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The hottest campaign in North Carolina this season features a longtime congressman with perfectly coifed hair against an oddball challenger. Think: trash talking, unapologetic pandering and baby kissing.

But sadly, it's just a movie. "The Campaign" featuring actors Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis debuts Friday with more than a few obvious North Carolina connections.

The two actors battle for the state's (fictional) 14th congressional district with scenes from Greensboro and elsewhere. Ferrell, who depicts a candidate with "hair so strong it could lift a car off a baby if it had to," said recently that John Edwards was a model for much of his role. 

Get a glimpse at the campaign we've all been waiting for.

Actors Will Ferrell and Wilkesboro native Zach Galifianakis star in the movie "The Campaign" about a North Carolina congressional race. Check out the trailer above. The movie debuts Aug. 10.

Proponents and opponents of the gay marriage amendment are sprinting toward Tuesday’s finish line with fundraising, advertising and word-of-mouth campaigning.

Both sides emailed pleas Sunday for money. Vote for Marriage N.C., the pro-amendment side, says it’s received about half of the $50,000 last-minute surge it sought.

On Friday, the group reported last-minute donations of $41,500, including $36,500 from a Baptist church in Charlotte and $5,000 from a Baptist church in Gastonia. It also received a late infusion of $125,000 from the National Organization for Marriage, bringing that group's total contributions to $425,000.

The anti-side, Coalition to Protect All N.C. Families, reported $146,610 in new money on Friday. That includes a $3,000 donation from movie star and North Carolina native Zach Galifianakis, and $5,000 from Capitol Broadcasting’s CEO Jim Goodmon.

It also received a late $125,210 gift from a Human Rights Campaign PAC. The Washington-based Human Rights Campaign and the PAC have chipped in about half a million dollars.

On Monday, Vote for Marriage will have a rally with ministers in North Raleigh. The Coalition to Protect on Monday will get help staffing its phone bank from members of the cast of “Wicked,” the traveling Broadway show currently playing in Durham.

UPDATED: Actors Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis star as North Carolina politicians in a new movie titled "Dog Fight" that will begin production soon.

As reported by the Greensboro News & Record -- which will be featured in the film -- Ferrell describes the movie this way: "It’s basically the story of a small time congressional district in North Carolina, in the south, and I’m the incumbent candidate who’s about to run unopposed for my fifth term.

"We’re politically hungry, and I’m cruising along until I leave what I think is a message on my mistress’ voicemail but it’s really just a random family and it blows up in my face. I’m seen as vulnerable for the first time and the opposition decides to run a candidate against me and that’s Zach’s character.

"But you know, the movie is just a platform for us to illustrate how insane our political process has become. The crazy ad campaigns that exist now and the manipulations. We’re going to make it pretty farcical but not really that far from the truth."

The movie -- originally called "Southern Rivals" -- is expected to debut in August, just in time to add humor (if not irony) to the uber-competitive campaigns expected to blanket the Tar Heel state in 2012. 

And the role of Galifianakis -- a Wilkesboro native -- is sure to draw a connection to his uncle, Nick Galifianakis, who fought Jesse Helms in 1972 for the U.S. Senate. The elder Galifianakis was a member of the N.C. General Assembly and later Congress, representing District 5. He lost the Senate race, in part, to a classic Helms slogan: "Jesse Helms: He's one of us," a reference to his opponent's foreign sounding last name.

Will Zach Galifianakis exact electoral revenge -- at least on the big screen? We'll have to wait to see.

Another Galifianakis is making waves.

Longtime political observers may remember former U.S. Rep. Nick Galifianakis, best known for his unsuccessful U.S. Senate run in 1972, which paved the way for Sen. Jesse Helms' three-decade career.

His nephew Zach has a new comedy coming out called "The Hangover" and was the subject of a lengthy profile in the New York Times magazine last weekend.

A standup comic, the younger Galifianakis talked about his uncle's political career while on stage at the Purple Onion, in a clip available on YouTube.

"My uncle was winning and then Jesse Helms came out with this slogan ... that said 'Vote for Jesse. He's one of us.' — meaning he doesn't have a freaky long last name and it turned the election," he said. "I hate the right. I hate them with a passion."

Incidentally, Zach Galifianakis stars with a Helms in the new movie — Ed Helms of the TV show "The Office."

We presume he's no relation.