Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have given some money to North Carolina's superdelegates.

According to campaign-finance information on Open Secrets, the two Democratic presidential candidates' leadership committees have given a total of $15,000 in recent years to two elected Tar Heels who could play a role in deciding the presidential nomination.

That's a fraction of the $890,000 they have given overall to candidates who are now superdelegates.

In both cases, the money went to first-time candidates in North Carolina.

Clinton's HILLPAC gave $5,000 to U.S. Rep. Brad Miller's campaign when he first ran in 2002. (It donated the same amount to losing candidates Chris Kouri and Erskine Bowles that year.)

Obama's Hope Fund PAC gave $10,000 to Rep. Heath Shuler's campaign when he first ran in 2006.

Fewer Perdue ads on TV

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue is pulling back on TV advertising.

According to records of ad buys at WRAL, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate has just one day of advertising this week: seven spots airing Tuesday.

By contrast, the station aired 24 spots for Perdue between Feb. 12-18, and 58 spots between Feb. 5-11.

Last week, Perdue's campaign slammed rival Richard Moore for pulling his ads off the air, arguing it was because they were "not resonating with the voters."

Moore's campaign said they were saving their money in case the presidential race got hotter.

Perdue spokesman David Kochman said that the campaign will make a final decision on advertising today, but if it pulls back, it will be because of Moore's drawdown.

"Richard Moore called a timeout with all the polling showing him down by double digits," he told Dome. "We're deciding whether we're going to accept that timeout as well."

Investing in clean businesses

Moore backs a plan to use the market to address global warming.

The state treasurer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate announced Monday that he hopes to use the state's pension fund to invest in companies promoting energy-efficient technology.

"As a large investor, North Carolina can help encourage the marketplace to support energy-efficient opportunities that are also highly profitable," he said in a statement.

North Carolina joins a coalition of 50 U.S. and European institutional investors who are committing to investing $10 billion in so-called "clean technology" over the next two years.

The plan was announced at the Investor Summit on Climate Risk hosted by the Ceres coalition. Pension fund managers in California, Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania also signed the plan.

The agreement does not commit any of North Carolina's money, since the goal is collective.

"It's not binding," said Ceres spokesman Peyton Fleming.

When in the Dean Dome ...

Gov. Mike Easley was called out at the UNC-Virginia Tech basketball game Saturday for not turning it blue.

A camera zoomed in on him, and a message on the arena screen demanded, "Put your shirt on."

Everyone at the game was given a Carolina blue T-shirt, and most people in attendance were wearing it.

Easley was not, though, until he saw his face on the big screen. He quickly put on the argyle-patterned T-shirt and flashed a smile to the camera.

Vice President Burr?

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr continues to get some attention as a possible vice presidential running mate for likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

But it's hardly unanimous.

The Kansas City Star this weekend included the Winston-Salem Republican on a list of potential vice presidents, noting he "has some buzz going for him in the party, but is unknown outside."

A similar article in the Washington Post, however, failed to mention Burr.

It focused instead on Haley Barbour, Charlie Crist, Mike Huckabee, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Condoleezza Rice and Mark Sanford.

Rep. Lewis picked for RNC

State Rep. David Lewis, 36, a farm equipment dealer from Dunn, has been elected to a seat on the Republican National Committee.

Lewis was chosen over the weekend by the state GOP executive committee to fill the post recently vacated by former state Rep. Ed McMahan.

He will be one of three North Carolinians on the national party's governing body.

(Correspondent Karin Dryhurst contributed to this report. )