many at arena turned away. Sharp choice in campaign ahead. 10 protesters arrested in final day. DNC star sightings. Local candidates get a DNC boost, too.

Former Gov.Jim Hunt told the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night that education turned North Carolina from a poor rural state into one with Charlotte skyscrapers, Research Triangle Park, and great public universities.

Hunt got big cheers from the North Carolina delegation when he mentioned former Gov. Terry Sanford endorsing John F. Kennedy and standing up for civil rights. Hunt talked about the early childhood program he founded, Smart Start, and increased standards for teaching and learning.

A new Web video from the N.C. Democratic Party hits Republican lawmakers for cutting state education funding -- reinforcing the results of a recent survey that puts the issue squarely on Jones Street.

N.C. Policy Watch, a liberal outfit, released poll numbers Monday showing that 50 percent of voters blame the state legislature for cuts to education, compared to 21 percent who fault Gov. Bev Perdue and 19 percent point the finger at the federal government.

The two-minute Democratic Party video -- featuring former Gov. Jim Hunt, Perdue and state lawmakers -- is meant to stir the party's base. It rehashes a "war" mantra the party used to criticize lawmakers for budget cuts hurting women. 

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will be in Cary this weekend for what his office is calling a "major policy speech" focusing on international standards for school achievement.

Duncan will be offering the keynote address Sunday night at the Governors Education Symposium, a meeting sponsored by the James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, Lynn Bonner reports.

Duncan's speech will be the second in a series of four leading up to the opening of competition for $5 billion from the "Race to the Top"  fund — money Duncan will dole out to states to encourage school improvements.

The fund is part of the stimulus money Congress approved earlier this year.

Former N.C. Gov. Jim Hunt told Congress today that schools across the country have to develop similar standards for education subjects such as algebra, science and reading. 

But Hunt doesn't want the federal government to do the job unless all else fails. Instead, he is pushing a states-run effort to develop standards, Barb Barrett reports.

"The standards are all over the place," Hunt testified this morning to a House education committee. "We need to have a set of common standards for the country for all of our schools. … They need to be fewer, clearer and higher."

The National Governors Association and several education groups are working to develop higher standards for high school graduates.

Hunt, who led North Carolina for 16 years, is now chairman of the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill.

More after the jump.

What else would be cut in the state budget?

In a presentation today, Gov. Beverly Perdue proposed a number of cuts across state government:

* Delay state funding by delaying the adoption of math textbooks for grades 6 through 12 in order to save $38 million.

* Freeze teacher and state employee longevity payments for two years to save $170 million. The change would not affect employees' retirement calculations.

* Reduce legislative tuition grants, which give students money to go to private colleges in the state by $3.7 million, consistent with cuts the state's universities.

* Reduce funding by for child advocacy centers, foster care and adoption assistance, child support enforcement and education support for children adopted after age 12 to save $6.5 million.

* Reduce funding to Gov. Mike Easley's early education program More at Four by $1 million. The cuts won't affect children, since they eliminate funding for hundreds of unfilled slots.

* Reduce state funding to Gov. Jim Hunt's Smart Start early education program by $8.9 million.

Former Gov. Jim Hunt says we can take him off the list of potential education secretaries in Barack Obama's administration.

Hunt says he'll advise Obama on education, but he has no interest in going to Washington, reports Lynn Bonner.

Hunt's name has appeared on several lists of potential education secretaries, including in Time and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Hunt called Dome on his way back from a three-day stay in Seattle, where he attended a Gates Foundation meeting on education. Obama education advisors attended, including the leaders of Obama’s education advisory board.

"I just spent several days with the top Obama people," Hunt said. "Many encouraged me to do it. I told them I would not go to Washington."

Still, Hunt said he expects to work closely with the U.S. education department from his base in North Carolina.

More after the jump.

Former Gov. Jim Hunt will talk about national education policy for the new Obama administration when he accepts an education award this month.

N.C. State University's College of Education will give Hunt, the four-term governor who started Smart Start, its Friday Medal on Nov. 19, Lynn Bonner reports.

The medal, named for former UNC president William Friday and his wife Ida, is awarded each year to education innovators.

Hunt continued to be active in education after he left office in 2000.

He served on the federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education assembled by President Bush's education secretary. He is chairman of the board and a founder of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, a California-based think tank. He also serves as board chairman of the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy at UNC, which works on improving  K-12 education in the United States.

Is this a speech or a job interview? Discuss. 

Doug Clark says Jim Hunt will stay put.

The Greensboro News-Record columnist blogs that the former governor will not take a position in Barack Obama's education department in Washington because he's needed here:

Hunt has been a mentor to North Carolina Gov.-elect Bev Perdue, and she'll need him in Raleigh a lot more than Barack Obama will need him in Washington. Perdue proclaimed herself the "new sheriff in town," but she's not new, nor has she established her authority to police the very powerful state legislature. If she hopes to make state government as honest and transparent as she promised during her campaign, she'll need some advice on how to manage the mob on Jones Street.

He adds that losing to Sen. Jesse Helms dashed Hunt's "national ambitions."

Related: College buddy of Hunt's leading Perdue's transition team.