North Carolina Sens. Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole have dropped an effort to postpone a vote for state Republican Party chairman that is scheduled for Saturday.

Linda Daves, the party's acting chairwoman from Charlotte, is regarded as the front-runner when party leaders gather in Greensboro. Other candidates are state Sen. Andrew Brock of Mocksville and Guilford County GOP Chairman Marcus Kindley.

Neither of the senators, the highest-ranking members of the party, have endorsed a candidate. They have expressed a concern that the North Carolina GOP has not effectively been competing with the Democrats in raising money from the state's business community.

The senators have privately been floating the name of Bob Ingram of Durham, the former CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceutical company, according to GOP insiders.

Ingram was national finance chairman for Burr's 2004 Senate campaign and also hosted a Washington gala for President Bush in 2002 that raised $30 million for the president's re-election.

There's one potential problem about the Ingram trial balloon. Like many corporate executives, he gives to candidates of both parties including to Senate leader Marc Basnight and House Speaker Jim Black, both Democrats.

The state GOP Executive Committee is scheduled to meet privately Saturday at the Koury Convention Center to choose someone to fill out the unexpired term of Ferrell Blount.

Blount announced his resignation on Election Day, saying he wanted to explore running for statewide office in 2008.

Joining the senators' call for a delay were three ranking Republicans in state government-- Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and State Auditor Les Merritt.

"The timing of Ferrell's resignation caught everybody off guard," said former Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer, a political consultant who made overtures on behalf of the senators. "The senators, along with the Council of State members, were trying to get a little more time to assess the needs of the party and who could best lead the party."

But Daves would not go along with any delay.

"I think, ethically, when you put out a call for a grass-roots meeting, I don't think the leadership goes back and changes that decision," Daves said. "In my mind, there never was a question we wouldn't have an election Saturday."

She said the state's GOP leadership should "have enough respect for the grass roots and let them take care of business."

The issue could arise again at the state GOP convention this spring, which will elect a chairman for a full two-year term.

"Efforts to identity someone who can lead the party into the next cycle, with one of the primary functions fundraising, will be ongoing," Fetzer said.

Daves says she plans to seek the full term. Daves, who was first vice chairwoman, also said she believes she can be an effective fundraiser for the party.

Judge unmoved by Geddings

The judge in the trial of former lottery commissioner Kevin L. Geddings has denied a request by Geddings to overrule the jury verdict last month that found him guilty on five counts of mail fraud.

Geddings, a former Charlotte political consultant who now owns a radio station in Florida, is to be sentenced in February for his role in hiding ties to lottery company Scientific Games after taking a seat on the lottery commission.

Geddings' lawyers argued in a recent filing that the government hadn't proven that Geddings mailed some of the documents in question and that the underlying law in the case -- that Geddings owes a duty of "honest services" to the public -- was too vague.

U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III disagreed in an order filed on Tuesday that lets the jury verdict stand.

Dever wrote that the evidence in the trial "more than sufficiently" established Geddings' guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.