News-Record.com

In Charlotte there's a kiosk where the public can come in, sit down, and look at emails sent through the government there.

After all, e-mails are public documents. Here at the N&R, we once received weekly copies of all the Guilford County commissioners emails. That's stopped since about December. Now, if we want county emails we must submit a formal request for public information.

And, as far as we know, there's no similar kiosk in Greensboro or Guilford County halls.

Eh, enough with the introduction. Here's the video from Charlotte with Observer reporter Julia Oliver.

If you're on Facebook and are a friend of Bev Perdue, you may have recently gotten a message like this:

The subject line reads, "Bev Perdue suggested you become a fan of Bev Perdue ..."

And the body reads, "Bev became a fan of Bev Perdue on Facebook and suggested you become a fan too."

There are many levels of funniness here, even more if you're on Facebook yourself.

And while we're talking about things online, follow me on Twitter. It's particularly fun during commissioners meetings, when I usually live Tweet the event. In fact, there's one coming Thursday.

Think of it as play-by-play of the game, but swap politicians for athletes.

The agenda for Thursday night's county commissioners meeting.

It's time to get trained up on how to follow all those intricate campaign finance rules.

There are only two more treasurer certification sessions in May before the campaign season really kicks off. But lucky for all your web junkies, you can do your learning right there at your home computer.

Sign up online here.

Here's a really interesting interactive chart from Google that allows people to access public information and compare it to other areas in the U.S., by county.

GREENSBORO — You have one more chance to attend a community meeting on the budget to let the Greensboro City Council know what matters to you.

Council member Mike Barber will host the final meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Lindley Recreation Center, 2907 Springwood Dr.

You can take an online budget survey here to voice your opinions. Learn more about the budget process here.

Sandwiched between episodes of The Office, NBC played its new show, Parks and Recreation.

And if you watch government in action, we here at Scoop think that you'd like this show. Parks has an Office-like feel to it, but plays it pretty honestly for a comedy show.

Depending on your wonkiness, you'll probably find yourself giggling at jokes that others wouldn't otherwise get.

Hopefully the masses pick up on it enough to run a few more episodes.

And if you're wondering, there is no Pawnee, Ind.

So what did y'all think out there in TV land?

If it were a race, the schools committee between the Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education stumbled out of the blocks.

A letter from Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen to school board member Kris Cooke last week didn't go over so well, with push back from some school board members at the school board's Saturday retreat who weren't happy with the committee composure. Thigpen told Scoop he heard complaints that the list seemed to be heavy on High Point and not have much of the school board's consideration in making up the group.

Thigpen said he was working at the staff level to help Bruce Davis and Kris Cooke come up with the board structure, and sent the message as an email to Cooke last weekend.

"It’s probably going to be the communication committee," he said, adding that he's talked with the school board chairman Alan Duncan and others about the committee since it was formed.

What's significant about this committee is the effort to smooth out any problems before they may arise. Nearly every year, there's a rub come budget time when the schools want money, but the county gives less than the request.

Other similar committees have been formed through the years, Thigpen noted. A communication committee was named after the school system sued the county for money in 2000, he used as an example.

And as for this committee, it's one of several designed by Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin "Skip" Alston to watch county money leading up to the 2009-10 budget, and it appears to be leaning more toward commissioner involvement at this point.

We got that letter from Thigpen today, and the list of committee members includes:

Conveners:
Bruce Davis, Guilford County Board of Commissioners
Kris Cooke, Guilford County Schools

Participants:
Brenda Jones Fox, Interim County Manager
Mo Green, Guilford County Schools Superintendent
John Parks, Guilford County Board of Commissioners
Angela Joyner, Guilford County Budget
Felicia Reid, Guilford County Health Department
Jeff Thigpen, Guilford County Register of Deeds
Dot Kearns, Community Leader
Al Heggins, Community Leader
Michael McKinney, Community Leader
James Chestnut, Community Leader
Michael Prioleau, Community Leader
Joe Oots, Community Leader

Ex Officio
Chairman Melvin Skip Alston
Vice-Chairman Steve Arnold

Arnold and Alston are ex-officio on each committee, and Kay Cashion joined the effort after yesterday's commissioners retreat, so the committee doesn't appear to be finalized.

But what do you think? Do you like how the committee looks? What do you want to see it accomplish?

Tonight is the night that Green announces his strategic plan for the schools, which may change how the committee operates as well.

Remember those committees that Melvin "Skip" Alston formed to review the county's budget and other areas?

We've got the list on some of those members, but what they'll do is still a little unclear.

"I think we have a lot of fat in county government," he said. "And we have a lot of people that aren't accountable. And I don’t think the whole story has been told through the years. And we could do a whole lot more with less."

He said that he's got an idea of what he wants the county to look like, but needs some input, but also doesn't want to divulge the entire plan at once. So what's the picture from here look like, now that David McNeill, Ben Brown and others are gone?

"I don’t know yet, I just started. And I’m asking people to be more patient and understanding. We are ten percent here. It’s in the first trimester."

So not much to say yet, it sounds like. But we will have an overall outlook on what's happened, why and what's next in tomorrow N&R. It kind of mashes all the occurences in the last week in one story, with some pieces on what could come.

But here's the composure of those committees for now, which could change. Remember, Alston and Steve Arnold are ex-officio members of each:

Budget committee: Steve Arnold, Billy Yow

Education: Bruce Davis

Human Services: Carolyn Coleman, Kirk Perkins, Steve Showfety - CEO of Koury Corp.

Manager Search Committee: Linda Shaw, Carolyn Coleman, Pat Danahy - president of the Greensboro Partnership - and Eric Wiseman - CEO of VF Corp.

Substance Abuse and Drug Treatment Committee: Kay Cashion

Alternatives to Incarceration: John Parks

It's time for the annual Scoopies, The Inside Scoops' annual jab-in-the ribs to local politicians.

And, lucky you, we'd love some nominations from our dear readers.

Here is Mark Binker's explanation of what we need:

What are the Scoopies? Inside Scoop’s annual awards, coveted by all, to politicians for outstanding achievement in the political arts.

Who is eligible? Anyone in public life from the Triad or with a tenuous but amusing Triad connection.

What’s my role? Basically, we need you to come up with amusing one liners that recall and poke fun at the year in politics.

So get to it, readers. And, for your consideration, here are some early nominations:

The Traffic Jam Jar: Barack Obama. The man’s motorcade was all over this state and he clogged up comings and goings in downtown Greensboro more than once this year.

Second Act Anvil: Don Vaughan. Former City Councilman Don Vaughan was ousted from his seat in 2007. But he’s back baby! This time, Vaughan heads to the state Senate to take Kay Hagan’s place.

The Holy War Hosanna: Elizabeth Dole. Kay Hagan may be “godless,” but she’s got a seat in Congress. Dole takes home recognition as having launched one of the nastiest political ads in the country this campaign season.

The Teflon Man-ager Award: Mitchell Johnson, for managing to keep his job at Greensboro city manager, despite some people's best efforts.

From the governor-elect’s press office:

Governor-elect Bev Perdue will hold a roundtable discussion with members of the Triad-area business community on Friday, December 5 at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown. Part of a series of issue-oriented “listening” events that Governor-elect Perdue is participating in, the roundtable will focus on jobs and economic issues affecting the Triad-area and North Carolina.

WHO: Governor-elect Bev Perdue
WHAT: Roundtable discussion
WHEN: Friday, December 5, 10:00 a.m.
WHERE: Guilford Technical Community College
Medlin Campus Center
601 High Point Road
Jamestown, NC 27282

The North Carolina arm of Common Cause is honoring two Greensboro groups. From their news release:

A group of North Carolina A&T State University students and a group of Greensboro residents are being honored by Common Cause North Carolina on Saturday, December 6th for helping improve democracy in North Carolina.

The NCA&T student chapter of Common Cause is being recognized for their voter engagement work this past fall. Students knocked on more than 2000 doors in four Greensboro precincts providing voter education and registration materials. The targeted precincts traditionally have had a low voter turnout, along with a high number of unregistered citizens. Students conducted 5 canvasses during the month of October, assisting some residents to register and vote for the first time in their lives.

CCNC will also be honoring a group of citizens who came together last year to form the Greensboro Citizens for Clean Elections. These citizens, include African Americans, Democrats, Republicans, young and old and are united in their desire to bring down the costs of running for local office. They would like the North Carolina General Assembly to provide Greensboro the authority to experiment with public financing of local elections, something the town of Chapel Hill is now doing.

Common Cause North Carolina is a non partisan, non profit public interest organization that lobbies for more open, honest and accountable government. The NCA&T Common Cause chapter will be receiving the annual Democracy Youth Award. The Greensboro Citizens for Clean Elections is receiving the annual citizen activism award.

The December 6th event is held at the N.C. State University Club in Raleigh and is open to the public. For more information, go to www.commoncause/nc.org

You can find the Citizens for Clean Elections folks by clicking here.

Not to dump on their parade, but I would observe that they've just started pursuing what may be a very challenging goal, particularly since not everyone agrees that publicly financed elections are a good and noble thing. Still, good on them for getting some recognition.

T-bonds, muni bonds, corporate bonds? What's the difference?

This Slate video does a good job of describing bonds. And it's pretty cute, too. Remember "Schoolhouse Rock"? Yeah, it's like that:

White voters are gravitating toward the Republican party while Democrats are picking up more black and Hispanic votes, according to a political science professor from Atlanta who will give a public talk on 2008 election trends at UNCG tomorrow.

"You can’t understand these electoral trends without looking at numbers," said Alan Abramowitz, the Alben W. Barkley Professor of Political Science at Emory University.

His lecture is 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Weatherspoon Art Gallery Auditorium at UNCG. The event is free and open to the public.

"Forty percent of (Barack) Obama's vote cane from non-whites, with 24 percent from African-Americans and 16 percent from Hispanics," Abramowitz said, comparing that to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain. "Ninety percent McCain's votes came from whites."

He'll also look at regional differences in the voting across the nation based on the vote levels in regions and among age groups.

"I’m going to be talking about the components of the Democratic surge in 2008 and in the presidential election," he said. "It was obviously a substantial Democratic surge and uneven across demographic groups; and uneven geographically, you see, among age and race."

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.

If businesses like FedEx, Hondajet and others get incentives for doing their business somewhere, why shouldn't the common guy or gal?

In that vein of thinking, Walter Fancourt, owner of Liberty Oak restaurant, decided to open economic incentives to anyone.

He's got a series of deals labelled "Economic Incentives" that he began last week.

Times are slow for everyone, it seems. When money gets tight, fewer people eat out. So his plan is to drum up some business with a the ol' tried-and-true special.

"We're saving the economy one restaurant at a time," he said of his "incentives" plan.

Often the incentives that Greensboro City Council or the Guilford County Board of Commissioners will offer to a company for their business can be upward of several hundred thousand dollars.

So what's Fancourt think of those?

"I think it’s a good practice," he said. "I think that Greensboro needs to get things rolling, with the economy the way it is, but within reason. It can go too far. Some people want everything, but it’s got to be economically feasible."

High on the 19th floor of the Lincoln Financial Building, you can plunk down $25 and plop down next to a commissioner or congressman.

It's the elected officials reception at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, hosted by the Greensboro Partnership.
From the release:

The Greensboro Partnership is hosting an Elected Officials Reception for community and business leaders to meet local, state, and federal elected representatives. The reception is an excellent opportunity to meet the individuals who represent you. The Elected Officials Reception was developed to provide a forum for the Greensboro/Guilford County community to familiarize themselves with local, state and federal elected leaders making decisions that affect quality of life, economic development, education, transportation, etc.

Wanna go? Call 387-8331.

Scoop was propped up typing notes at this morning's 7:30 a.m. county commissioners forum when we heard something that perked us up like a cup of black coffee.

Eddie Souther, the District 4 Republican county commissioner candidate is loaded. He's got a permit to carry concealed weapons. And so does his wife. Big-time Second Amendment people, they are.

He brought it up while talking Thursday on how Guilford County could work better with other municipalities, and its citizens. Particularly with regard to the county's gun range.

"I’d like to open that up to public use," he said.

Later that day we bumped into his opponent, Board of Commissioners Chairman Kirk Perkins and at large Commissioner Paul Gibson, who was sitting next to Souther earlier at the forum.

"I was looking down to see if there was something there," Gibson said, joking, referring to maybe sighting an ankle holster.

"I'm just glad that I was at the other end of the table," Perkins said.

Now, politics around here can get fiery, but not gun-fiery. That's the stuff of rogue states, juntas and banana republics. And Guilford County politicians are a far more refined bunch than that, right? Right?

During the recent Greensboro-Guilford County elected official dinner at the swanky O.Henry, the gathered did their usual self-introductions.

They even had the reporters 'fess up. 'Scoop reluctantly agreed, even though it totally blew our cover. We stopped wearing the fedora with the "Press" card years ago.

Well, toward the end of the 20-or-so politicos and county staffers' introductions, Greensboro Councilman Mike Barber made a funny.

"I'm Mike Barber, at large county commissioner," said the commissioner-turned-councilman.

To that, Mayor Yvonne Johnson jabber her thumb at the door.

"Get out," she joked.

"Sorry," Barber chuckled, "had a little flashback there."

They were serving wine at the event, and while nobody got out of hand, we'd like to know of any special spices they used on the roast. Or maybe it was the mushrooms on the salad?

Greensboro City Council and the Guilford County Commissioners met this week to hammer out some of the plans they want to pursue with one-another over a nice roast at the O.Henry. Most notably, they sought to find places that they could combine departments and go after projects together.

The county and city have been talking about combining the planning departments for years. And Guilford County is looking for ways to streamline things lately. But what else is there?

County commissioners chairman Kirk Perkins and Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson asked members from both groups what they would like to do, if money was no object. A few projects surfaced, and here are the ones that got the most attention:

We're doing a story on this in tomorrow's paper.

We'll try to get at what's creating the holdup in the voting machines, and SPOILER ALERT, it appears that the county won't get them in time for November.

At this point, Guilford County would be about 6 percent short on the machines that they wanted in the fall election. That could mean longer waits for people who want to vote in person. Fortunately, there are options to get around Election Day crowds.

Still, it must kind of stink for those who want to be old school about their voting, or get their "I voted" sticker. So do you think that it's going to hurt the election to not be able to have as many machines as possible?

Do you keep up with the news? Can you read and write emails?

If so, you’re the type of person we want for Voterspeak ’08, a weekly online conversation about news and political tidbits on the 2008 election.

How does it work? We pose a question on a topic – examples could range from The New Yorker’s Barack Obama cover to a city parks bond referendum with a new pool. If you can write a couple paragraphs of thoughts in an email, then you’re qualified. Your comments will appear online with other regular people from the group in a roundtable discussion format.

How to get involved? Give us basic information such as your name, age, political leanings, job and other info in this form. We want moms, dads, children, immigrants, minorities, singles, students, retirees, business owners, employees and anyone with even a slight interest in voting. Email the filled-in form to county reporter Gerald Witt or state reporter Mark Binker.

We won’t give your info out to marketing or sales groups. In a few weeks, we’ll gather a group from those who email us, tell you more about how Voterspeak ’08 will work and then start up in September.

At the Hillary Clinton rally today we ran into a Guilford College senior wearing a body-sized triangular suit that had a photo of a slice of pizza.

"Loving pizza is the common denominator of human existence," Johanna Breed told Scoop. The statement might be the truest piece of almost-political rhetoric that Scoop has ever heard
(27 second mp3).

Breed said she was there to shoot for a spot as Hillary's running-mate. But after a while Breed showed her true colors. She supports Barack Obama in the presidential primary, and only happened to have the costume on hand.

"I'm actually an Obama supporter, but I just thought this was funny," she said. Though if Clinton approached her, the Guilford College art major might reconsider, Breed said (44 second mp3).

Clinton's press secretary hasn't gotten back to Scoop about the chances of a Clinton/Pepperoni ticket in 2008.

Via the GSO Clean Elections list, There is a screening in Greensboro Thursday of "Uncounted," a movie that purports to show how electronic voting machines are eating votes and changing elections. (I haven't seen it and don't know if it makes the case effectively or not.)

David Earnhardt, one of the producers, grew up in Greensboro. Screening info for North Carolina:

GREENSBORO, NC Carousel Cinemas - Battleground at Wendover Thursday, April 17, 2008 7:30 PM Hosted by Common Cause of North Carolina, North Carolina Coalition for Verified Voting, and the Progressive Democrats of America. Post film discussion with David Earnhardt.

BURLINGTON, NC
Paramount Theatre
Friday, April 18, 2008
7:00pm
Hosted by Common Cause of North Carolina, North Carolina Coalition for Verified Voting, and the Progressive Democrats of America.
Post film discussion with David Earnhardt.

Want to meet your Greensboro City Council? Wonder what the city's original 1808 deed looks like? Or maybe you've got something to say to a county commissioner.

Well, you can do any of those things at one of several open houses being held this weekend by Greensboro City Council and the Guilford County commissioners during the Heritage Festival in downtown Greensboro.

Greensboro will hold its open house 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the city hall, 300 West Washington St.

Guilford County's open house is noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Old Guilford County Courthouse, 301 West Market St.

The 'Scoop would lobby for a good ol' fashioned dunking booth somewhere in the area, but we also bet that most of our local politicians would be reluctant to climb in one of those.

Now for the really controversial polling data of the day. From Public Policy Polling:

PPP recently polled North Carolinians to find out who they pull for in the Duke-UNC basketball game. The results:

UNC 40%
Duke 24%
Don't care 36%

Maybe it's just the crowd I run with, but the number that seems off to me there is the 36 percent that don't care. We probably live in the one state in the union where people don't think ESPN is over-hyping the coming Duke-UNC (or is it UNC-Duke) showdown.

Of course, unlike with elections, polling data doesn't really reflect the likely outcome of the game...or does it?

For the record, I'm not a college basketball fan but do take sides in Lacrosse.

Because apparently we don't have enough fun and games with our own city council, the City of Charlotte is exporting its honorables to us. From a release fresh out of my e-mail:

Charlotte Mayor Patrick McCrory and the members of the Charlotte City Council will take a bus and walking tour of Greensboro, North Carolina, as part of their annual planning retreat being held at the Grandover Resort Wednesday, January 30 - Friday, February 1, 2008. The Tour of Greensboro will be conducted on Thursday, January 31 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Highlights of the tour will include a visit to the Southside Neighborhood area, the Depot, and various Downtown locations, particularly to look at the variety of housing stock and economic development projects in Greensboro.

Would it be skeptical of me to suggest that Charlotte's interest in the Gate City and the accompanying publicity has something to do with McCrory's nascent bid for governor? Well, there, I did it anyway.

For discussion:

• * Smoke 'em if you got 'em, and in North Carolina chances are you got 'em.

• * The solution to jail overcrowding? Add more people - sheriff's deputies to be precise.

• * Park and ride coming to Archdale.

You may remember the tiff between Cary Allred and Howard Coble from a few weeks back. The summary: Allred wants a federal tax law that he sees as unfair to state legislators changed, Coble hasn't gotten on the stick, Allred calls him an a**hole.

Well, Allred further explains himself in a letter to the editor today, and of course he blames Scoop for causing problems:

I simply do not like the fact that he is not being aggressive with this particular issue, which is an obvious contradiction to the 14th Amendment. It is unconstitutional because it does not provide equal protection under the law and instead serves to disproportionately benefit U.S. congressmen.

If you had pointed out in the "Scoop" that my beef is that he only has to pay 15 percent and other local and state politicians have to pay 35 percent, then people would have understood this situation better.

Rep. Coble's response regarding this issue was inadequate. He does not have to be a member of the Ways and Means Committee to introduce a bill, nor does he have to be on the committee to make things right or at least express such a stance through the introduction of a bill.

All I have received out of his office are insufficient excuses.

(Read the whole letter.)

He goes on to call Coble "ineffective" and writes "this is not a personality issue. I'm not running against him, but the little people and the little businesses deserve more aggressive representation."

And yes, Allred like Coble is a Republican and says "I happen to like Rep. Coble." Scoop hopes he never takes this kind of liking to us.

In our " 8 issues to watch in politics this year" story, we said one of the things we'd watch is whether "local boys and girls make good in statewide races?"

Named were Sen. Kay Hagan, who is running for U.S. Senate, as well as local farmer Steve Troxler, the incumbent agriculture commissioner, Jim Neal, a Chapel Hill investment banker who grew up in Greensboro and also is running for U.S. Senate and Bob Crumley, a local lawyer with his offices in Greensboro.

Left of the list was Supreme Court Justice Robert Holt Edmunds, Jr., whose official bio says he's lived in Greensboro since 1957.

Is there anyone else in statewide campaigns we're leaving off the list?

Unless you're running for office, you're probably not up on IRS forms for campaign funds.

State Rep. Cary Allred, R-Alamance, knows the laws and has a bug up his you-know-what over a federal section that favors congressmen and senators, but does not give the same deal to state and local politicians. See the IRS form here and scroll to page 6 to see the math.
Allred said he's been trying to speak to Republican U.S. Rep. Howard Coble on the problem for five years.

On Dec. 3, Allred finally got a callback. Maybe it was the last message he left for Coble.
"Would you tell that a**hole to call me?" he told state Rep. John Blust during Liberty's town parade that previous weekend.
Allred drove his Packard car in the parade and saw Blust in the crowd. Blust had ridden there with Coble, who was also in the parade.
Allred has not been bashful about his frustration with Coble.
"All he does is go around and pat people on the back and tell jokes and eat barbeque," Allred said Tuesday.

That afternoon, Coble had his say.
He said that he sent Allred's complaint to the Committee on Ways and Means in the House of Representatives. The chairman said any bill altering that rule for Congress members likely wouldn't pass, Coble said.
"He's annoyed with me that I have not taken steps to correct what he said is an error," Coble said of Allred. "I don't sit on the ways and means committee, and I'm not going to introduce a bill that goes nowhere."

And as for the beef between them? Coble said he's OK with Allred.
"He's been badmouthing me a lot, and that comes with the job," Coble said. "I'm not overly concerned with it, and I don't dislike him. If he dislikes me that's his problem."

You parents know what I'm talking about. You get your kid a bright, shiny new toy and after a few minutes of play, it gets tossed aside in favor of the packaging.

Well, I don't know what kind of wrapper a new law comes in, but according to this news release from the county commissioners association officials in the Triad are doing the equivalent of playing with the packaging:

Counties across North Carolina are moving quickly to put on the November ballot one or both of the new revenue options included in the state budget passed by the General Assembly last month. The budget included two revenue options for counties - a 0.25 percent increase in the sales tax or a 0.4 percent land transfer tax. A county can only enact one of the two options, and whichever one they enact must first be approved by voters in a referendum.

As of Aug. 30, 11 counties (Brunwsick, Chatham, Gates, Henderson, Hoke, Macon, Moore, Pender, Polk, Swain and Union) had decided to put the 0.4 percent land transfer tax option on the November ballot, nine counties (Columbus, Greene, Hertford, Lenoir, Martin, Pitt, Robeson, Sampson and Surry) were pursuing the sales tax option, and three counties (Davie, Harnett and Johnston) had decided to put both options in front of voters. In addition, four counties (Caswell, Duplin, Onslow and Pamlico) have already announced plans to pursue one of the options in next May's primary election.

Now, we already knew the Guilford County commissioners weren't high on the idea but it doesn't look like any local county is diving into a bid to use the new authority. Of course, they could just be waiting until next year to see what their budgets look like.

And after all that bother lawmakers had to go through to get this thing done.

More from the Associated Press:

County commissioners were given the authority to seek the tax increases under a bill approved by the state Legislature this year. About three-quarters of the state's 100 counties have either declined or not yet decided whether to pursue the tax options in 2007. Officials in four counties plan to pursue one option next spring, according the association.

David Young, a Buncombe County commissioner and president of the association, said counties need more revenue sources to fund school construction and build water and sewer systems.

"We cannot keep relying on the property tax to fund all of these needs," he said.

Commissioners in 11 counties decided to put the land transfer tax option on the ballot in November, while nine counties plan a sales tax referendum. Three counties _ Davie, Harnett and Johnston _ will seek both tax hikes, but only one could be implemented, according to the association.

If approved, the sales tax would increase by a quarter-penny in counties pursuing that option increase the rate most consumers pay from 6.75 percent to 7 percent. The real-estate transfer tax would rise from 0.2 percent to 0.6 percent.

"If you're a high-growth county, at some point in time, we've all looked at these options," said Terry Bralley, Davie County manager. "The right thing to do was to take both issues to the people."

The N.C. Association of Realtors vigorously opposed the land transfer tax option at the General Assembly and spent $600,000 on its campaign. The lobbying organization plans to take its opposition efforts to counties.

"There will be an organized public-education effort in the local communities, as there was at the state level," said Julie Woodson, a spokeswoman for the association.

There's a new blog on our site. Election 2007 will be a hub for our municipal election coverage this year, although we may cross-post a few choice tidbits here at Scoop.

A recent e-mail from the county Democratic Party had a bevy of city council election related dates in it. And yes, council elections are nominally nonpartisan.

There are a bevy of forums on here, but if you don't see one you're hosting on here, drop us a line in the comments field. The list from the Dems:

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30: Joel Landau Open House 6 – 7:30 p.m. Home of Jim & Lynn Bennett, 106 Tatum Place, Greensboro Meet and greet with Joel Landau, candidate for Greensboro City Council At-Large. Not a fundraiser. E-mail the Bennetts at Jrb915900@aol.com or call 286-6882.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 Democratic Women of Guilford County
6:45 p.m.
"Municipal Elections Matter: Choosing a Mayor" with Greensboro mayoral candidates Yvonne Johnson and Milton Kern. All interested voters are welcome. GCDP Headquarters, 6600-J West Market St., Greensboro For more information, call 315-5532.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18: Mayoral Candidate Forum
Noon
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Greene St., Greensboro
Sponsored by League of Women Voters. ($8 lunch optional)

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24: At-Large Candidate Forum
7 p.m.
Greensboro College Family Center, 1115 West Market St., Greensboro Sponsored by League of Women Voters.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4: Democratic Women of Guilford County
6:45 p.m.
"Municipal Elections Matter: Electing City Council Members." District and At-Large Candidates invited. All interested voters are welcome. GCDP Headquarters, 6600-J West Market St., Greensboro For more information, call 315-5532.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17 Municipal Candidates Forum
5:30 p.m., dinner ($5); 6 p.m., forum
Congregational Church of Christ, 400 W. Radiance Dr., Greensboro For more information, call Libby Bowles at 275-1919.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18: Mayoral Candidates Forum
6:45 p.m.
Nussbaum Room, Central Library, Downtown Greensboro
Sponsored by Greensboro Neighborhood Congress.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 22: District Candidates Forum
7 p.m.
Greensboro College Family Center, 1115 W. Market St., Greensboro Sponsored by League of Women Voters.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 22: At-Large Candidates Forum
6:45 p.m.
Nussbaum Room, Central Library, Downtown Greensboro
Sponsored by Greensboro Neighborhood Congress.

The Washington Post had an interesting story today about ambassadors getting political briefings:

White House aides have conducted at least half a dozen political briefings for the Bush administration's top diplomats, including a PowerPoint presentation for ambassadors with senior adviser Karl Rove that named Democratic incumbents targeted for defeat in 2008 and a "general political briefing" at the Peace Corps headquarters after the 2002 midterm elections.

The briefings, mostly run by Rove's deputies at the White House political affairs office, began in early 2001 and included detailed analyses for senior officials of the political landscape surrounding critical congressional and gubernatorial races, according to documents obtained by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Why are we, your local political enthusiasts, interested? Because of the list of those who got briefed:

The ambassadors included in the Rove briefing were Eduardo Aguirre Jr. of Spain, James P. Cain of Denmark, Alfred Hoffman Jr. of Portugal, Ronald Spogli of Italy, Craig Stapleton of France and Robert Tuttle of Britain. Gregory Slayton, the consul general to Bermuda, also attended.

Cain is a graduate of High Point Central High School and a one time executive for the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team.

The Simkins PAC seems to be back in good standing with the State Board of Elections, after getting their problem from earlier this week taken care of.

The SBOE now lists them on "Active" status.

The State Board of Elections put the George C. Simkins Memorial PAC on inactive status this month. Basically, that means the PAC can't raise or spend money until it clears up what appears to be a paperwork backlog.

Fortunately for the PAC, it looks like it’s going to get cleared up soon.

First, for background, I got a call alerting me to the following paperwork on the SBOE web page:

• Click here to read a letter dated Jan. 31 asking for the PAC's missing 2006 4th quarter report.(PDF)
• Click here to read a letter dated March 8 terminating the committee’s active status.(PDF)
• Click here to read a letter dated April 2 confirming a $500 fine.(PDF)

Like I said, this could have been a lot worse than it is for the PAC, which is named for a dentist and civil rights leader. It has been a fixture on the Greensboro political scene, particularly in the African American community, for years.

"And we're going to stay that way," said Steve Bowden, the PAC's chairman.

He and County Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston both told me earlier today that they had filed the paperwork in question and didn't know why the state didn't have it. Neither could explain why they hadn't received the notices from the state and why they didn't know about this until I called them.

"I don't know. It's probably that they're over-worked down there. They probably need some help," Alston said of the state board.

Well, the state board figured it out. The PAC filed their paperwork late and under the wrong name. (It used to be called the Guilford County Citizens PAC). According to the board, the PAC will still have to pay a $500 fine (for filing late) and is still on inactive status until they do.

By the way, when I say it could have been worse, failing to file a campaign finance report is not only subject to a civil penalty but is also a Class 2 Misdemeanor. That's what the following sentence in the March 8 letter is about:

"Further, the State Board of Elections shall consult with and notify this noncompliance to the appropriate District Attorney pursuant to provisions of G.S. 163-278.34 if the Board does not receive the report(s) by 5:00 p.m. on March 16, 2007.

Relevant references to the General Statutes can be found here and here

At any rate, let this be a lesson that campaign finance paperwork is nothing to mess around with.

Cross-posted from Capital Beat:

So the State Ethics Commission has collected ethics forms from legislators, members of the council of state and other folks who hold positions of public trust. The forms detail things like real estate holdings and stocks in one's portfolio and such.

After getting them, the commission promptly filed those away in the basement office of the state administration building here in Raleigh where no one can see them.

Well, gosh darned it, I think paperwork like that is made to be perused. So at least for our local (Guilford County) honorables, some statewide folks and a few other hangers on, we've put their ethics forms on the internets.

Click right here to go to the page where they've been collected. And if you find the link useful or have suggestions for more folks we should put up, comment below or send me an e-mail: mbinker@news-record.com

From the City of Greensboro this morning:

WHAT: Greensboro Mayor Keith Holliday will hold a press conference to make an announcement regarding future leadership in Greensboro.
WHEN: Wednesday, April 11, 2 p.m.
WHERE: J. Douglas Galyon Depot Activity Room, 236 East Washington Street.
WHO: All media are invited to attend.

Remember Greensboro's Comprehensive Plan?

Well, it may be comprehensive but that doesn't mean anyone should actually have to pay attention to the thing. From H1195 filed today:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Greensboro City Council and the Greensboro Zoning Commission are not required to make findings of fact as to whether their respective decisions are in compliance with the City's comprehensive plan when either body votes on a zoning request.

Update: Hoggard has a few thoughts.

County Commissioner Linda Shaw will apparently be spending some time in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

She has been appointed to the GOP committee arranging the party's 2008 National Convention.

Click here for the release. (pdf)

A recent Inside Scoop column had the wrong time for the Guilford Delegation’s “Take it to Raleigh” meeting, which is a chance for residents to come and tell the honorables what they should do here in Cap City when legislative festivities begin later this month.

The right time is in the following news release from Rep. Maggie Jeffus’ office:

The Guilford Legislative Delegation is scheduled to have a Public Hearing on Tuesday, January 9, 2007 in Greensboro. This hearing titled, Take It To Raleigh, will provide an opportunity for the delegation to receive input from citizens about their concerns and issues, as well as provide opportunities to receive input from local municipalities and other entities representing Guilford County”, said Representative Maggie Jeffus, Delegation Chair.

The Hearing, which will be held at the Greensboro City Council Chamber in the Melvin Municipal Building on Eugene Street from 6-8:00 p.m., is open to any citizen who would like to address the delegation.

Citizens are encouraged to come and share their thoughts with the Guilford County elected members of the North Carolina General Assembly. Speakers will be given a limited time and are asked to call (919) 733-5191 to sign up giving name, organization, address, phone number and e-mail. Organizations and individuals who need additional information are asked to contact Representative Jeffus’ office at (919) 733-5191.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Inside Scoop proudly presents The 2006 Scoopie Awards, a celebration of the year that was in local politics.

Now let us never speak of it again.

Next week: we solemnly resolve.

I have asked quite a few political consultant types over the years why they do phone calls, particularly robo-calls, when they seemed to hack voters off in a big way. The answer typically comes back, “Well, you have to remember, phone calls are cheap.”

Yeah, but are they effective? Someone must think so. From a recent Pew Center report:

Nearly two-thirds of registered voters (64%) received recorded telephone messages in the final stages of the 2006 mid-term election. These so-called “robo-calls” were the second most popular way for campaigns and political activists to reach voters, trailing only direct mail as a key tool of political communication.

Click here to read the whole thing. (PDF)

More from the release:

Some 49% of American adults got direct mail contacts from candidates in 2004, compared with 61% this year. And 10% of American adults were visited in their homes by political activists in 2004, compared with 16% this year. In contrast, the number of Americans getting email political solicitations dropped slightly from 15% in 2004 to 12% in 2006.

So e-mail use dipped a bit while direct mail went up. That seems odd, especially with “You” as the person of the year and all, but I have a dime-store explanation:

Some of the biggest and most savvy users of e-mail in 2004 were presidential candidates. No presidential race this year meant some of the big players in e-mail use were off the board. My bet is you will see a spike in e-mail use in 2008.

Also, a lot of the best campaign e-mail wouldn’t register as coming from a campaign. The type of stuff you get from your mom or sister or neighbor or buddy at work that says what a great guy Candidate X is might have been prompted by the campaign itself saying “write your friends.” But those on the receiving end wouldn’t see it as campaign spam, but as an e-mail from an acquaintance.

As for the direct mail bump, I would bet that has to do with a lack of a presidential contest. More money was available to contests lower down on the ticket, which meant more candidates could do more mailings.

You remember how we went to all the bother of putting a paper trail on the electronic voting machines so that is something bad (or malicious) happened we’d always have the paper to count?

It’s a pretty sound idea, unless of course the paper doesn’t print right, or at all. (Click here for story).

One amusing bit that I didn’t put in this story: State law apparently still requires a paper-based audit, even of machines where the printers have failed. What to do? Easy: print out the data from the machine and count that. Yes, in the case where the independent paper record was not available, the elections folks counted by had the exact same thing that was counted by computer.

You’ve probably heard Dave Phillips is the latest Guilford County resident to be chosen as a U.S. Ambassador. As Doug Clark points out, the High Pointer joints Greensboro Aldona Wos, his brother and fellow High Pointer Earl Phillips and Greensboro’s Bonnie McElveen Hunter on a pretty prestigious roster.

So here’s Scoop’s question: With all that home-grown diplomatic talent on board, you think they might be able to negotiate a truce between High Point and Greensboro?

Editorial Page Editor Allen Johnson reports the Simkins PAC endorsements today on his blog.

There are no great surprises, I guess, although the PAC did not endorse any Republicans (in partisan races) this time. For the past two election cycles the PAC board has gotten behind one Republican.

In 2002, it was Mark McDaniel in his losing bid to unseat state Sen. Kay Hagan. In 2004 it was Mike Winstead, who defeated incumbent Mike Barber in a county commissioner race.

While I have interviewed some members of the PAC board many times over the past few years, I can’t claim to have a clear insight into their process. But from what I have been told and have observed, those two endorsements for Republicans had as much to do with what PAC members perceived as failings on the Democrats' part as any real enthusiasm for the Republican challenger.

I can't think of anything that any of the Democrats running in Greensboro this year would have done to rub the PAC the wrong way, which I guess makes sense.

Critics of the PAC point out that several elected officials sit on its board, including Rep. Alma Adams and Rep. Earl Jones who are in partisan races this Tuesday. So the question comes: would the PAC ever endorse against one of its own?

At least once is the answer, says Adams, who is PAC's chairman right now. It endorsed now Congressman Mel Watt in the 1992 Democratic primary against Jones.

President Bush will be in town Wednesday and as happens when the gold truck rolls through Mayberry (yes, Eddie, I’m stealing your line) we at the paper get a touch excited.

The News & Record homepage will have updates throughout the day from our team or reporters, photographers and web personnel in the field. You can consider this post an open thread, so feel free to comment on our coverage, what you’re seeing and hearing, the President’s remarks, etc...

A presidential visit like this is a peculiar kind of Kabuki. Protocol, security precautions, a ridged schedule, and some very definite political and policy goals conspire to suck whatever spontaneity there is out of the day. The folks the President might meet at lunch, the kids and teachers at Falkener Elementary school, and yes, even us scrubby media types, are all just bit players on the outlandish stage that a sitting President brings with him anywhere he goes.

The truly impromptu, off the cuff moments will be the rarest of the day.

In care you missed it, Lex Alexander runs down the zany Internet political scene up in Rockingham County.

I’ve been doing campaign interviews with state legislative candidates for a few weeks now. The latest one was with Rep. Earl Jones, who has been around the city for a while.

The following has little to do with the campaign itself, but I found it interesting and wanted to share. We ended up talking about what was reported to be a boycott against the News & Record. (My boss took notice here.)

Well, during the 13 minutes on the following audio clip, Earl Jones says:

• He did not call for a boycott. Yes, they group he’s part of talked about a boycott, but only if things didn’t change, he said.
  
• Project Homestead was a story the paper manufactured and over-blew.
  
• The Rev. Michael King, Project Homestead’s founder, did not commit suicide as reported, but accidentally overdosed.

Click here for the audio.

The conversation, by the way, stemmed from me asking what he was doing talking to me (and our editorial board for that matter) if he was boycotting the News & Record.

Ever wonder what the folks who work for your elected officials make? Check out LegiStorm for the answer.

For example, you can see that Howard Coble’s chief of staff pulled down $39,053.63 between 1/3/06 and 3/31/06.

From a Washington Post Story on the new site:

A Web site documenting the salaries of the roughly 20,000 Capitol Hill employees went live last week -- and almost as soon came crashing down.

No, it didn't get shut down by a judge's order claiming that private information had been leaked. By law, the salaries of Hill staffers have long been available in thick books in the offices of the House and Senate clerks. The site came down because of the rush of traffic from computers housed in Congress -- and elsewhere.

It seems to be up and running fine right now.

An e-mail flashed over the Action Greensboro list-serve told us that the Greensboro Partnership is casting about for a new VP of Governmental Affairs.

What does a VP of Governmental Affairs do? According to the e-mail:

The VP of Governmental Affairs is the liaison between the Partnership and city, county, state and federal government institutions and elected officials. This position is responsible for the identification and investigation of critical legislative issues affecting the Greensboro and Guilford County business community, recommendations regarding these issues and leading partnership response in addressing these issues.

Translation: You’d be a lobbyist, policy wonk and flac for the business community.

The e-mail went on to list a number of job responsibilities for the position. Two of them caught Scoop’s eye:

• Attend meetings of the City Council and County Commission to include the City Council’s daytime briefing sessions and the County Commission’s agenda-setting meetings.
• Attend the NC Metro Alliance meetings; the Triad Legislative Caucus meetings; and visit the state legislators on a regular basis.

Take it from Scoop, we do meetings. Scoop is all about the meetings. Scoop hangs at the legislature while it’s meeting. Morning noon and night Scoop writes about the meetings. Scoop attends meetings in our dreams. It's not healthy.

If you really think you’re up for the job, then take this test. Set the alarm on your watch for 10:07 p.m. Go home. Do what ever it is you’d be doing normally.

When the alarm rings, think to yourself, “Would I really want to be watching the second hour of a City Council zoning hearing or county commissioners Billy Yow and Bruce Davis argue about some bit of personnel policy rather than be doing whatever it is I’m doing right now.”

If you’re answer is yes, either apply for the partnership job or seek professional help.

Local political junkies may be interested in this post over at Capital Beat, concerning IMPAC.

Some of interest to local folks who may not read our capital blog:

“Sit-In Movement, Inc., a non-profit organization, has secured a grant from Save America’s Treasures in the amount of $148,152 to preserve the historic former F. W. Woolworth Store located at 134 South Elm Street, Greensboro in Guilford County.”

Click here for more.

In case you haven't found them already, click here for our results stories.

And thanks to those of you who tuned into the live blog last night.

Note: updates posted in reverse chronological order.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(10 p.m.) Okay folks, it’s time to put out the paper and we have a couple of funky races coming down to the wire. Check back here in the morning for links to all the stories. And more updates will be on the main page: www.news-record.com

And remember, the Guilford County results you are seeing do not include mail-in absentee, curb-side or provisional ballots.

Have a good night.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(9:41 p.m.) The Senate 26 race between Ken Hux of Rockingham and Rick Miller of Guilford County is coming down to the wire.

But memo to Sen. Katie Dorsett: If you have 88 percent of the vote with only two precincts out, it’s okay to claim victory.

Memo to all poll watchers: there are at least 82 votes (mail in absentee ballots) that you are not seeing in your vote totals at home.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(9:08 p.m.) I think we can safely call a few races. Sen. Katie Dorsett will remain Senator. She’s winning her primary by a large margin and has no Republican challenger come fall.

And Sheriff BJ Barnes appears to have an easy win in his Republican nomination fight.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Democratic sheriff’s race looks to be going to a run off unless something changes real darn fast.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(8:42 p.m.)Pol watch: Candidates Berkley Blanks, BJ Barnes, James Zimmerman, Samuel Spagnola, Katie Dorsett are in the house.
Blogger watch: Jerry McClough is here talking up his new PAC, the TRIAD IMPAC.
Supporter watch: Supporters of both DA candidates, Hejazi and Henderson, are here.
Media watch: All us folks from the N+R are here, along with the Rhino and HPE and some kind of lost looking television folks.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(8:34 p.m.) The BOE appears to have things under control, expect results shortly.

By the way, Scoop just say former County Commissioner Bob Landreth in the hallway. When we asked, “what are you running for,” Landreth quipped, “HOME.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(8:28 p.m.) Sooo...you might be wondering where the results are. At this point in the evening, the county usually have a fair amount of precinct reporting to the web already.

Well, they’re stacking up the cartridges from the voting machines just fine. However, there seems to be a problem with the database that collects all that data. Elections Director George Gilbert and his staff are working to fix this, but he doesn’t look like a happy man right now.

Meanwhile, at the courthouse, more than two dozen pols and operatives wait with baited breath. Oh, and some journalists are griping that they’re going to blow their deadlines.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(8:11 p.m.) Still no results, but there are about a dozen people milling about the courthouse now.

By the way, if you want to see results without the annoying scroll, click here.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(8 p.m.) No results yet, but they’re working on it, so soon. I'm told to expect a few bumps along the way, as they learn to process they extra gear from the new voting equipment.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(7:44 p.m.) Sen. Katie Dorsett is in the house!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(7:42 p.m.) Well, the crowd here at the courthouse is less than a crow. Sheriff BJ Barnes is on hand, along with three reporters and two other onlookers. But it’s early yet, it takes folks a while to get in from the polls. As of this writing, no results are in yet.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(7:15 p.m.) You have 15 minutes to go vote, if you haven’t already.

Meanwhile, it’s time for the Scoop crew to pack up and head to the courthouse for an exciting evening of results watching. See you after the 7:30 p.m. turn.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(6:45 p.m.) Why are we paying so much attention to the Democratic primary in the Guilford County District Attorney race?

One reason: no Republican has won the post since 1962, says courts reporter Eric Collins.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(6:37 p.m.)From intrepid County Govt. Reporter Nate DeGraff:

The winner of the Republican primary for District 3 county commissioner will be favored to win in November, when that person will square off against Democrat Ray Riffe.

Why? Well, unlike Guilford County as a whole, which is overwhelmingly Democratic, the 40,000 registered voters in District 3 include 4,500 more Republicans than Democrats. That’s good news for tonight’s winner.

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(6:13 p.m.) Here are more links to election results from around the region from N+R web guru Michael Grossman:

• Guilford County
  
• Rockingham County
  
• Alamance County
  
• Forsyth County

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(6:04 p.m.) Scoop just heard from Guilford County elections director George Gilbert. The county’s new voting machines seem to be working well so far, he said.

“We’ve had fewer problems than I anticipated with more than 600 new pieces of equipment,” Gilbert said.

Problems? Problems? What problems George?

“The biggest problem is keeping the printers running. They occasionally jam,” Gilbert said.

For those coming late to the game, having a paper record for each electronic ballot cast was a big point of debate at the state and local levels. The idea was that if the computers were boom (either malfunctioned or were intentionally messed with) a paper record would stand to testify how people really voted.

Gilbert didn’t like the idea of paper ballots – he testified vigorously against using them – but passed up the opportunity to say “I told you so.” Yeah, he was pretty much thinking it, but it was still nice of him to take a pass.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(4:32 p.m.) Neither of Guilford County’s two sitting Republican state House members have primaries tonight. But in some parts of the state, those GOP legislative primaries are where the real action is. As Gary Pearce over at Talking About Politics put it:

For years now, Pope Republicans and Morgan Republicans have fought a civil war. It’s like the Shiites and Sunnis without the bombings.

Click here for more background.
It will be interesting to see whether this primary fight finally purges the bad blood in the state GOP, or becomes just one more bump in the rocky relationship between the two factions.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(4:15 p.m.) Sometime after 7:30 p.m., you should be able to find online election results at the following spots:

• From Guilford County BOE.
  
• From the state BOE.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(3:51 p.m.) As of about 3:30 p.m. or so, I've heard no reports of major problems with new voting equipment here in Guilford County or elsewhere. Anyone? Bueller?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(3:45 p.m.) Click here for a drinking game for this evening.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(3:17 p.m.) We have word from our Rockingham bureau that election results may be slower than normal coming in tonight. According to Rockingham Editor Bill Hancock, precincts used to send their results to headquarters via dial up. Under their new system, precinct officials have to drive into their main office. Also, a sizeable number of voters have apparently been reassigned to new precincts lately, which is expected to cause some delays. Results from our neighbors to the north are expected to post sometime around 9:30 p.m. (Guilford County has always had this issue, although the BOE posts rolling updates throughout the evening, starting shortly after 7:30 p.m. with early voting totals.)

In addition to their local races, Rockingham results figure into Senate District 26 (the Democrats vying to run against Phil Berger this fall) and U.S. House 13.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(2:55 p.m.) Before I get calls from The Chalkboard folks, no there are no school board primaries today. You’ll have to wait until November to vent your education-related frustration at the polls.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(12:58 p.m.)As mentioned earlier, we here at Inside Scoop are live blogging the primary. How is live blogging any different from, you know, regular blogging? We’re aiming to update frequently with fascinating tid bits that keep you coming back for more. All the updates will be put into the same post (this one) and start below the introduction.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, click here for a fine, if snarky, example.

A few house keeping notes.

• First, there IS an election today, no matter how cleverly the authorities appear to have concealed it from all but 7 percent of eligible voters. Those who show up will in some cases choose the winners as there is no opposition in the fall (as in the Senate District 28 primary) while others will be choosing contestants for the general election.

• Polls will be open until 7:30 p.m., so read up here and here and then go vote.

Now that’s taken care of, updates will start sometime late this afternoon and getting more frequent as polls close.

It has come to my attention that somehow the combination of live blogging and politics makes people thirst fora drinking game for some reason. Well, this here is a family blog and I don’t want to be accused of corrupting our younger readers or endangering people who might take this literally. So all of you folks -- look away.

For the rest of you, here are the rules for the Guilford County Primary Day 2006 drinking game (to be applied only once you’re safely at home and the dogs have buried your car keys in the back yard somewhere):

• If you have a campaign sign in your yard, have a beer.
• If you worked a polling place today, have two.
• Every time you hear Vernon Robinson say something nasty about Brad Miller, take a sip. (Really, pace yourself.)
• If you hear someone griping about how they wish Hoggard had run for school board, mix up some mint juleps and head directly for your porch to chew the fat about what all the primary results mean.
• If the people that you’re hanging out with cheer in response to election related news, take a drink.
• If you meet a candidate, take a drink. If a voting machine ate your vote, swish a drink around in your mouth then spit it out.
• If you meet someone who is furiously dialing to cast their vote for American Idol but didn’t vote in today’s election, give up all hope for our democracy and finish your beverage.
• If someone asks you which appellate court candidate is from Guilford County and you can answer correctly as per the official judicial voter guide, you have permission to open the top shelf booze.
• If you’re wearing an “I Voted” sticker and someone asks you if you did, in fact, vote, hand them your dregs and go get a fresh beverage.
• If Linda Shaw falls behind in her County Commissioner primary, throw your drink at the person standing next to you.
• If the election you care about will go to a run off, drink a pint of vodka and spend the rest of the night convalescing on County Government Reporter Nate DeGraff's sofa.
• If Elections Director George Gilbert starts hooking people up to lie detectors, tap a keg and cry all night about the demise of representative democracy as we know it.
• If perennial candidate Joe Rahenkamp wins, finish all beverages on hand.

You might ask yourself why we here at Inside Scoop would dedicate a crack team to live blogging Election Day today.

Well, we're not.

Nope, the live blogging won't start until sometime in the early afternoon (whenever I haul my lazy rear into the office) and will be done by the same irascible so-and-sos who usually write the government news for us. The crack team is off elsewhere.

We'll eventually set up shop at the commissioner's meeting room at the Old County courthouse tonight, although the crowd will probably be a bit limited there. Topics will include state legislative races, the fightin’ U.S. 13th and local elections.

I have no idea what this is going to look like...we've not live-blogged much before and there's still the small matter of putting out tomorrow's newspaper. But what's the worse that can happen, giving a hand-full of caffeine fueled, stressed out reporters with a penchant for being smart Alecs on deadline a direct pipeline to the outside world?

We'll see you back here this afternoon, probably three-ish. In the mean time, drop us a line in the comments section below if you have some Election Day trivia (or even news) for us.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 31) is the President's annual state of the union address. Delightfully enough, there are folks around the local blogsphere getting bloggy with it already:

• Beth at Greensboring.com posts that there will be a sort of counter-SOTU event in downtown GSO.
• Joe Killian at Automatic Writing wonders out loud whether Beth's is such a good idea.
• More local SOTU thought from Our World, Our View.
• Further a field, some MSM background via the Wx Post from Dan Froomkin and Dan Balz

So here's my question: How many of you out in Scoop-land will sit down to watch Bush's speech Tuesday night?

Geek that I am, I've watched most SOTU addresses since Reagan's second or third, and continue to do so now as a matter of professional hazard. But I also tend to get distracted during any long speech that I'm not writing about directly, and typically end up having to read it the next day.

Will you watch it? Read it? Ignore it? Listen to what someone else tells you about it? Read a summary the next day?

What do you usually take away from the speech? Is it as important to watch live today as it way maybe back in the 70s or 80s?

Update: More on this race: here, at Capital Beat.

The Rev. William Barber of Goldsboro will be the new president of the North Carolina NAACP. He defeated Melvin "Skip" Alston of Greensboro, a Guilford County commissioner who has held the post since 1996.

More in tomorrow's paper.

In other news from the election, County Commissioner Carolyn Coleman was elected first vice president of the group.

... we don't know yet. We're not expecting a result in the race for state NAACP president between Greensboro's Melvin "Skip" Alston and Goldsboro's Rev. William Barber until after 6 p.m. Voting was supposed to wrap up by 3 p.m. but got started late so their keeping the vote open late.

We'll definitely have a story in tomorrow's paper. Time permitting, I'll also post an update and let you know who won tonight.

I have some audio for you of Rev. William J. Barber II, who plans to run against Guilford County Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston to head the state's NAACP chapter. (Yes, we have that audio problem out now. This is a whole new version of a previous post.)

First things first, though. In the print column today Scoop quotes Alston as saying he hasn't been challenged for the presidency in his last two runs. The slot is up every two years.

Scoop reader Seymour Hardy Floyd wrote in to say that Alston is having a senior moment. In fact, we ran an AP story in 2001 saying that Alston had faced opposition. (The quote/paraphrase from Alston is accurate, but I should have done a better job of rifling through our archives to double check on him.) Floyd writes his take on Alston here.

On to the new stuff.

Alston, on Friday, said that he planned to run a "low key campaign" that would only begin to rally support in the days running up to the state NAACP convention on Oct. 6-8. (It will be in Greensboro).

That is not the tact that Barber is taking. (I took this picture of him this morning - sorrow about the shadows.)