State Democratic Party Chairman David Young, whose party took a drubbing last month, announced Wednesday that he would not seek another term as party chief.
Young, who owns an Asheville travel agency, said he would step down when the state executive committee meets in late January.
He had been widely criticized in the party for not being a very visible presence as his party lost control of the state legislature for the first time since 1898, saw Republican Sen. Richard Burr re-elected, and lost a congressional seat.
Young was often compared unfavorably with state GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer, who played an aggressive, high-profile role.
In a statement, Young thanked the party and Gov. Bev Perdue for allowing him to serve, and he put the best possible face on the losses.
"While we did not reach all of our goals this year, we returned seven U.S. representatives to Congress and elected Democrats who will work with Governor Perdue and fight to protect working families, preserve our classrooms, and continue to make North Carolina among the top states in the nation for creating jobs and business growth."
David Parker, 56, a lawyer from Lake Norman, immediately announced his candidacy for the job. Parker is a veteran of Democratic politics. He is a member of the Democratic National Committee and a former party first vice chairman; he managed Sen. Terry Sanford's 1992 re-election campaign.
"I think we have to revitalize and re-empower the grassroots all across North Carolina," Parker said. He added that he was already working on a plan to begin the effort immediately if he should be elected.
He said that the Democrats would emphasize jobs and that the Republicans don't have the answers.
Parker said the Republican platform "from Art Pope and the Koch brothers does not do anything to create jobs." (He was referring to conservative fundraisers who helped finance GOP victories this past fall.)
Parker, who grew up in Raleigh, said he was willing to come frequently to the capital to lead the party.
Obama to visit N.C.
President Barack Obama will travel to the Winston-Salem area on Monday for an official event related to the economy. It will be his first trip into the state since his party, in his words, took a "shellacking" in the midterm election.
The White House refused to release further details about the visit, , but Triad TV station WXII Channel 12 reported that Obama will visit Forsyth Technical Community College.
It will be Obama's fourth trip to North Carolina since he became president.
His last visit to the Tar Heel state was in April, a largely off-the-record weekend vacation in Asheville with his wife, Michelle.
A few weeks before that trip, he went to Charlotte to tout the health reform bill.
With two years before the next presidential election, North Carolina remains a politically important state for Obama. He narrowly won the state in 2008. Republicans have done better since then, taking over the state General Assembly in November.
But in Congress, the state lost just one Democrat, U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge of Lillington, who was defeated in his largely rural district by tea party activist Renee Ellmers.
In North Carolina, Obama remains in a close race with four potential GOP candidates, according to a survey released Monday by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm in Raleigh.
Obama remains statistically tied with Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, according to the survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.
The same survey showed a 45 percent job approval rating for Obama in the state, with a 51 percent disapproval rating.
On Monday, Obama will head to the hometown of Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, who easily won a second term in November. U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, is from the neighboring city of Greensboro.
Fair delegates in Vegas
No matter how desperate the state is for revenue, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler has not dispatched employees to Las Vegas in hopes of hitting the jackpot.
Five N.C. State Fair employees are in Vegas this week, but they aren't gambling state dollars. Spokesman Brian Long said they are attending the annual convention of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions.
And it isn't costing the taxpayers a dime. The State Fair and its facilities are self-supporting, generating revenue through the annual 11-day fair and other events held at the fairgrounds throughout the year.
Three staffers' expenses are being paid from those State Fair revenues. The other two are traveling on their own dime except for convention registration, which was paid by State Fair revenues, Long said.
In addition, three employees associated with the Mountain State Fair, which the department operates each September near Asheville, are also at the convention. Their expenses are being paid from Mountain State Fair revenues.
The IAFE convention draws several thousand people each year from across the U.S. and other countries. The program is filled with workshops, symposiums and panel discussions covering a variety of topics related to operating a fair or festival.
It is also an important venue for making contacts with managers of entertainment acts, Long said. A lot of the grounds entertainment acts and Dorton Arena concerts for the State Fair come about as the result of contacts made at the IAFE convention.
Staff writers Rob Christensen, Barbara Barrett and Deborah Jackson contributed to this report.
