The first version of a recent ad for the Salisbury Republican boasts of her work helping North Carolina's military bases avoid closure.

But as the liberal Senate Guru blog and Washington-based newspaper The Hill pointed out, stock footage in the ad showed a French plane -- a Dassault Super Etendard.

A second version of the ad substituted an all-American F-15.

"Basically, our media consultant used the wrong stock footage, but it was corrected," Dole spokesman Hogan Gidley told the newspaper.

The campaign of rival Democrat Kay Hagan used the flub to argue Dole was out of touch.

"I imagine she's celebrating Bastille Day today, as well," Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan told The Hill.

Dole, Burr back drilling

North Carolina's two senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, both are co-sponsors of Republican legislation that would lift the congressional ban on offshore drilling. President Bush this week lifted his part of the ban, removing all executive branch restrictions to drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf.

The two senators were quick to release statements on the issue.

DOLE: "The solution to our energy crisis is finding more and using less. Families struggling with record high gas prices can't afford for Congress to keep energy exploration options off the table."

BURR: "Four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline has affected every family in North Carolina, and it is time for the Democrat Leadership in Congress to stop blocking action and pass long-term energy legislation like The Gas Price Reduction Act, which I have cosponsored. This legislation would lift the congressional moratorium on Outer Continental Shelf exploration by giving states the ability to opt in on energy exploration off their coasts. We need a comprehensive approach to this energy crisis that allows us to find more and use less."

Apology stuns House

Rep. Joe Boylan admitted on Tuesday that he has a problem.

In an unexpected move, the Moore County Republican asked to speak on the floor of the House on Tuesday afternoon. Reading from a short, handwritten note, he referred obliquely to his April 12 arrest on drunken driving charges and claims that he harassed state Rep. Tricia Cotham.

"My behavior over the past year has hurt a few of you, disappointed many of you and has reflected poorly on this House," he said. "For that, I am truly and deeply sorry."

Boylan, who lost the Republican primary in May, said that "with the grace of God" and the support of family and friends he would do everything he could to end the day without drinking.

"My name is Joe," he ended, in the classic Alcoholics Anonymous formulation. "I am an alcoholic, and I ask for your forgiveness and your prayers."

After a moment of stunned silence, the House clapped for a few seconds, then moved on to other matters.

Highway Patrol addendum

Dome has a clarification on the Monday story about state Highway Patrol work zone enforcement.

While N.C. Department of Transportation officials said in an interview that the number of work zone projects on interstate highways has decreased in recent years, information the agency released Monday shows that the projects have actually increased in at least the past three years.

DOT spokesman Ernie Seneca said the department let 125 projects totaling $475 million for 2005, 149 projects totaling $722 million for 2006, and 189 projects totaling $1 billion for 2007. Officials say deaths and crashes in work zones have decreased, showing that their enforcement program is working.

Broyhill gets short shrift

Someone gave Jim Broyhill a demotion.

In Republican gubernatorial nominee Pat McCrory's latest campaign finance report, the Winston-Salem resident is listed as "James Broyhill, Senator."

So far, so good. Then it lists his employer: "North Carolina General Assembly."

That part, not so good. Broyhill, you'll recall, was a congressman and then U.S. senator in the 1980s.

Next time, maybe it would make sense to just list politicians' employers as "the American people."

Incidentally, Broyhill and his wife, Louise, gave $12,000 to McCrory.