Miller reported spending $1.7 million on his re-election campaign to the 13th District seat, compared with Robinson's $2.08 million, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Robinson's total was less than the $3 million he raised in 2004, when he nearly won the GOP nomination to the 5th District congressional seat won by Virginia Foxx.

While Robinson spent more money than Miller, large amounts of Robinson's money were plowed back into his direct mail fundraising operation.

Robinson was among the national leaders in fundraising among challengers.

More typical was the 4th District, where Democratic incumbent David Price spent $591,800 and GOP challenger Steve Acuff spent $42,503.

Democrat Bob Etheridge, who represents the 2nd District, spent $744,070 while his Republican opponent, Dan Mansell, spent $55,839.

In the 11th District in Western North Carolina, Democrat Heath Shuler spent $1.7 million in upsetting Republican Rep. Charles Taylor, who spent $3.8 million. That includes $2.7 million that Taylor loaned his own campaign.

In the closely contested 8th District, Republican Rep. Robin Hayes spent $2.4 million in squeaking out a victory over Democrat Larry Kissell, who spent $642,496.

Edwards impersonator ready

Few people are more excited about John Edwards' entry into the presidential contest than comedian Frank King.

King, a Raleigh native who lives in the Los Angeles area, began impersonating the former North Carolina senator and former vice presidential candidate during the 2004 campaign.

So he is looking forward to future bookings on TV and on the corporate speaking circuit now that Edwards is back on the campaign trail.

"I look and sound so much like John Edwards," King said, "I should qualify for my own Secret Service detail."

King notes that he doesn't have to fake a North Carolina accent.

And King says he has some things in common with Edwards -- they both have degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and both have working class backgrounds.

They also, King notes, both have a good head of hair.

Med school, Charlotte flirt

Will UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Medicine set up a branch campus in Charlotte, or won't it?

Dr. William L. Roper, dean of the medical school, sounded upbeat about the prospect speaking at a recent conference in Raleigh, hosted by the N.C. Institute of Medicine.

UNC and the private, nonprofit Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte confirmed in early December they are studying the possibility of establishing a satellite UNC campus in the Queen City.

"We wouldn't be going forward with the study if we didn't think it had serious potential," Roper said to the assembled crowd, who had met to discuss ways to ensure North Carolina maintains a robust supply of doctors.

It could just be Dome's vivid imagination, but Dr. James McDeavitt, a senior vice president at Carolinas HealthCare who also spoke at the Raleigh conference, sounded more tentative.

"We are not dating, we are not going steady," he said of the possible venture with UNC. "We're just talking."