Smith fuels run with barbecue

State Sen. Fred Smith of Clayton spent $90,670 on barbecue in 2007, according to his latest campaign finance reports.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate has been touring the state in a motorhome, holding old-fashioned pig pickin's to meet with voters.

Jonathan Hill, Smith's campaign manager, said his staffers have tasted some of the state's very best, including the 'cue at Alston Bridges in Shelby, Bullock's Bar B Cue in Durham and Hursey's Barbecue in Burlington.

They also went to Hill's personal favorite, Parker's Barbecue in Wilson.

Hill, who grew up in Dunn, used to go to Wilson to eat with his brother, who was attending Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College). His mother would always make him wash his hands before eating, and he found that the food was always ready when he came back.

"Every time I go to Parker's, I order and go wash my hands," Hill said. "When I come back, the barbecue'll be there, piping hot."

Still doing business

Tom Fetzer may not work for Bill Graham anymore, but they're still in real estate together.

The Republican political consultant and his former client, who is running for the GOP nomination for governor, co-own a building in downtown Raleigh.

Fetzer and Graham bought the two-story brick building at 709 Hillsborough St. on March 31, 2006, for $1.2 million, according to Wake County property records. At the time, Fetzer was advising Graham's campaign to cap the state gas tax.

The Fetzer-Stephens consulting firm is now located in the building, which was built in 1875.

The building was bought with two loans: $1 million to Fetzer and Graham from SunTrust in Cary, and $250,000 to Fetzer by the Community Bank of Rowan, where Graham serves on the board of directors.

Graham spokesman Aaron Lay said Graham does not own the building, however. He said Graham co-signed the loan in the same way that parents of a teenager might co-sign for a car loan.

Other than that, he declined to add details.

"I won't get into a business or personal matter," he said. "That's aside from the campaign."

Jones' anti-abortion bill

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a Farmville Republican, has co-sponsored an anti-abortion bill in Congress that would require doctors to perform ultrasounds on pregnant women before performing an abortion.

Doctors would have to provide women with medical descriptions of the images and offer women the opportunity to view the results. The description would have to include the dimensions of the fetus and the presence of limbs or internal organs, if visible.

The requirement would not apply to women seeking abortions to save their own lives.

Doctors could be fined up to $100,000 for a first offense of not following the bill's provisions, and individual patients could file civil actions against doctors who perform an abortion without following the ultrasound requirement.

The bill, called the Ultrasound Informed Consent Act, HR 5032, was introduced by U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican. Last week marked the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

Price on the primaries

What's the most complicated way to pick a president?

Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, will speak today in Meredith College's Jones Chapel about the intricacies of the presidential primary process.

The convocation "Is This Any Way to Elect a President?" is part of Meredith's speaker series on ethical leadership. The speech is open to the public and will begin at 10 a.m.

Melyssa Allen, Meredith's assistant director for marketing and communications, said Price was selected because of his insight into the Democratic Party's primary procedures.

Price, a former Duke University political science professor, served as staff director of a commission led by Gov. Jim Hunt that revised the rules for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination.

As co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling, Price recently helped revise the party's timeline for the 2008 primaries.

(Correspondent Sam Wineka contributed to this report.)

OVERHEARD

'Most of what he says is crap.'

- John Edwards, Former North Carolina Senator, talking about television commentator Bill O'Reilly during an appearance on the "Late Show with David Letterman"