Jerry Meek, who for the past four years has presided over a resurgent state Democratic Party, said he plans to step down as party chairman at the end of his term in January.

"It's unlikely I could do anything in six years that I didn't do in four," Meek said.

The state Democratic Executive Committee will meet Jan. 31 to choose a new party chief, Meek said. Typically, the party chairman is chosen by the governor, in this case Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue.

But Meek, who was elected without the support of Gov. Mike Easley, said he thought it was likely that party leaders would want to choose their own leader.

"They feel more empowered than in the past," Meek said. "Even though Governor Perdue is well-liked among the party leadership, I doubt we will ever return to where one person handpicks the party chair."

Meek presided over a period of Democratic success, retaining the governorship, control of the state legislature and picking up a U.S. Senate seat, two congressional seats and the state auditor's office.

Meek said he was equally proud of the efforts of the party under his leadership to modernize in terms of finances, technology and grass-roots outreach. The e-mail list of supporters has grown from 5,000 to 400,000, for example.

Meek has become a partner in the law firm of Poyner and Spruill and plans to split his time between Charlotte and Raleigh.

Party at Highway Patrol office

Community groups looking for free space to hold events might want to contact the captain of the state Highway Patrol's Troop C headquarters on Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh.

On Saturday night, the patrol's captain, James Williams Jr., allowed one of his sergeants, Kenneth McCray, to use the headquarters' auditorium for an awards party for his son's Pop Warner football team.

Patrol spokesman Capt. Everett Clendenin said the patrol administration didn't know about the event, and he was unaware of any other outside groups using the auditorium in the past.

But after checking into it, Clendenin said he could find nothing in the patrol's policy against it.

"It was up to the captain, and he approved it," Clendenin said.

The patrol would have to arrange for the gates of the Troop C facility to be open during weekends so community groups could use the auditorium. The gates are typically closed.

The auditorium comfortably holds 50 people and has a stage. Those who use it would have to clean up after themselves.

Dole dubious of bailout

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, back on Capitol Hill for the lame-duck session this week, told Detroit auto executives of her skepticism about lending billions of federal tax dollars to bail them out of trouble.

In a lengthy Senate Banking hearing Tuesday, the Salisbury Republican mentioned the $700 billion federal bailout approved in September. She said she doesn't think much has come of it so far.

"Like so many North Carolinians I've heard from, I continue to be very skeptical of this newly enacted law is turning out to be the 'blank check' that so many of us feared," Dole said in her opening statement.

She added later: "Without fundamental changes in the automotive industry, we'd just be throwing taxpayers' dollars at firms that will inevitably go under."

Also Tuesday, Dole, who just lost her seat to Democratic challenger Kay Hagan, attended the weekly GOP luncheon at the U.S. Capitol.

Auto dealers call for help

Car dealers angling for an auto industry bailout have launched advertising to encourage constituents to contact their members of Congress -- but so far they're having limited success.

A full-page ad in Wednesday's News & Observer urged readers to call a toll-free number, "press 2 if you're a concerned American" and then type in a ZIP code to be connected to their local senators or House members.

The ad was bought by a retail company that does advertising for General Motors dealers.

Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, had received just a handful of pro-bailout calls as of midmorning Wednesday, a spokesman said.

Burr has said he would only support a bailout with a top-to-bottom restructuring of the auto companies' business models.

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