Ads slightly overstate Dole's voting with Bush

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has voted with President Bush 88 percent of the time.

Recent ads by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and releases from the campaign of Democratic candidate Kay Hagan have said Dole, a Salisbury Republican, votes with Bush 92 percent of the time.

But a representative of Congressional Quarterly said Wednesday that the number is incorrect because it improperly averages the yearly scores it gives members of Congress.

That's because the editors of the Washington news service use a different number of votes in their calculations each year, depending on whether the president had a clear position before the vote was taken.

(Imagine that a senator voted with Bush 100 percent of the time on 10 votes and 50 percent of the time on 20 votes. The average would not be 75 percent, or 150 divided by 2, but 66 percent, or 20 out of 30.)

Congressional Quarterly recently calculated the vote scores during the entire Bush administration, including votes cast up until the August recess, which have not been available until now.

The result shows Dole 4 percentage points lower than the Democratic committee has claimed.

Christian tapped as troubleshooter

With yet another state mental hospital in danger of losing federal funding after a patient's death, Dempsey Benton, head of the state Department of Health and Human Services, has tapped a familiar face to help fix the facility.

Patsy Christian, who was forced to resign in June as director of Central Regional Hospital in Butner after she commissioned a portrait of herself with money intended to benefit patients, was dispatched to Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro on Tuesday after regulators issued a critical report.

Though an SBI investigation requested by Benton to determine whether Christian violated state purchasing laws is still unresolved, Benton said through a spokesman Wednesday that her 30 years as a nurse and hospital administrator qualified her for troubleshooting the problems at Cherry.

After she stepped down as director at Central, Benton created a new administrative position for Christian that kept her on the state payroll to "improve quality management and compliance with regulatory requirements." Her salary is $114,056.

Perdue checks her swing, too late

Democratic Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue almost conceded the gubernatorial race during Tuesday night's debate with her Republican opponent, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory.

During a discussion of her proposal to make community college tuition-free in North Carolina, Perdue started to call McCrory, "governor."

"I don't know if the gov ... if the mayor ... if Patrick's opposition ... " she said.

McCrory quickly interjected, "She got it right."

Perdue responded, "I hope not, Patrick."

Senate campaigns

Dole presented her crime-fighting efforts to nearly 700 law enforcement officials at an anti-gang conference in Durham on Wednesday.

Dole said she had won $1.2 million for a Charlotte anti-gang program, co-sponsored legislation that includes new penalties for gang activity and more money for prevention programs, and helped sheriffs set up programs to deport illegal immigrants charged with crime.

Dole was given a plaque by the association, which did not invite her opponents in the Senate race.

"This isn't a political rally," said Fayetteville police Capt. Mark Bridgeman. He said Dole was invited because she is a U.S. senator and co-sponsored the anti-gang legislation and "provides a lot of the tools that we would like to see for law enforcement."

What tools?

Bridgeman couldn't remember.

"I'm drawing a blank," he said.

Hagan is holding meetings in Durham, Charlotte and Asheboro starting today to talk about her anti-gang agenda.