News-Record.com

As the recount in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race continues, Minnesota Public Radio has created a "You Be the Judge" page in which, armed with a link to Minnesota law regarding how to count ballots, you get to pick whether -- and if so, for whom -- to count 10 ballots. You also get to see how previous "judges" voted.

(Some background and new info on the race here.)

Click here for today's Scoop column from the print edition, which hashes over a possible (if not likely) flip in the state senate, reading the pumpkin seeds and some candidates who don't want to be rescued.

Politico.com said that regular folks are calling up their legislators on the $700 billion bailout plan for the tanked investment banks.

Whoa. Getting local involvement in things usually happens on super controversial issues (abortion, guns control, etc.) and campaigns for one piece of legislation, which leads to a flood of calls. This is a "dull roar," politico said:

Main Street’s reaction is strikingly similar to that on the addled Hill, as members weigh the threat of financial collapse against what many believe to be the most fiscally irresponsible legislation they have ever seen. “Where’s the backlash?” asked a leadership aide yesterday. “We’re kind of expecting it. But so far the calls we’ve been getting are very organic, not like the wave of calls we get when someone’s organizing a campaign.”

Most senators say they have seen a moderate rise in the number of calls and e-mails from people questioning or commenting on the plan. Senate Finance and Banking Committee member Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), for one, hasn’t seen any uptick in overall contact back home — but almost all of the calls and e-mails he has been getting lately are about the crisis, his staff says.

Here's the question, though. Are you contacting your legislator over this? Are you looking for a way to get up with your elected official?

Here's how:

Senators-
Richard Burr

Elizabeth Dole

Representatives-
Howard Coble
Virginia Foxx
Brad Miller
Mel Watt

Other Congress members in NC.

As we mentioned in the newspaper column this week, Republican Congressman Howard Coble of Greensboro spent some time at the Grammy Awards this past weekend.

He brought back some snapshots and Scoop thought we'd share:

First up, here's Coble sitting with fellow North Carolinian Earl Scruggs, who was getting a lifetime achievement Grammy from The Recording Academy.

In this next picture, Coble is reading from a just-passed congressional resolution honoring The Recording Academy on its 50th Anniversary. Joining Rep. Coble were Reps. Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Michael McCaul (R-TX).

What - no poses with Kellie Pickler?

A reader called in after seeing the results of a state audit on food assistance in Thursday's paper.

The results showed that the incidence of people using Social Security numbers that are invalid, fake or from a dead person are pretty low: less than 200 were found in about 86,000 people receiving benefits from Guilford County's food assistance program. Read the report from the N.C. Office of the State Auditor here.

The caller had a basic question: If North Carolina can audit its food assistance by cross-checking a Social Security number, then why don't they do that to find immigrants working under a phony SSN in the United States?

Complex answer.

Turns out that the Social Security Administration does audit for that. Here's the SSA annual report from Nov. 7 that explains how. The part on immigrants is 10 pages down.

U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, who represents North Carolina's 12th District, has scheduled a series of town hall meetings for Congress' August recess.

Click here for the schedule.

The 12th District meanders all over the central part of the state, starting in Charlotte and slicing into parts of both Winston-Salem and Greensboro. Is Watt your congressman? Use the handy-dandy locator at the top of the U.S. House page to check. (You'll need your Zip+4 postal code.)

If you haven't heard by now, President Bush will visit North Carolina Friday to rally support for the Central American free trade agreement.

According to our friends at the AP, the "White House confirmed Tuesday that Bush will tour the Helms plant of R.L. Stowe Mills, then make a speech on behalf of the Central America Free Trade Agreement at Gaston Community College in nearby Dallas."