Then you might try one of the personalized workout plans suggested by the Republican gubernatorial candidates last week during a debate on health care:

WEIGHT WATCHERS: Salisbury attorney Bill Graham says he doesn't get enough exercise, but he tries to watch his weight. "I don't exercise as I should," he said. "I'll admit that."

MAYOR McSTRESS: Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory says he loses weight--at work. "As mayor of a major city, sometimes I use stress as a way to lose weight," he said. "That's not the way to do it."

RUNNING MAN: Former Supreme Court justice Bob Orr says he exercises three days a week, even while campaigning. "I certainly wouldn't recommend running for governor as a healthy lifestyle," Orr said.

PICKIN' PIG: State Sen. Fred Smith said he sticks to barbecue on his 100-county tour. "I make sure I don't eat any hush puppies or potatoes," he said.

Ethics panel lifts veil

So what has the Ethics Commission been up to?

State law requires the commission to keep secret much of its work. But once a year, the commission makes public the number of complaints it receives.

In 2007, the commission received 73 complaints.

Only five of those met the legal requirements to move forward, said Perry Newson, the commission's executive director. Newson said many people seemed confused about what the commission does. Lots of complaints were against people the commission doesn't regulate, such as divorce lawyers.

Others were improperly filed and the complainant dropped the matter, perhaps not wanting to swear to the allegations.

Of the five the commission accepted, two were dismissed after some investigation. Three are pending before the commission.

Almost a scoop

Dome came close to ferreting out some secret information at the meeting of the Ethics Commission on Friday.

OK, it wasn't any super-sleuthing on Dome's part. A commission member almost spilled the beans about an case involving a state senator.

By law, the commission has to consider ethics matters in closed session, and even the names of people involved are secret.

But early in the meeting, when commissioners received their standard reminder about conflicts of interest, member Jerry Blackmon raised his hand. He said he may have a potential conflict when it comes to the matter of "Senator..."

That's when Commission Chairman Robert Farmer and Newson stopped him. They would discuss the potential conflict in closed session, Newson said.

The latest from the polls

* Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are running neck and neck among likely Democratic voters in North Carolina, according to numbers released Friday by Public Policy Polling.

The group surveyed 553 likely Democratic voters Wednesday and found that Obama was the choice of 42 percent; Clinton was the choice of 40 percent.

The margin of error was plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

* Beverly Perdue continues to lead Richard Moore in the Democratic race for governor, according to the survey by Public Policy Polling.

The latest numbers show Perdue to be the choice of 45 percent of likely Democratic voters. Moore was the choice of 31 percent. Dennis Nielsen was the choice of 4 percent.

* Democrats apparently don't have a clue who they want to take on Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, according to the survey by Public Policy Polling.

The group's poll found that 21 percent prefer state Sen. Kay Hagan. Jim Neal was the choice of 7 percent, John Ross Hendrix was the choice of 6 percent, and Duskin Lassiter was the choice of 5 percent. Howard Staley was the choice of 1 percent.

But 61 percent said they are still undecided.

OVERHEARD

'I don't even think Jim Hunt has that many friends.'

- UNC President Erskine Bowles, congratulating UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser on the successful conclusion of a $2.38 billion fundraising campaign, which included donations from 193,000 people