In recognition of today's celebration of Sunshine Day, Dome offers a rough sketch of the major gubernatorial candidates, from most to least open:

BOB ORR, REPUBLICAN: From weekly breakfasts to a daily blog, he's so open he's Mr. Cellophane.

FRED SMITH, REPUBLICAN: He'll stay late at a barbecue to chat and usually returns calls personally.

PAT MCCRORY, REPUBLICAN: It sometimes takes awhile, but he'll talk with you one-on-one.

RICHARD MOORE, DEMOCRAT: He holds open news conferences, but campaign staff members return most calls.

BILL GRAHAM, REPUBLICAN: A spokesman usually handles media inquiries, but he'll call or chat directly sometimes.

BEVERLY PERDUE, DEMOCRAT: A spokesman handles media inquiries, and she rarely gives interviews.

The rankings are entirely subjective and based on their gubernatorial campaigns, not their work in public office.

The candidates' picks

What do the NCAA brackets tell us about the gubernatorial candidates?

Dome invited the gubernatorial candidates to share with us their NCAA brackets. Perdue, Moore, Graham and Orr played along.

We now offer, with the help of our sports department, our own analysis of their picks:

BRACKET PANDERING: All four picked UNC-Chapel Hill to win. Graham picked UNC to beat Duke.

MOORE'S CORNERS: Moore must not watch much basketball. His final score for the men's championship game, 52-46, would give UNC coach Roy Williams a conniption, one sportswriter says. Or he may be thinking of the old days, when the "Four Corners" offense let UNC run out the clock.

AD 'HOMONYM' ATTACK: Moore also picked an interesting loser in the championship game: Purdue University. Clearly, that's more of a dig at his Democratic opponent than a serious bracket pick, but he wins points for humor.

SEEDING THE TICKET: Orr picked all No. 1 seeds to make it to his Final Four. That's a pretty rare outcome, our sports colleagues say.

Poll: Moore gaining

Moore is gaining ground on Perdue in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, according to new poll results by Public Policy Polling.

But the numbers also show that Moore still has a lot of ground to make up.

PPP surveyed 521 likely Democratic primary voters Monday. Perdue was the choice of 44 percent, while Moore was the favorite of 34 percent. The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

The poll found that Dennis Nielsen was the choice of 3 percent of those surveyed, while 19 percent were undecided.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Kay Hagan enjoys a comfortable lead over Chapel Hill businessman Jim Neal in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate.

The poll found that Hagan is the choice of 22 percent of those surveyed, while Neal was the preference of 11 percent. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

But the majority of voters -- 57 percent -- are undecided. The remainder 10 percent is split among three other candidates.

Tweaking the opposition

Chalk one up for Orr in the hometown of one of his rivals.

The Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg has endorsed Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor.

Orr couldn't help but point out that the endorsement did not go to one of his rivals for the GOP nomination -- McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte.

"However, I am concerned with Pat's failure once again to reach out in his own community as shown by his failure to attend [the group's] meeting," Orr said in a statement. "For a Republican to win a statewide election, it is critical to reach out to people, even those who have not traditionally supported Republicans."

Lottery foes to file appeal

It looks as if North Carolina's lottery will have at least one more day in court.

The N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law said Wednesday that it will appeal a decision Tuesday by the N.C. Court of Appeals affirming a lower court's dismissal of the group's lawsuit against how North Carolina's lottery was established.

The group, which is representing four individuals and two organizations in the lawsuit, will appeal to the N.C. Supreme Court.