Lindsey Graham's unlikely ally

When Sen. Lindsey Graham announced on national TV that the U.S. should at least consider nationalizing banks, he drew scorn from a lot of fellow Republicans.

But today Graham picked up an ally who's held in esteem by Republicans as well as Democrats.

”It may be necessary to temporarily nationalise some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring,” former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan has told the Financial Times. “I understand that once in a hundred years this is what you do.”

Greenspan, a free-market capitalist, told the paper that temporary government ownership would "allow the government to transfer toxic assets to a bad bank without the problem of how to price them."

Graham amplified his comments this week in an interview with the Observer. He said after federal investments such as the $45 billion the government poured into the Bank of America, nationalization should at least be on the table.

"The truth is we've put more money into the Bank of America than it's worth," Graham said. "That's not nationalization. That's just stupid."

Some online readers applauded Graham's idea to debate the issue. Others didn't.

"He just admitted Congress is stupid - not that this was unknown to the public," akhimark wrote. "Now he thinks Congress should take over banks. That's just stupid. I guess stupid is as stupid does.

(Graham's comments apparently didn't take into account that the $45 billion government investment is preferred stock, over and above the $27 billion in market capitalization.)

No stimulus for 2010 Senate race?

Democratic U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler of Asheville may have followed his conscience when he voted against the Congressional stimulus bill last week, but he may not have helped his prospects for a statewide race in 2010.

Shuler has been touted as a prospective challenger to Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina next year. A former pro-football player, he's got the name recognition and apparently the money. He had $940,000 in his campaign account at the end of the year, not much less than Burr.

But Shuler might have trouble in a primary.

He was one of only 11 Democrats to vote against the Obama-backed stimulus bill in the House, one of only seven to vote against the conference version the president is signing into law today.

Shuler is also an anti-abortion member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate-conservative Democrats. That plays well in his mountain district but could present problems in a primary, where most voters are more liberal. Attorney General Roy Cooper is also considering the race.

An aide says the Senate race wasn't on Shuler's mind when he cast his stimulus vote.

"It was made because he really felt the stimulus package put before the House was not the way to go," says spokesman Andrew Whalen.

Mistress scandal photo!!! (Bids start at $200.)

Want to own a piece of "The photo that Exposed the Truth about Edwards Mistress?" Better hurry.

There's only a week left on the ebay auction for .... a check paid for the photo of a plane.

The unidentified seller says his nephew took the photo of the private jet at Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport. After the nephew posted it online, he got an email from a man he identifies as an editor of "Inside Edition."

The seller says his nephew, 18-year-old Tomas Cubero, was told he'd photographed the Learjet carrying John Edwards and his mistress, Rielle Hunter, to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. (It's unclear whether either one was actually aboard.)

"Inside Edition's" parent, King World, bought the photo for $200. They paid Cubero with a check, in the stub of which is written "Edwards Mistress.”

For a bid of $200, you get the uncashed check (endorsed by Cubero) and the stub.

"Tomas is currently saving his money to be able to come to the USA to obtain his flying license," the seller says. "He requested that I sell this historical document, in the hope that it will help him to pursue his dream."

Aides rise after Edwards falls

You've heard of David Axelrod, President Obama's political advisor who now has prime real estate in the White House. You probably haven't heard of Tommy Vietor.

Both men worked for John Edwards' presidential campaign back in 2004 and subsequently signed on with Obama. They're among dozens of former Edwards' advisers and staffers who've gone on to prosper even after their erstwhile candidate fell in scandal.

Here's a look at where some of them ended up:

-- Mark Kornblau, Edwards’ traveling press secretary in 2008, is reportedly headed to the American delegation at the U.N.

-- Miles Lackey, Shelby native and Edwards’ policy adviser is now chief of staff to Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut.

-- Jennifer O'Malley-Dillon, who ran Edwards' Iowa campaigns in 2004 and 2008, is the new executive director of the Democratic National Committee.

-- Jennifer Palmieri, Edwards' one-time press secretary, is the Senior Vice President for Communications at American Progress, a liberal Washington think tank.

-- Jonathan Prince, a top Edwards’ aide, returned to the State Department and travels with Special Envoy George Mitchell. During the Clinton administration, he was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and oversaw communications strategy for NATO during the war in Kosovo.

-- Eric Schultz, national spokesman for Edwards' 2008 presidential campaign, went on to work for Democrat Al Franken’s Minnesota Senate campaign. Now he’s spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

-- Joe Trippi, who ran Edwards’ 2008 campaign and Howard Dean’s 2004 bid, heads his own media firm and is a frequent guest on cable news shows.

-- Tommy Vietor. The former aide who worked for Edwards in Iowa went to work for Obama in 2004. Now he's an assistant ' press secretary in the White House.

One ex-aide who won’t be getting any White House invitations is Wendy Button.

Over the years she wrote speeches for Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Obama. Edwards even contacted her about helping draft a speech for the 2008 convention, before he became persona non grata. Button grew disaffected with her party and the treatment of Sarah Palin and publicly announced her support for John McCain.

Burr's old 'Thing' gets new exposure

It's not exactly a limo, but it gets U.S. Sen. Richard Burr to work and back. And yesterday it got him some national exposure.

A camera crew filmed Burr getting into his 1974 Volkswagen 'Thing' -- with the top down during a snowstorm. The footage made its way onto the celebrity Web site, TMZ.com.

The notoriety brought comments from around the country.

"Neither snow nor sleet nor rain keeps him from diving the 'Thing'," says Burr spokesman Chris Walker.

Steele a hit with Meck GOP chairman

A lot of Carolinas' Republicans were pulling for Columbia's Katon Dawson to win last week's race for GOP national chairman. Not Lee Teague.

Teague, Mecklenburg County Republican chairman, was pulling for Michael Steele, the former Maryland lieutenant governor who edged Dawson for the chairmanship.

Teague invited Steele to speak at last year's Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner in Charlotte. He also found himself on the same page. Both criticized a Republican congressman who dismissed his GOP primary opponent as a liberal.

"This shouting Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! stuff is not going to work this year," Teague said the time, adding that the congressman "and a lot of other Republicans in Washington need to get a clue."

Asked about Teague's comments at the time, Steele said, "We don't have the brand power to do that right now, so we need to come to the table with a better game. We need some common-sense solutions that speak to where people are in their everyday lives. So running around screaming 'this guy's a liberal' won't get you re-elected."

"He understands that we’re going to have to fight very hard to get the attention of the average voter," Teague said today, "and get them to understand that our solutions will make their lives better.”

McCrory gets new job -- close to home

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has a pair of new business gigs -- including one with his brother.

McCrory, who lost the N.C. gubernatorial race in November, said this morning he's become a partner in McCrory & Company. Started by his brother Phil 19 years ago, the company is a consulting firm that works with business clients to increase sales.

"My main focus will be to help clients expand their customer base," the mayor says. He'll also use his network of contacts to bring the firm new clients.

Clients include IBM, Microsoft and Dell, according to Phil McCrory.

It's McCrory's second employer since college. He worked for years in a number of different jobs for Duke.

McCrory this week also joined the board of directors for Tree.com. The company is the parent of LendingTree and other groups such as RealEstate.com and HomeLoanCenter.com.

McCrory declined to say how much he'll earn from either position. However filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Tree.com annually pays directors a retainer of $40,000 and a restricted stock award of $50,000.

At McCrory & Company, he'll make a salary and commission.

Phil McCrory says the company is looking for new office space in the SouthPark area. The company web site currently lists its headquarter address as 4360 Arbor Way, Suite 300. That's the address of Phil McCrory's south Charlotte home.

A lobbyist who'll be missed

The word lobbyist has a lot of negative connotations these days. They're agents for special interests, conduits of campaign cash and all-around bogeymen for government reformers.

Roger Bone represented groups such as tobacco, car dealers and pharmaceuticals. But for a quarter-century, his main special interest was the legislature itself and the people who worked there, be they legislators, reporters or staffers.

Roger died Sunday of cancer at 69.

I met Roger in 1985 when I started covering the legislature. A former lawmaker himself, he was working for then Speaker Liston Ramsey. He opened his own lobbying business a couple years later. He was rated the state's top lobbyist in the most recent rankings by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research.

But Roger never had an inflated sense of self-importance. A beefy guy, he always had a smile and stories that made other people smile. He got to the top by being a straight-shooter.

The last time I talked to him was a year or so ago, after his diagnosis and after a chemo treatment. There was no self-pity, just the old Roger. The legislature won't be the same without him.

Clinton -- the other one -- coming to N.C.

During last year's Democratic presidential primary, N.C. Sen. Julia Boseman traveled with Bill Clinton as he stumped for his wife, Hilary. Now the former president is repaying the favor.

Clinton is scheduled to headline a fundraiser this month for the Wilmington Democrat in Raleigh. The same day he'll headline another for U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler.

“Its not everyday the president comes down and throws a fundraiser for you," Boseman said today. "It gives me on start on fundraising for next year.”

She might need it.

Through October, she'd spent nearly three-quarters of a million dollars on race she would narrowly win. The Senate Democratic committee helped, giving her $438,000.

Shuler is rumored to be considering a 2010 challenge to Republican Sen. Richard Burr. Spokesman Andrew Whalen said Clinton will help raise money for another House campaign.

"Today," Whalen said, "we're running for re-election to the house."

Graham: Going 'where the big boats are'?

State Sen. Malcolm Graham will start his third term Sunday. And it may be his last.

The Charlotte Democrat plans to have a personal swearing-in at his alma mater, Johnson C. Smith University. According to a press release, he'll also "address his future plans and priorities."

There's been speculation that Graham would run for mayor, likely facing city council member Anthony Foxx is a primary. But Graham seems to be looking beyond the mayor's office.

"We're going to end speculation," he said today. "Watching what Sen. (Barack) Obama has done has inspired me... I want to take my ship out where the big boats are ... We're looking at 2010, and hopefully somethings will open up Congressionally or even a U.S. Senate race."

He said Sunday he'll outline his plans, at least in general.

"I’m not trying to be coy or anything, but certainly I will be thinking out loud," he said. "Some people said of mayor, 'Why are you thinking that way when you ought to be thinking bigger?'

"I can’t sit back and wait for Congressman (Mel) Watt to sit back and decide that he’s had enough. It may be time for me to create my own opportunity.”

Old stories, new charges haunt David Balmer

Remember David Balmer?

He's a one-time wunderkind of N.C. politics, elected to the state House in 1988 at age 26 and minority leader four years later. In 1994 the Charlotte Republican ran for Congress and forced a primary runoff with Sue Myrick.

But his resume -- playing varsity soccer in college, graduating in the top of his law school class and clerking on the state Supreme Court -- raised questions. Turned out, none of the claims was true. After first blaming the embellishments on a GOP rival and later an overzealous campaign worker, he admitted adding the lies himself. He apologized but was trounced in the runoff.

He kept a low profile for a year, until police found his bloodstained car in east Charlotte. Seventeen hours later, he turned up on a street far from home, battered, disheveled and soaking wet. Police never learned why. He moved to Colorado, remarried and in 2004 was elected to the state House out there.

Last month trouble found Balmer again.

He's running for the minority leader post in the Colorado House, the same job he had here. Last month the current Republican minority leader filed an ethics complaint against him. He alleges, according to the Rocky Mountain News, that Balmer "may have worked with a lobbyist to offer campaign donations and a future committee chairmanship to another legislator in exchange for supporting Balmer."

Balmer and the lobbyist both say they've done nothing wrong. Last week a legislative panel was appointed to look into the complaint.

When the complaint was filed, Colorado reporters got anonymous emails with news stories (including one from the Observer) about Balmer's earlier problems in North Carolina. The subject line read "The Sordid Tale of David Balmer."

The lobbyist in question, by the way, represents the Colorado Chiropractic Association. It was some N.C. chiropractors whom prosecutors said handed former N.C. House Speaker Jim Black wads of cash in restaurant bathrooms.

Big names at Foxx fundraiser

Charlotte Democrat Anthony Foxx isn't officially a candidate for Charlotte mayor. But that's not stopping him from holding a high-powered fundraiser next week.

Foxx will be the guest of honor at a Tuesday fundraiser at the southeast Charlotte home of Cameron and Dee Dee Harris. Among those in attendance will be his honorary campaign chairman, former Bank of America chairman Hugh McColl.

Democrats haven't won the mayor's job since 1987. But Foxx and others are optimistic about the chances after this month's election, when Charlotte and Mecklenburg County voters rejected seven-term Mayor Pat McCrory in favor of Bev Perdue for governor.

"I’m obviously very bullish on Charlotte and bullish about my prospects for success," Foxx says. "I'm delighted that so much early support has come to me and I hope to grow it over the next year.”

McCrory hasn't announced his plans. Democratic state Sen. Malcolm Graham has hinted that he's keeping his options open.

Foxx said he expects "a strong crowd," with guests contributing up to $4,000.

"We hope to fill the house up,” he said.

That would be a windfall. The Harris's live in a 23,466-square-foot house.

******
A postscript:

Yesterday I blogged about Charlotte's Anne Udall, whose brother and cousin were both elected to the U.S. Senate this month from Colorado and New Mexico respectively. She came close to having a third relative in the Senate.

Republican Gordon Smith of Oregon, who narrowly lost his re-election bid, is Udall's second cousin.

For Anne Udall, politics is all in the family

Charlotte's Anne Udall had a lot to celebrate on Nov. 4.

She was with her brother Mark when he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Colorado. The same night, her cousin Tom won a Senate election in his home of New Mexico. Both are Democrats.

Anne Udall (left), executive director of the Lee Institute, had spent the week before the election bouncing around Colorado on her brother's campaign bus with him and some of their other siblings. The night he won was emotional for them all.

"It was very humbling and exciting on a lot of different levels," says Anne, 54.

Mark Udall's campaign carried echoes of their father's races. The late Mo Udall was a liberal Arizona congressman who ran for president in 1976, losing the primary to Jimmy Carter.

"It reminded me of dad on a couple levels," says Anne. "One, I think Mark is really committed to this work and it really matters to him.

"The second thing that was really very moving to me was see this whole generation of 20-year-olds really committed to Mark's candidacy. And that’s what Dad did. ... These kids they don’t know Dad. He's a name in a book. But they know Mark and they have the same connection with Mark that I think our generation had with Dad. So that was really neat.”

The day after the election, Anne and her brother went for a hike in the Colorado mountains. "That's what Udalls do when they win," she told a reporter at the time. "We go outdoors. We hike."

Her cousin Tom is the son of Stewart Udall, a former Arizona congressman who served as Secretary of the Interior under presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Anne plans to go to Washington in January for the swearing-in. She expects a family reunion -- with one-fiftieth of the Senate in the family.

Ray Warren's odyssey: From Jesse Helms to Barack Obama

When I started covering the General Assembly 23 years ago, Ray Warren had just been elected to his first term in the House. He was a young Republican lawyer from Matthews swept in with the Reagan landslide of 1984.

He eventually became minority leader and in 1996, outpolled all N.C. Republicans in his losing bid for the state Supreme Court. He came out of the closet in 1998 and left his party a year later. Now, in the latest chapter of a long odyssey, he's a tax assessor's attorney in suburban Washington. Here are his observations about the election:

"Election night in Washington was surreal. My partner and I watched the returns at Nellie's, a nominally gay sports bar packed with a racially diverse gay and straight crowd. Each time a state fell into the blue column the bar - and bars up and down the U Street corridor - erupted in cheers.

"There were hundreds in the bar -- men and women of all races. When CNN announced that Obama was elected at 11:00 pandemonium broke out. We jumped shouted and hugged perfect strangers. It was like the end of World War II or some other great unifying event.

"A bit later, when Obama gave his speech in Chicago I, like many others, was in tears. All the years of Jesse Helms, hate and division had been defeated. Not only the nation, but my home state and native state (Virginia and North Carolina) had been part of the redemption.

"It was an unexpected and powerful emotional moment that overwhelmed me. Seeing my tears, a young black woman silently reached over and took my arm as if to say "it will be OK". I was struck by the immense irony of that act of simple kindness. On the most important night of the nation's history to African Americans, a young black woman was comforting me, an old white southern man, overcome with the emotion of the moment.

"As we left to catch a cab back to Virginia, the street was alive with impromptu celebrations. Horns honked, people danced in the street and there were shouts of joy. A friend texted me to say that he and hundreds were gathered in front of the White House shouting 'yes we can'. And for once, it was true. We can.

"And we did."

Brother, can you spare $3 million?

Six years ago, Republican Elizabeth Dole reacted with alarm when Democratic Senate opponent Erskine Bowles, a wealthy former investment banker, dug deep into his own pocket.

"TAKE A LOOK AT THIS," she wrote in an e-mail to thousands of supporters in October 2002. "My opponent loaned nearly $3 million of his personal wealth to his own campaign We expect him to use even more of his personal wealth to finance his negative television and radio ads."

"I do not have that kind of personal wealth," Dole wrote. "So, to continue setting the record straight I must be able to count on the generous support of friends like you."

Dole's electronic plea raised thousands of dollars for her campaign.

Now Dole, running for a second term against Democrat Kay Hagan, has loaned her own campaign $3 million.

According to an analysis of disclosure forms by the Center for Responsive Politics, only six senators are wealthier than Dole. She had holdings valued at between $18.5 million and $69.2 million.

In 2002, she reported family assets of up to $23 million.

Gas wars in the 8th District

One brochure shows gas pumps covered with red bags that say "Sorry, Out of Service." Another shows long lines at a station where regular sells for $4.59 and high-test has run out.

One message. Two candidates.

The first is a mailer from 8th District Democrat Larry Kissell attacking Republican Rep. Robin Hayes. It accuses him of voting for tax breaks for oil companies and owning millions of dollars in oil company stocks.

The second mailer is from Hayes. Over the photo of gas lines, it says, "Larry Kissell's extreme liberal energy policies get us nowhere."

Kissell, it says, opposes expanded off-shore oil drilling. But Kissell's brochure says he believes in drilling too, though not necessarily off the N.C. coast.

"Drill on American soil and in the Gulf first," it says, "selling American oil to American consumers."

As my colleague Lisa Zagaroli reported last month, Kissell's position is "drill here, drill now." But by "here" he means the U.S., not North Carolina. And he wants oil companies to use leases they already have in the Gulf.

Outside groups pour more money into N.C. Senate race

Two groups are pouring big money into North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race with new ads attacking Democrat Kay Hagan and Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

The Employee Freedom Action Committee, an anti-union group, is spending $1 million on online ads and mailings that criticize Hagan, according to spokesman Tim Miller.

The group is attacking her support for legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize. It’s also spending $2 million for a TV ad featuring former
Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern criticizing the legislation. The ad is running in North Carolina and a half-dozen other states.


The committee is affiliated with The Center for Union Facts. It opposes the legislation, which would allow workers to unionize by signing cards instead of through a secret-ballot election.

“Kay supports it as a way to level the playing field for working families,” said Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan. “This bill simply allows the workers, not the employers, to decide which method to use, and stiffens penalties for intimidation.”


Meanwhile, a veterans’ group is spending $200,000 on TV ads saying Dole voted against body armor for troops.

The ad by VoteVets.org features a man identified as an Iraq war veteran firing shots from an AK-47 through a flak jacket given out early in the war. He also fires into more modern body armor, which stops the shots. It claims Dole twice voted against the more modern armor.

The ad appears to be the same one used in 2006 in a Virginia Senate race.

According to the watchdog site FactCheck.org, the votes came on a 2003 amendment that would have appropriated just over $1 billion for unspecified “National Guard and Reserve Equipment” but made no mention of body armor. The amendment lost on a generally party-line vote.

The group called the ad false.

“America’s active duty personnel and veterans have no greater friend than Elizabeth Dole,” said campaign spokesman Dan McLagan. “To accuse her of causing them harm is the lowest form of sleazeball politics.”

Rock Hill author watches Ayers' interview go viral

Much of the recent commentary on 1960s radical William Ayers has included a quote from a 1994 book.

"I'm a radical, Leftist, small 'c' communist," Ayers said at the time.

It was quoted in a Wall Street Journal piece last month by Stanley Kurtz of the National Review and picked up by conservative bloggers as Republicans try to tie Ayers with Democrat Barack Obama. Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists."

The quote about Ayers came from the book "Sixties Radicals" by Rock Hill writer Ron Chepesiuk, a former Fulbright Fellow and Winthrop University faculty member.

Chepesiuk devoted a chapter to the one-time member of the Weather Underground. Its title was "Radical Educator." It talked about how Ayers had gone on to be a prominent educational adviser. He's taken part in programs at the University of South Carolina College of Education.

Chepesiuk, who interviewed Ayers at his home near the University of Chicago, doesn't defend Ayers' violent past, but believes the comments in his book have been taken out of context.

“It sounds like he’s an unrepentant domestic terrorist, that he’s still living the philosophy and mode of action of the '60s," he told me. "He’s left that all behind. He’s still a social radical. But it’s not a question of trying to violently overthrow the system. He’s trying to change the system from within."

Obama and Ayers were both involved in a 1990s education project called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Obama has denied any close association. Critics say he should not have associated at all with the former radical whose group took credit for several bombings.

"We're not talking about him running around with a domestic terrorist," Chepesiuk says. "We're talking about a respectable educator.”

Mike Easley as Jerry Seinfeld

It was admittedly a tough act to follow.

Barack Obama had brought the wildly partisan crowd of Democrats to their feet Saturday night with a surprise appearance at their annual dinner at the Grove Park Inn. But when his turn came, N.C. Gov. Mike Easley was in rare form.

-- He said Obama, who was raised in Hawaii and went to Harvard Law, is a good fit for Southern Democrats.

"Barack," he said, "is Hawaiian for Bubba."

-- Riffing off Sarah Palin's line at the GOP convention, he described Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan.

"You know the difference between Kay Hagan and a pit bull?" he asked. "Nothin'."

-- Looking down the dais at Rep. Heath Shuler from nearby Waynesville, he took note of the congressman's Republican opponent, Asheville psychologist Carl Mumpower.

"I'm asking you," Easley said, "who needs the therapy?"

Black caucus endorsement a 'coup' for Roberts?

A few months ago, in the heat of the Nick Mackey controversy, some black Democrats vowed to punish Mecklenburg commissioners chairman Jennifer Roberts at the polls.

Roberts, after party activists chose Mackey as sheriff in a disputed -- and later overturned -- party election, was among those who voted to make his erstwhile rival Chipp Bailey sheriff. "There will be some awfully angry African Americans in this community," predicted one black Democrat.

But at Sunday night's closed Black Political Caucus meeting, Roberts ended up with one of the group's three endorsements for at-large seats. Democratic Party chair Joel Ford said this morning that there was spirited debate. One of the people pushing the endorsement of Roberts and Dan Murrey, both white Democrats, was Harold Cogdell, the only black at-large Democrat.

"By joining with all three and by unifying the ticket .... it's a no-brainer, it's a slam dunk," said Ford. "It's the dream team."

Without strong African American support for Roberts, or for that matter Murrey, both could lose. It also would threaten continued Democratic control of the county board.

Republican commissioner Dan Ramirez wasn't impressed by the caucus vote. Virtually every candidate endorsed is a Democrat.

"They lost all credibility as a caucus," he said. They should call themselves the black Democratic caucus."