More on lieutenant governors

Here's another nugget of hope for Walter Dalton.

Noting that the lieutenant governor-elect will soon be sworn in as one of the 45 people in the No. 2 spot in the United States, Asheville Citizen-Times reporter Jordan Schrader adds this not-so trivial trivia: 

Fun fact: 15 lieutenant governors have succeeded to the state's top job this decade. Two more are waiting in the wings for their governors to be confirmed to President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet.

As noted previously on Dome, lieutenant governors can find themselves suddenly powerful, or they can wait for years to no avail.

Though Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue and former governor-for-life Jim Hunt were both former lieutenants, the post has not been a great steppingstone in recent history.