NEW BERN - The star of the North Carolina GOP convention this weekend wasn't present and isn't even a Republican -- it was Democratic state House Speaker Jim Black.

Everywhere one went during the three-day convention that ends this morning with a prayer breakfast, Republicans were praying that the controversies surrounding Black will help them survive and perhaps even prosper in difficult midterm elections in November.

"The hard-working, decent people of North Carolina are disgusted by so much of what we've seen in the papers, and trust me folks, they're taking notice," U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole said at the convention Saturday night. "It is time for a change."

Republicans might need some help if the public opinion polls are to be believed. President Bush, who handily won the state 19 months ago has seen his popularity sharply decline in North Carolina, as it has across the nation, mainly because of the war in Iraq. And with the decline, two of the favorite congressmen of Republican Party activists -- Robin Hayes of Concord and Charles Taylor of Brevard -- have become more vulnerable, according to several polls.

The party also has just come through a bruising primary battle, where the state organization defeated former co-House Speaker Rep. Richard Morgan, the highest-ranking Republican in the legislature because of his close association with Black.

Apparently concerned about party divisions, state GOP Chairman Ferrell Blount barred the news media from covering official convention business -- consideration of resolutions, platform and other matters -- where the 546 delegates had a chance to talk from the convention floor.

Reporters were permitted to hear only speakers officially sanctioned by the party.

Republicans hope to do well in November by stressing issues that they think play well with voters, including restricting illegal immigration, opposing homosexual marriages and cutting taxes, most notably the state gas tax.

"Voters are really upset right now," said state Sen. Andrew Brock, the deputy Senate Republican whip from Mocksville. "A lot of it has to do with illegal immigration. They see it in the schools, they see it in the hospitals and they see it in accidents involving drunk driving. That cuts across Democratic and Republican lines."

But their ace in the hole might be Black, the four-term Democratic speaker from the Charlotte suburbs. His actions and those of his allies have been the subject of multiple investigations revolving around the passage of the state lottery, political fundraising and legislative favors for optometrists and the video poker industry.

A Black mark

Republicans say in recent months, the controversies swirling around Black have metastasized from an inside-the-Beltline dust-up to a full-blown scandal that has the state's attention.

During a recent visit to Southeastern Middle School in Rowan County, Brock said, an eighth-grader "asked what was the relationship between Jim Black and Meredith Norris." Norris was a former Black aide and his unpaid political director, who was hired by a lottery company to help push through the lottery. She was recently charged with a misdemeanor for failing to register as a lobbyist.

"I think the Republican Party will improve this time because the Democrats kept Black," said Willie Ray Starling, a state House candidate from Mount Olive. State Sen. Fred Smith of Clayton, a likely GOP gubernatorial candidate in 2008, said the Black controversy could have far-reaching political effects.

"The crisis in confidence in the speaker's office underlines why we need to change the management in Raleigh both in the General Assembly and in the governor's mansion," Smith said. "We need public officials who perform with honesty, openness and diligence and especially integrity."

It would not take much for Republicans to win the state House, where Democrats hold a slim 63-57 margin. But the GOP faces a more difficult task in winning the state Senate, where Democrats hold a 29-21 majority. All legislative seats are up in November.

The House and Senate Republican caucuses plan to meet this week to plot a joint campaign strategy, said state Rep. Paul Stam of Apex.

Republicans also have to worry about their own scandals out of Washington, including lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others.

But Martha Jenkins of Chapel Hill, president of the Federation of Republican Women, said she doesn't think the Washington scandals cut as deeply as the controversies in Raleigh.

"The public does not care about Abramoff," Jenkins said. "They don't understand it."

But Black doing favors for his fellow optometrists by requiring all new school children to get eye exams is something everyone can understand, she said.

This is a so-called "blue moon" election that occurs in North Carolina every 12 years. Because there are no major statewide races for governor, Senate or president, voter turnout is expected to be low. In 1994, the state's last blue moon election, Republicans won a landslide.

The dividing line

Republicans spent part of the convention in workshops oiling up their political machinery to turn out the vote. They also plan to raise issues that will mobilize their conservative base.

Speaker after speaker denounced same-sex marriages, and the proposed platform sharply condemned homosexuality.

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones of Farmville held up an enlarged copy of a page from a book for elementary school students, called "King and Kings," that deals with same-sex marriages. Jones said many parents would find such material inappropriate and that he is sponsoring legislation that would require states that receive federal school funds to set up parental committees to review books available in the schools.

"This is what separates us from the other party," Jones said.

Jones said that the book was on the list of books approved by the state Department of Public Instruction and that at least one school system, New Hanover County, had made the book available in its library.

There seemed to be few public notes of discord at the convention. Much of the business was conducted behind closed doors.

"We have emerged from some difficult primaries," Blount said. "We have emerged a stronger party."