If one of Jimmy Carter's Cabinet secretaries volunteered his services to the state, how do you think North Carolina's Democratic leadership would react?

Put yourself in House Speaker Jim Black's shoes. A federal grand jury is subpoenaing your records. A Republican federal prosecutor who already has two Democratic scalps on his belt is poking around.

North Carolina's lottery came into the world as an ugly little bugger that only a mother could love -- screaming, spewing and soiling itself.

Raleigh's most famous politician no longer lives in Raleigh.

Whoops. Talk about bad timing. Andy Taylor has a new book out about how Republicans are likely to dominate American politics into the foreseeable future.

Ella Baker, the most influential woman in North Carolina history, did not exactly invent Rosa Parks.

Call it the Matt Santos factor, named for the fictional Hispanic presidential candidate played by actor Jimmy Smits on "The West Wing" who has gone from long-shot candidate to Democratic presidential nominee.

'Free At Last." So blared the headline in The Carolina Times after the black majority of Warren County took control of county politics in 1982.

RBC Centura is moving its headquarters to Raleigh. Uncork the champagne. Roll out the red carpet. Send over a casserole.

'Dad used to say that politics was like bad whiskey," Erskine Bowles once told me sitting in a Down East barbecue joint. "It's really tough to drink. Once it's in your system, it's impossible to get out."

A country-boy mini-dynasty gave birth to the post-World War II progressive wing of the state Democratic Party.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco called Gov. Mike Easley last week to wish North Carolina good luck with Ophelia. Easley said he sure appreciated the call.