Reflecting their strength in the polls, gubernatorial candidates Beverly Perdue, Pat McCrory and Fred Smith plan to party as the elections results come in tonight.

Perdue, the state's lieutenant governor, has invited supporters to the North Raleigh Hilton.

Her Democratic rival, state Treasurer Richard Moore, is not hosting a party. He will be available to talk to reporters after the election is decided.

McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte, plans to hold a primary night watch party at the Marriott SouthPark in Charlotte.

His chief rival, Smith, a state senator from Johnston County, will hold a smaller event for invited guests at the Hedingham Golf and Athletic Club in a subdivision one of his companies helped build in Raleigh.

Former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr will hold a party with his family at his campaign office in Raleigh's Five Points neighborhood.

And Salisbury attorney Bill Graham will host campaign staff, fundraisers and family at a private reception at his 12,000-square-foot home.

Concession precedes vote

There's something to be said for knowing when you're licked.

On Monday, the day before the Democratic primary, N.C. House candidate Stan Morse sent a copy of his concession speech via e-mail to his opponent, Sam Hart Brewer.

Morse, who is on the ballot for a seat in the 40th District, wrote that he knew Tuesday would be a busy day for reporters.

"I am sure you will have bigger fish to fry tomorrow night and won't get a chance to hear my concession speech live, so I thought I would send you my draft remarks today," Morse wrote.

Last month, Morse turned political convention on its head by endorsing Brewer. He said he signed up to run only because he thought no one else planned to challenge the Republican incumbent, Rep. Marilyn W. Avila. When Morse found out another Democrat had signed up, he quickly decided to step aside.

In the speech, Morse said he found defeat satisfying and declares his intent to drink several beers to toast Brewer's victory.

"As a lame duck candidate my hope was to lose in a landslide," Morse wrote. "I voted for Sam, and now it looks like so did my wife! That's OK. Had I won I would have demanded a recount!"

SEANC becomes a local

State workers may need to buy some purple T-shirts.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina is now affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.

At a convention May 3, the state workers organization voted by a 78 percent majority -- 524 out of 671 delegates -- to affiliate with SEIU, a national labor union representing 1.9 million people and known for its purple shirts.

"This vote marks the largest union victory ever for working people across the South -- especially in North Carolina, which previously had the lowest rate of unionization in the country," said SEANC executive director Dana Cope in a statement.

SEANC hopes to use the resources of SEIU to fight a 1959 law that keeps state workers from bargaining collectively. Currently, North Carolina is the only state with that prohibition.

The group will now be known as SEANC, SEIU Local 2008.

Beatty gets support

The Humane Society of the United States supports Bryan Beatty, the state secretary of crime control and public safety, in suspending the N.C. Highway Patrol's canine program until a review determines whether dogs were regularly mistreated.

"Secretary Beatty has done the right thing by suspending North Carolina's K9 program while a full review is pending," said Ann Church, HSUS regional director for the Eastern mountain states, in a news release. "He deserves great credit for making a politically difficult decision to step in before a dog is killed. Taxpayers deserve greater transparency of K9 training protocols, and the dogs who serve the people of North Carolina deserve to be treated humanely."

Beatty ordered the suspension after canine handlers and trainers testified in the personnel hearing of fired Sgt. Charles L. Jones that police dogs had been subjected to rough obedience techniques such as suspending them by their leashes, twirling them until they are disoriented and shocking them, The News & Observer reports.

Jones, who is trying to get his job back, was shown on a cell-phone video kicking his police dog Ricoh after suspending him from a loading dock rail. Ricoh was not seriously hurt and has been retired.

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