Over the last few days, residents of Wake County, N.C. -- the site of a nationally watched battle over its school diversity policy -- have been receiving calls from phone pollsters asking for their views on the county's education future.

Yesterday, Facing South editor Sue Sturgis received one of the automated poll calls. But the question of who's behind it is a mystery: The number traces back to a line in Conyers, Georgia that doesn't pick up, and at no time during the "robo-poll" was information provided about who was doing the survey.

Such anonymous automated calls are likely in violation of North Carolina consumer protection laws, which require that the "name and contact information" of the person or group making the call be clearly identified.

When Sen. Kay Hagan (NC-D) announced earlier this month -- after months of vacillation -- her support for a health care reform bill that included a "public option" to compete with private insurance, advocates of reform were thrilled.

Not so happy: Key forces in the health industry who are still fighting bitterly -- and have spent millions of dollars in lobbying, advocacy and contributions to key politicians -- to preserve the status quo.

Newly-released federal campaign finance records reveal the intense interest health industry leaders have focused on Sen. Hagan, a first-year senator sitting on a key committee crafting the reform legislation.

Cross-posted at Facing South

At today's memorial for John Hope Franklin at Duke University, playwright Emily Mann -- daughter of historian Arthur Mann, a close friend of Franklin's -- related one of many illuminating personal stories about the pioneering historian and scholar. In a conversation about the North Carolina political landscape, someone asked Franklin "Where did Jesse Helms come from?" Franklin quickly replied, "From hell" -- "not missing a beat," Mann said.