More than 4 million slightly confusing voter guides went to North Carolina mailboxes last week, courtesy of the state.

So where were the listings and biographical information for the governor’s race, lieutenant governor and other big statewide contests?

Here’s the deal: The guides only cover candidates for statewide judicial offices and for three Council of State races.

That’s because those are the only candidates eligible for public campaign funding through the state’s Public Campaign Fund.

The cost of the mailings – nearly $152,000 – comes from a $3 voluntary North Carolina tax checkoff, as well as a surcharge on lawyers’ dues to the State Bar. Jim Morrill

Kissell losing TV money?

Back in July, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee bragged that the committee had reserved $1.1 million of air time for U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell in the Charlotte market. That was then.

Last week, Roll Call reported that the DCCC had canceled a second week of advertising in Kissell’s 8th District.

It reported the DCCC’s independent expenditure arm had canceled the week of Oct. 9-15. That came after it canceled the week of Oct. 2-8.

The DCCC’s counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, has been on the air against Kissell since Sept. 7. Kissell, running against Republican Richard Hudson, is widely viewed as one of the nation’s most vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Jim Morrill

GOP poll: Hudson ahead

Polls by candidates and their parties are notoriously suspect. But the National Republican Congressional Committee is touting one it did in North Carolina’s 8th District.

It shows Richard Hudson at 50 percent, with a 9-point lead over Democratic incumbent Larry Kissell.

Kissell spokesman Christopher Schuler said the Democratic campaign is not worried.

“The NRCC also had (former GOP Rep.) Robin Hayes up by double digits in 2006 and 2008, and even had Harold Johnson within a point or two in 2010,” he said. Jim Morrill

Hunt on the trail

Former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt is hitting the campaign trail for President Barack Obama over the next month, conducting what is being called a “middle-class listening tour.”

Hunt, a four-term governor, will meet at the homes of local families in the Triangle, Triad, Charlotte and Greenville to discuss the choices they face in the next election. “Gov. Hunt is one of North Carolina’s greatest advocates, and we are thrilled to have him back on the campaign trail for the president,” said Cameron French, Obama’s state campaign spokesman. News & Observer

Still time to register

North Carolina’s voter registration deadline is Oct. 12. But that comes with a caveat.

Would-be voters can also register at early voting sites. Early voting opens Oct. 18 and ends Nov. 3.

However, people who register at early voting sites will have to have their registration verified in order to have their ballots counted, a process that could take several days. Jim Morrill

More close N.C. races

A poll by the conservative Civitas Institute provides an in-depth look at how Council of State races are shaping up, and the biggest revelation is that Democrat Linda Coleman is leading Republican Dan Forest in the race to become North Carolina’s lieutenant governor.

Coleman would pick up 43 percent of the vote, while Forest would take 39 percent, according to the poll, with the remaining undecided or unwilling to participate in the survey.

Forest is within the poll’s 4 percent margin of error.

“Any name recognition is important in the so-called ‘down ballot’ races,’ Civitas President Francis X. De Luca said. “However, there were substantial numbers of undecided voters in these surveys. Last-minute campaigning and voter turnout likely will play big roles in the final outcomes.”

National Research, a New Jersey-based firm, conducted a survey of 600 registered North Carolina voters on Sept. 18 and 19. News & Observer

Early foe for Hagan?

Veteran Democratic consultant Gary Pearce believes the Democratic majority on the Wake County Board of Education made a major misstep last week in firing Superintendent Tony Tata and may have even launched him in a Senate bid in 2014.

“Even strong Democrats believe the Wake school board flunked this test,” Pearce writes in his blog, Talking About Politics. “The board majority may have done the right thing, but they sure did it the wrong way. And Democrats may pay the price. It was a mistake to fire Tony Tata without first setting out a bill of particulars. You can’t fire a superintendent, then refuse to say why because ‘it’s a personnel matter.’ ”

Pearce wrote that Tata gets a year’s pay, so he could start running against Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan in 2014. News & Observer