For $20, you can eat like Edwards on Thursday

Nothing says "Thanksgiving" like some traditional family recipes -- and campaign contributions.

John Edwards' campaign thinks so. The campaign is offering five recipes from members of the Edwards "campaign family" in exchange for a contribution of $20.08 (the year of the election).

For your $20.08 (or more), the campaign will send recipes for:

* Bread pudding (Elizabeth Edwards' recipe).

* Sweet potatoes with apples, and mushroom soup (recipes from campaign manager David Bonior and wife Judy).

* Old Fashioned Down on the Farm Country Stuffing (recipe by consultant Joe Trippi and wife Kathy Lash).

* Mac 'n' Cheese (one of John Edwards' favorites).

On the cutting-room floor

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue thought enough of a profile by a Western North Carolina television station to post the report on YouTube.

But not before her campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor did a little editing.

The Perdue version of the segment by ABC affiliate WLOS omits the ending. That's when reporter Russ Bowen says Perdue took responsibility for her campaign's failure to report occupation information for many of her contributors.

The lapse in campaign finance reporting had earlier led Perdue to say her campaign would be "held to a higher standard of openness and transparency."

Campaign spokesman David Kochman said, "The lieutenant governor did an interview with that reporter, and that's what we posted."

GOP activists choose Smith

State Sen. Fred Smith of Clayton won a straw poll over the weekend among activists who attended the N.C. Republican Party's GOP Hall of Fame dinner.

Smith got 127 votes, former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr received 46 votes, and Salisbury lawyer Bill Graham got 30 votes in an unscientific survey of who party loyalists liked in the Republican primary for governor.

Smith seeks supporters' 10-4

Smith is borrowing from police lingo for a new fundraiser.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate has started a "10-4 Fred Team" to promote his campaign. Members are asked to forward an e-mail message about the team to 10 or more friends, donate $10 to the campaign and personally ask 10 or more people to vote for him.

In return, they get a "collector's quality" 10-4 Fred Team pin. Supporters can sign up on his Web site.

The number comes from so-called 10-codes used on police radios, where it means "over and out."

Another push for benefits

U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, wrote Monday to new Attorney General Michael Mukasey to ask him to continue recent progress on a federal law offering benefits to some deceased emergency response workers.

Etheridge is the lead sponsor of the Hometown Heroes act, which gives financial benefits to survivors of firefighters, law enforcement agents and emergency responders who die of heart attack or stroke related to their service.

Although the law passed with overwhelming support from Congress and President Bush, it has taken years for the Department of Justice to write regulations and begin implementing the benefits.

Etheridge wrote that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales made progress in the past two months.

Support for border agents

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a Farmville Republican, also wrote to Mukasey on Monday. He did so to express his continued support of two convicted U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Jones asked Mukasey for a full review of the federal criminal case against Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who are serving prison time in the shooting of a suspected drug smuggler.

Jones wrote that the recent arrest of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, raises doubts about his testimony against the two agents.

Davila has been charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, and with possession with intent to distribute marijuana in September and October 2005, Jones wrote.

"This revelation underscores the terrible miscarriage of justice committed against Ramos and Compean," Jones wrote.

Jones wants Mukasey to support an indictment of perjury against Davila because, he said, Davila may have given false testimony during the trial against the agents.

Jones also wants a new trial for the agents.