Howard Lee ponders run against Dole

Add Howard Lee to the list of Democrats floated as a possible challenger to Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole next year.

The chairman of the State Board of Education said Monday that he has talked to a couple of people about the race, but is not actively pursuing it.

"There have been some people who have talked to me," Lee said. "It's fascinating and I'm flattered, but right now I'm happy with what I'm doing.

"I will never say never. But right now it's not on my radar screen."

Lee, 73, is a member of the State Utilities Commission. His political career dates to 1969, when he was elected mayor of Chapel Hill, the first black mayor elected in the South.

Lee has served in the state Senate and as secretary of natural resources and community development under Gov. Jim Hunt, and lost a close race for lieutenant governor in 1976.

Lee said he didn't think age would be a factor. Dole is 70.

"Probably one would have to be concerned with what role race would continue to play in these races," Lee said. "Maybe even gender. But I don't see that as a major factor."

State Rep. Grier Martin continues to be strongly interested in running against Dole.

"I'm giving it a serious look," he said Monday. "I'm going through a deliberative process. I haven't set a timetable."

Martin, a Raleigh Democrat, was in Greensboro on Saturday night working the crowd at the Democratic Party's Sanford-Hunt dinner.

Martin has also met with leaders of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington and has been talking with consultants. Martin, 38, a lawyer and two-term legislator, is a major in the Army Reserves. He served 6 1/2 months active duty in Afghanistan in 2002-03.

Other Democrats looking at the race include state Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro and former state Senate Majority leader Ted Kaplan of Winston-Salem.

Spreading democracy

U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, left Monday for a trip to Colombia in his continuing efforts to spread democracy.

Price is leading a delegation of six other congressional members to Bogota and Medellin. Price is the chairman of the House Democracy Assistance Commission, a group of lawmakers who form partnerships with emerging democracies around the world.

In Colombia, the group will meet with President Alvaro Uribe and members of the nation's congress. As in other trips, the group will lead sessions on drafting bills, oversight of the executive branch and developing research.

The group will meet with union leaders and the Colombian trade minister to talk about a pending U.S.-Colombia trade agreement. Members will talk with the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights and the nation's military leaders about human rights in Colombia. And they will visit U.S. assistance programs meant to offer alternatives to coca farmers.

The group returns Friday.

Congress returns to Washington next week after its August recess.

Transportation talk

Gov. Mike Easley will meet today with top legislators about transportation.

The meeting could be a signal that a special session is unlikely to be called to address the state's growing demand for road repair, new roads and mass transit.

The legislature did not address the issue in this year's session, focusing instead on such things as Medicaid costs for counties.

Easley said he hopes to appoint a study group, and neither House Speaker Joe Hackney nor Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight has pushed for a special session. Easley will meet with Hackney and Basnight at 1:30 p.m. in the state Capitol.

Good barb hunting?

Former Gov. Jim Hunt seemed to some to be getting in a dig at his successor over the weekend at the Democrat's second Sanford-Hunt dinner in Greensboro.

"Unlike some governors," Hunt said in a speech, according to a secondhand report, "I know all the precinct and county chairs."

That was seen as a gig at Easley, who is famous for being uninvolved in party matters. Easley was not at the party dinner.

(Mark Johnson of The Charlotte Observer contributed to this report.)