N.C. voter participation swelled in 2008

Democracy North Carolina says 2008 was the Year of the Voter.

In a year-end recap, the nonpartisan voting rights group says high interest in the Democratic primary and the November elections made this a banner year for voter participation.

A few of the numbers it cites:

VOTER TURNOUT: North Carolina led the nation with the biggest increase in voter turnout since 2004. A record 4.35 million Tar Heels cast ballots in the general election, a big jump over the 3.55 million in 2004 and a 70 percent turnout of 6.2 million registered voters, compared with the 64 percent turnout in 2004.

EARLY VOTING: A record 2.4 million people voted at 368 early voting sites across the state. That's more than double the number who voted at the 250 sites in the 2004 general election. An additional 228,000 voted absentee by mail, bringing the total number of early voters to 2.64 million, or 61 percent of all voters.

SAME-DAY VOTING: During 2008, just over 49,000 registered and voted the same day in the primary and an additional 188,000 did so during the general election. About half of them were first-time voters in their county.

BLACK VOTERS: More than 1 million African-Americans voted in North Carolina in 2008. In 2004, only 59 percent of registered black voters turned out, compared with 66 percent of registered whites. But in 2008, a record 74 percent voted, surpassing the rate of whites (69 percent) for the first time.

Still, African-Americans had room for improvement. One-third of voting-age blacks didn't vote in 2008.

La. governor speaks

Bobby Jindal will speak in Raleigh on Feb. 4.

The Louisiana governor, a rising star in Republican circles, will be the keynote speaker at the John Locke Foundation's 19th anniversary celebration.

Jindal was touted as a possible vice presidential candidate this year and is considered a potential presidential candidate in 2012.

He will speak at an evening reception and dinner at the Marriott Crabtree Valley. Tickets are available online or by calling 919-828-3876. Individual tickets cost $60.

Past speakers include conservative columnists George Will and Peggy Noonan, former independent counsel Ken Starr and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol.

Blogger pens a novel

One of the state's most prolific bloggers has gone old-school.

Liberal blogger James Protzman, one of the founders of the influential progressive group blog BlueNC, has written a novel called "Jesus Swept."

The book focuses on the boundary between religion and politics in American life, something that the Chapel Hill resident has often written about in a more sharp-tongued manner on his blog.

In a press release, Protzman said the novel is a response to the growth of cultural power among religious conservatives and a "challenge to those who believe their ideas about what is right and good are morally superior."

Drawing on the works of Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins, the novel centers on a 19-year-old who becomes "a new Jesus" after finding a silver bracelet at Myrtle Beach.

It is published through Kitsune Books of Florida and available at Amazon.com. Protzman says he is at work on a second novel, to be called "Plaid."

How key post evolved

The commerce secretary to be appointed soon by Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue is one of the most important Cabinet positions.

As the head of the N.C. Department of Commerce, the appointee of the governor works to recruit and retain major employers, negotiate corporate incentives and boost state tourism.

It's been a fairly high-profile position. Past secretaries include some heavyweight political figures such as future U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth, former U.S. Sen. Jim Broyhill and longtime political insider (and one-time would-be gubernatorial candidate) Norris Tolson.

But it wasn't always this way.

The Commerce Department was created in 1971 under the administration of Gov. Bob Scott mostly as an umbrella for pre-existing regulatory agencies on such pedestrian subjects as alcohol, banking, cemeteries and, of all things, milk.

Under Gov. Jim Hunt's administration in 1977, it was reconstituted to focus on expanding and recruiting new business and managing the state's economic development efforts and energy resources.