• Obama capitalists: Two Triangle-area venture capitalists and equity players have bundled a combined $1 million for the president’s campaign.

• Stop the presses: “Representative Deborah Ross and her husband, Steve, enjoyed the Hopscotch music festival in downtown Raleigh and a free concert by the NC Symphony this weekend.”

• A big supporter: “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be in North Carolina tomorrow for a pair of events stumping for gubernatorial hopeful Pat McCrory. Christie will speak at a Catawba College rally Thursday afternoon, as well as meet with top volunteers from the McCrory campaign. That evening, he’ll speak at a fundraiser for the former mayor of Charlotte.”

• Better late than never: Trailing McCrory in the polls and still not known by nearly half the state’s voters, Dalton hopes the statewide TV advertising campaign will provide his candidacy with a much needed boost. But the fact that the sitting lieutenant governor is running his first ad in mid-September introducing himself to voters – complete with footage of him in his hometown of Rutherfordton – shows how far he has to go in the final eight weeks.”

• Taking the gloves off: “Mark Meadows and Hayden Rogers traded blows Wednesday over entitlement spending, education and taxes in a debate that drew the sharpest contrasts yet between the two men running for Congress in the 11th District.”

• Hands off China, please: “DLA Piper, a global law firm noted for high-profile attorneys, should rethink its work for China’s ZTE Corp, two Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged. Representatives Sue Myrick of North Carolina and Frank Wolf of Virginia, staunch critics of China’s human-rights record, sent the request to DLA Piper on Thursday.”

• An NLRB strike: “Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina and chairwoman of the higher-education subcommittee, accused the current NLRB as having ‘a reputation for advancing expensive, job destroying changes to federal labor policies that undermine the rights of workers and employers,’ and of seeking to expand its authority over private colleges in ways that will ‘make it more difficult for colleges to offer a quality education at an affordable price.'”

• Surprise, surprise: The liberal NRDC Action Fund said its North Carolina “Dirty Air Villains” are Republicans Sen. Richard Burr and Reps. Renee Ellmers, Virginia Foxx, and Patrick McHenry, while the state’s “Clean Air Heroes” are Democrats Sen. Kay Hagan and Reps. Brad Miller, David Price, and Mel Watt.