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It's the Sunday before Election Day and North Carolina newspapers are taking their last big swings at the major races in the state. Different papers have different ways of approaching this, but you'll see a bit less of the he-said, she-said, Satan-said stories in the paper (the printed thing we through in your driveway) over the next couple days. The reason for this is that many newsrooms (mine is of this school of thought) believe voters are pretty much saturated with coverage. And with only a couple days to go, there's less time to correct errors or misperceptions news stories could create around a campaign among the stragglers.

That said, if something truly goofy or newsworthy happens, we're going to engage on it.

So what's doing on this last weekend of the regularly scheduled political season?

My friends over at the Legion of Dome were taking one last look at the Senate race for today's N+O, while Media General's Sean Mussenden argues the ghost of elections past may be fading. Gerald Witt, the hardest working guy in my newsroom, wrapped up early voting in Guilford County.

In Wilmington, Shelby Sebens does a story left incomplete on my to-do list and looks at local donors to the campaigns. Asheville's Jordan Schrader checked in with the light governor candidates - all the politics but one-third the power of an actual governor, fabulous for those of us trying to cut back on our political calorie intake.

And I would be remiss in omitting that for those who want to listen to their political coverage, WUNC's Laura Leslie has great gobs of political radio over at her joint.

Meanwhile, Here's my story from today's paper on Bev Perdue and Pat McCrory's race for Moldy Manner:

RALEIGH - It wasn't long after the May primary that Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory found a mantra for his run at the governor's mansion.

"My top priority as governor will be jobs, jobs, jobs," the Republican says in an ad he released this August.

Topics that dominated in the GOP primary - illegal immigration, road construction, inefficiency and corruption in state government - still have their place in his campaign against Democratic Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue. But it's the ailing economy, along with job creation, that has dominated McCrory's campaign rhetoric since before public school students went back to class this year.

Political strategists credit that focus for putting McCrory in a position to do something that the last four Charlotte mayors to try failed to do and that no Republican has managed in 16 years: win a race for governor.

"McCrory has benefited tremendously from his positioning on the issues," said Brad Crone, a Raleigh-based political strategist who works mainly for Democratic candidates. "Even before the financial meltdown, (polls showed) the number one issue was jobs and the economy."

The same financial crisis that forced the federal government to bail out some of the country's largest financial institutions and partially nationalize some banks has hit home for Tar Heels. The state's unemployment rate climbed to 7 percent in September, credit for home loans has become scarce, foreclosures are on the rise, and even some of the state's most stalwart companies, such as Wachovia, have been forced to merge with competitors.

It's not that Perdue was not talking about jobs. But she was also talking about an ambitious health care program to cover uninsured children, stem cell research, extending free community college tuition to in-state students and a bevy of other topics.

Click here for the whole thing.

From today's Inside Scoop column:

The U.S. Senate race got a little rough last week, with Republican incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole implying that Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan might sympathize with the agenda of Godless Americans and Hagan responding that Dole should be ashamed of demeaning someone's faith.

So we at Scoop decided to take our mom's advice: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything. We asked the two candidates what they liked about one another.

"It is very clear that Kay is a loving mother and has a wonderful family. They have brought a lot of support and energy to her campaign and that has been neat to see," Dole said through a spokesman.

From Kay Hagan's spokeswoman: "Kay admires the fact that Sen. Dole went to law school when it wasn't common for women to attend."

See, was that so horrible? Now, let's all join hands and sing Kumbaya ... or not.

The Joint Legislative Commission on Government Operations is just about as much fun as the name implies. Basically, it's the legislature's way of keeping tabs on things even when the General Assembly is not in session.

Today the members got some reports that may make them wonder why they bothered running for re-election.

In particular, Economist Barry Boardman of the Fiscal Research Division and Charles Perusse, Director of the Office of State Management and Budget, dropped these little nuggets:

• * The government is managing what looks to be a $1.2 billion hole in the budget, give or take $400 million or so. If you want a quick overview of what is going on with the economy, check out this presentation. I would point especially to page 15, where collections of real estate transfer taxes fall off the edge of the Earth.

• * That shortfall doesn't include what's likely to be a needed $300 million fix to the state health pan.

• * As a result, the governor has upped the ante on budget cuts. Agencies originally asked for 2 percent trims are now being asked for upwards of 5 percent cuts.

According to Perusse, savings will come from several places. The Medicaid program is not sucking up as much money as was budgeted, due in part to lower costs in the mental health programs. He warned, however, that could and most likely will change.

The state is putting off some pay-as-you-go construction projects, although bond-funded projects are still on track. Agencies that are being asked for 5 percent cuts in several areas, including most general government functions, Environment and Natural Resources and the Commerce Department. DJJDP, the juvenile justice agency with in DOJ, is also being asked for 5 percent. There is some flexibility, Perusse said, for "hardship agencies" that would not be able to make cuts without cutting critical services.

Still, to completely balance out the $1.2 billion hole, if it gets that big, the governor's staff relies on $287 million from the state's rainy day fund. That wouldn't wipe out the fund, but the idea didn't sit well with some legislators.

Rep. Mickey Michaux of Durham, for example, said that the rainy day money might be better spent on the health plan's problems rather than plugging holes in revenues.

The good news is that officials are aware of the problem and are making cuts and otherwise addressing the problems so the state's books will remain in the black. That means Bev Perdue won't have a big old deficit to manage when she walks into office.

"He (Gov. Mike Easley) was adamant in his direction to me that he wanted a management plan in place that would allow the next government to inherit a balanced budget," Perusse told the committee today. Also in the relatively good news column is the fact North Carolina is not as bad off as some other states where cuts have been more immediate and Draconian.

The bad news, of course, is constructing the next state budget is going to be absolutely no fun at all. Boardman projected that the downturn in the economy (which creates a downturn in tax collections) will last well into 2010. That means right as demand for government services (unemployment benefits, Medicaid, education, etc...) goes up, the state is going to have less money to put into all that stuff.

I'm digging on a new red-blue election map put together by Christopher Healey at NC State.

His U.S. and state post-election maps aren't in the traditional red-blue primary colors. Rather, he uses different shades of intensity to represent how big victories in certain races are.

So in this one of North Carolina...

... we're a lot less fire-truck red and deep-sea blue and more mixed-sex pastel nursery colors.

The effect is all the more striking on the U.S. map, which looks a lot different than the one, say, CNN uses. You can pick up on where the differences aren't so great as well as where the divides are really the strongest.

Neat stuff.

From today's paper:

RALEIGH - Governor-elect Bev Perdue says O. Max Gardner, a governor and Democratic power broker in the first half of the 20th century, is one of her favorite political figures in Tar Heel history. Gardner was in office at the beginning of the Great Depression, and Perdue said he set an example relevant to the current economic crisis.

"He used the time as a transformational period for the state of North Carolina," Perdue said. Instead of simply cutting the state's budget, Gardner invested in roads and universities so the state would be positioned to prosper when the economy turned around.

And even as North Carolina faces a budget shortfall that could be as large as $1.6 billion this year, according to state economists, Perdue says the state needs to invest in education, transportation and other pillars of economic development.

"The day I take office, I'm going to be prepared to deal with a global economic crisis," Perdue said.

Gov. Mike Easley, whose term ends in January, has ordered state agencies to cut as much as 5 percent from their budgets. The goal, according to officials who briefed legislative leaders last week, is to have $1.2 billion extra on hand to plug shortfalls in the $21 billion budget the General Assembly passed last year. That doesn't account for extra cuts that would be needed if problems worsen, or another $300 million shortfall faced by the state-funded employee health plan.

Click here for the whole thing.

Related.

Ordinarily, I'd either be back at work this week now that the elections are done, or taking a little time off to recharge.

But the Barkeep and I are running a conference later this week and have to prepare for - at last count - political reporters from at least 26 states, a U.S. territory and Japan to hit town.

Capitolbeat is the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors. We've been around for roughly a decade (since being organized in Denver at the site of a former brothel, natch) and our conference travels from state to state ever year.

This year, it's coming to Raleigh.

You can find more information about the conference and our group by clicking here. If you're interested in coming, drop me a line.

Oh, and I'll see you back on the internets next week.

I'm back at the day job after hosting Capitolbeat 2008 with the Barkeep and able assists from Jordan, Eszter and James.

Speaking of Capitolbeat, locals may be interested in former N+O reporter Pat Stith's reflections on investigative journalism. Stith was our keynoter Saturday night and we were honored to have him.

In the mean time, Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue is getting ready to become Gov. Perdue early next month.

The Junior League here in Raleigh is hosting a series of inaugural events, including a big shindig the night before the actual swearing in.

NOTED: the sponsors of the events include AT&T, Duke Energy, McGuire Woods, GlaxoSmithKline, University of Phoenix and BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina. In every case, I can think of one or two things they might be asking various organs of state government over the next four years. (And full disclosure, my Capitolbeat conference had quite a few sponsors, including Pew and the national Wine and Spirit's Wholesalers.)

In other newly elected governor news:

• * Perdue has put up a "suggestion box" on the internet. "During this transition period I believe it's important for citizens to be engaged in their government and to have input – this is a way for them to do that," Perdue said in a press release.

• * Zach Ambrose will be Perdue's chief of staff when the new administration takes hold. According to the news release, "Ambrose served as Lt. Governor Perdue’s Chief of Staff from 2005 – 2007 and managed her gubernatorial campaign. A North Carolina native, Ambrose has degrees in Electrical Engineering and Russian from MIT and served five years in the US Navy."

Looking toward the General Assembly, the legislative calendar is filling up with a bunch of study and oversight committees in advance of the honorables scheduled return on Jan. 28.

Recommendations from the study committee don't have a whole lot more procedural oomph at this point than bills filed cold, but you can get a sense of what leadership considers critical issues for the upcoming session. Consider there are the following:

• * Municipal Incorporations, Joint Legislative Commission on
• * Dropout Prevention and High School Graduation, Joint Legislative Commission
• * N.C. Zoological Park Funding and Organization Study Committee
• * House Select Committee on the Legal Aspects of Using Lottery Proceeds for Charter School Funding
• * Potential Impact of Major Hurricanes on the NC Insurance Industry, Joint Select Committee on the

That's in addition to the regular litany of oversight and study committees.

And just to round this out to the third branch of government, the N.C. Supreme Court is due to take up Dept. of Correction v Medical Board, which is the case involving the issues that have the state's death penalty in a virtual deadlock. I found the AMA brief useful in understanding both sides of the discussion.

With all that going on, what's on your mind? What corner of state government ought to get a check-up in the coming months? Drop me a line via the comment link below.

Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue is seeking some advice as she prepares to take over from Gov. Mike Easley.

In a news release today (click here to download) Perdue says she will hold open meetings in 14 topic areas. From the release:

The meetings will be staffed and run by professional facilitators from the N.C. Small Business Technology Development Center. The groups will be asked to review materials and presentations from the state’s cabinet agencies, discuss missions and programs, and provide feedback and recommendations that will be delivered to Governor-elect Perdue.

The meetings are open to the public; anyone interested in participating should contact the transition office at 919-715-1540 or visit bevperdue.com. Locations and dates are subject to change.

Each group is expected to provide diverse input rather than reach a single group consensus. While some groups may schedule follow-up meetings as necessary, final recommendations will be submitted to Governor-elect Perdue’s transition team by Dec. 8.

The groups in question will meet from Nov. 19 through Nov. 24. They're due to cover Aging, Commerce, Corrections, Crime Control, Cultural Resources, DENR, Education, Energy, Health, IT/DOA, Mental Health, Military, Revenue and Transportation.

I've been writing an evergreen (a story without a hard and fast time peg that can be held in an editor's hip pocket until needed) on the Electoral College and was surprised to find an old rumor kicking about.

The Electoral College, for those who don't know, are the people in each state who get to cast those electoral votes for president. On Election Day, voters are really selecting electors rather than directly voting for president.

In interviews with an elector and Sec. of State Elaine Marshall I learned that questions about President-elect Barack Obama's citizenship are still being asked by some folks. And those people are not shy about voicing their opinions and saying that the Electoral College should not vote to confirm Obama as president because, they say, he's a foreigner.

If you want to get this argument in full, americamustknow.com is just chock full of lawsuits and other stuff. Basically, the idea is that Obama has not produced a valid birth certificate and was born overseas and whatever documents he has produced are forged or incomplete or whatever.

Personally, I think it's bunk. No, I have not left my post here in Raleigh and traveled to Hawaii to inspect the birth certificate myself. (Boss, if you want to send me, I'm game!) But some very credible folks have looked at this issue. They include:

• * FactCheck.org, a project of Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. They write, "FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said."

• * Politifact, which is a project of the CQ St. Petersburg Times family, sounds exasperated in its entry. "And you can’t help but ask: How do you prove something to people who come to the facts believing, out of fear or hatred or maybe just partisanship, that they’re being tricked?"

• * The Chicago Tribune, Obama's hometown newspaper, says the rumor was "debunked" in June.

• * Snopes, another myth debunking project, says the claims are "far fetched."

You get the point.

Of course, there's a logical argument to make here as well. With all the forces of opposing campaigns arrayed against him, with the federal government itself controlled by members of the other party, could Obama really have kept the lid on this? Could he have duped a pair of judges? Could he really have perpetrated a conspiracy so involved, vast and complex that has silenced every possible person in the food chain with direct evidence?

I guess it's possible, but it really strains credulity don't you think?

Still, electors can probably expect that their phones will keep ringing. And I guess now that I've written this post, mine will to. But at a certain point, doesn't the burden of proof shift to those accusing Obama of malfeasance to prove what he has submitted isn't right?

For more on North Carolina's Electoral College process, click here.

Believe it or not, the North Carolina Zoo has its very own legislative study committee.

And that committee is getting ready to make some recommendations that could help the zoo go from a day-trip attraction to a destination for over-night travelers.

Of course, it could also lead to taxpayers plowing more dollars into the attraction.

First a little background.

Earlier this year, there was a big referendum down in Asheboro on allowing alcohol sales within the Asheboro city limits. As mentioned by my colleague Joe Killian at the time, this is in part expected to help the zoo's expansion plans.

Those plans, as laid out for the study committee last week, include a third "continent," what the zoo calls its major exhibit areas. Already there are North America and Africa. Asia would be the third group of animal habitats.

As one who has hoofed it through the entire zoo, a good bit of that way carrying a sleepy four-year-old on his shoulders, the zoo is already a full day. Adding a third area would definitely put it beyond the see-it-all-in-one-day threshold.

Of course, Zoo Director David Jones made the case to Killian back in August that the zoo was already a multi-day affair:

"To do the zoo properly, you really need to be here for at least a day and a half," Jones said. "If you can encourage people to stay the night, their spending goes to about $145 a day."

Jones said the zoo has been looking to expand, add a new continent exhibit and draw in multiday visitors for years -- but the alcohol ban made things more difficult with potential investors and visitors.

The Asia continent is on the long-range capitol planning spreadsheet he gave committee members last week.

However, to meet existing renovation needs (for example: the zoo is in the process of improving its polar bear tanks and replacing its African Pavilion already) and build for the future, it needs a source of income.

One idea the study committee just might endorse is allowing the zoo to use more of the money it gets from ticket sales to go toward a special capitol fund. That money could be used to repay bonds that pay for repairs, renovations and expansions.

The upside is the zoo would not have to come to the General Assembly every year to ask for money for individual capitol projects. (No more legislative debates about polar bears and large animal barns.)

The downside is the zoo uses ticket sales to pay for staff and other operational costs now. If that money were shifted away, it would need to be replaced with tax dollars - probably to the tune of $4 million.

It's not a crazy idea - the Zoo is a state agency operating under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. But with big old budget deficits staring the state in the face, now isn't exactly the best time to go prospecting for tax dollars.

DENR Sec. William Ross endorsed that idea in a letter to the committee last week. (You'll note, he didn't endorse the idea of making the zoo a free-standing agency or its own nonprofit.)

Rep. Harold Brubaker, a Randolph County Republican who manages to get things done despite his affiliation with the minority party, said that 2009 may not be the year to get a change in zoo funding done. But he said that 2010 or 2011 might be.

The upshot of the expansion would be the zoo could then attract an up-scale hotel on-site or nearby. (And yes, if it were on-site there would need to be a fix to the Umstead Act.) Jones also mentioned an additional attraction, like a theater.

If more folks started staying over night, that generates more business for local businesses and, of course, more government revenue from taxes on things like hotel nights and restaurant meals.

More coming in a story due to be published later this week.