Obama is scheduled to visit Durham for a session with his jobs council on how Washington can encourage private-sector hiring.

The DNC said Friday that the convention would be the first financed by grass-roots activists and rank-and-file party members.

The Democratic National Committee plans to pay for its 2012 convention nominating President Barack Obama without donations from political action committees or corporations, a change from past gatherings.

The group is airing ads in five states, including North Carolina, accusing Republicans of blocking progress on the economy.

North Carolina representatives weigh in about their schedules and whether they think they should be in Washington.

The vice presidential nominee made her second stop in NC to hold a Road To Victory rally.

The Democratic vice presidential candidate will speak Thursday at Charlotte, Raleigh and Winston-Salem.

His campaign said Thursday that McCain will speak at a rally in Fayetteville on Tuesday. Musician Hank Williams Jr. is scheduled to perform.

Barack Obama will spend the next few days in Asheville before his upcoming debate with John McCain.

The senator will be in Wilmington for a town hall meeting.

The White House released additional details Friday morning in regards to President Barack Obama's visit to Forsyth Tech Community College Monday.

Jobs, tax cuts, the economy and home-grown products were the main focuses of President Obama's speech at Forsyth Technical Community College.

Commission co-chairman Erskine Bowles, a Greensboro native, said the decision was victorious because the panel's nonpartisan deliberations showed it's possible to have an "adult conversation" about cutting the deficit.

So far, about 1,400 National Guard soldiers were being deployed around Alabama.