Under the Dome: GOP leader says party won't neglect N.C.

The head of the national Republican Party says he's not taking North Carolina for granted.

In Raleigh on Wednesday as part of a voter registration swing, Republican National Committee Chairman Robert "Mike" Duncan said the state will be "in the Republican column" in November, but the party will devote significant resources to get-out-the-vote efforts.

"We can't take anything for granted," he said.

Duncan said the Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, had an early organizational advantage left over from the primary effort against Hillary Rodham Clinton, but the Republican National Committee will be building up its voter registration efforts to back John McCain.

He remained optimistic that McCain will carry the state.

Duncan noted that the campaign of Obama has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising in North Carolina but still lags behind McCain in the polls here.

He also said U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes will win re-election, arguing that the Concord Republican's constituents know he is a hard worker in Washington.

Duncan added that he and Hayes live in the same apartment building in Washington and that he frequently sees Hayes coming home after working late.

Price: Let states decide

U.S. Rep. David Price says states should decide for themselves on offshore drilling.

In a conversation with reporters and editors at The News & Observer on Wednesday, the Chapel Hill Democrat called Republican efforts to end a moratorium on drilling on the outer continental shelf "political gamesmanship."

Price argued that offshore drilling will not reduce gas prices in the near future and could damage North Carolina's coast.

He blamed high gas prices on fundamental forces in the market that he does not think will change.

"I do not think we will ever see gas prices down in the $2 or $2.50 a gallon range again," he said.

Still, Price said he might support ending the moratorium as part of an overall compromise -- similar to one put forward by a bipartisan group of 10 senators -- to address energy.

"I wouldn't want to have the moratorium lifted in a way that didn't give somebody -- preferably the state of North Carolina -- the ability to identify and protect particularly sensitive areas, and I'm very strongly convinced that the North Carolina Outer Banks would be one such area," he said.

Dole pushed as running mate

A UCLA professor says John McCain should pick U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

In a column this week in the Los Angeles Times, politics professor Thomas Schwartz recommends that the presidential candidate (as well as his rival, Barack Obama) break with tradition and pick someone who is not seen as a putative successor.

Instead, he recommends a "distinguished elder statesman" who could assume the presidency but would be too old to run in eight years. He says Dole is "an obvious choice."

"She is uncommonly well-educated (Duke, Oxford, Harvard), a former federal trade commissioner, secretary of Transportation, secretary of Labor and president of the Red Cross," Schwartz wrote. "And, like McCain, she was a candidate for the 2000 presidential nomination. Born in 1936, Dole is too old to run in 2016 but is manifestly qualified to jump into the Oval Office if need be and land on her feet. She is up for re-election to the Senate this year, but North Carolina can let her run for both jobs."

Dole, 72, would probably not be too happy to be referred to as an "elder" anything, though she wouldn't mind being considered qualified for president.

Orr returns to law institute

Bob Orr is back at his old job.

The former Republican gubernatorial candidate has returned as executive director of the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law.

After retiring from the state Supreme Court, Orr had served as the nonprofit group's first head, stepping down in May of last year to run for governor.

"My work on the Supreme Court and my recent experience as a candidate for governor strengthened my belief that promoting a greater emphasis on and appreciation for the N.C. Constitution, and the rights it affords and limitations it imposes on government, is a necessary and important objective," he said in a statement.

ryan.teague.beckwith@newsobserver.com or (919) 836-4944