RALEIGH, N.C. — A defamation lawsuit filed against North Carolina’s attorney general will not go to trial next week as scheduled.Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith, III issued a stay in the case on Wednesday, delaying the eight-year-old dispute once again. Attorneys for Attorney General Roy Cooper had asked the judge for time to appeal Smith’s decision not to issue a summary judgment in the case.

Cooper has previously sought to get the slander lawsuit thrown out. His former campaign rival, Dan Boyce, filed the case at the beginning of the decade over a campaign ad Cooper ran during the 2000 race.

Democrats have pointed to Cooper as a possible challenger to Republican Sen. Richard Burr next year. The attorney general had a private meeting with President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is backing a legislative effort to protect consumers from unscrupulous debt collectors.

The Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would provide new protections against people who buy bad consumer debt and then turn up the heat trying to collect. Cooper urged the committee’s members to back the bill, which now heads to the Senate floor.

The measure says debt buyers are guilty of unfair practices if they try collecting a debt without documents showing they’re the ones actually owed the money.

Debt collectors also cannot try to pursue the money after a deadline has passed or if they fail to give 45 days written notice before going to court.

Attorney General Roy Cooper answers 10 questions, WRAL reports.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Democrats in North Carolina are expanding their search for a Senate challenger after one party prospect pulled his name from consideration.

North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler said Tuesday he wanted to spend his time focusing on reviving the economy rather than campaigning statewide against Republican Sen. Richard Burr. Burr faces re-election next year.

Political consultant Morgan Jackson said Attorney General Roy Cooper, who is considering the job, probably won’t decide on a Senate run for a few more months.

Several others have been mentioned as prospects but have remained mum. Both Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and former State Treasurer Richard Moore said they have no plans but didn’t want to rule anything out.

RALEIGH, N.C.- The monthly meeting of the North Carolina Council of State has been overshadowed by the death of former Insurance Commissioner Jim Long.

Gov. Beverly Perdue opened Tuesday’s meeting with a moment of silence for Long, who died Monday at age 68. Long served 24 years on the council while he was commissioner, and he retired last month. Long suffered a stroke two weeks ago.

Attorney General Roy Cooper wore a red tie and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall a red scarf in memory of Long, who always wore a red tie in honor of his father.

Long’s death subdued an otherwise historic meeting. Six of the 10 council members are women following the November election. The female majority is a first for the state.

Exceptional black turnout made the Democratic sweep at the top of the ballot possible, but it begs the question: are Democrats going to be able to knock off Richard Burr in 2010 if turnout returns to more standard patterns?

RALEIGH, N.C. – A turf battle between Attorney General Roy Cooper and State Treasurer Richard Moore may be more than just two state agencies vying for power in North Carolina.

It could preview a Democratic race to challenge Republican Sen. Richard Burr.

Cooper and Moore are among the top Democratic names mentioned as possible hopefuls following Democrats’ successful November election as the party begins early planning to expand its margins in Congress. Democratic strategist Gary Pearce said both men are strong candidates with the tools to win.

The two already appear to be jostling for position as they’re locked in a dispute in New York federal court over who has the power to hire attorneys on the state’s behalf.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Attorney General Roy Cooper sought another four-year term in Tuesday’s election, facing challenger Bob Crumley for the job of North Carolina’s top law officer.

Cooper, 51, is a Democrat seeking a third term. Crumley, also 51, is a Republican law firm executive from Asheboro.

While Cooper’s two predecessors each ran for governor after two terms, the 51-year-old former state legislator from Rocky Mount instead chose to seek another term as attorney general because, he said, there are “so many issues to tackle.”
 
Cooper pointed to his record during the past eight years, saying he fought meth labs, sued to protect North Carolina from out-of-state polluters and worked to keep the state’s children safe from Internet predators.

But his most publicized act during his latest term came in April 2007, when he tossed out the remaining charges against three Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape. In declaring them innocent, he said at the time that no DNA supported the woman’s story.

Footage from that news conference was used in Cooper’s first campaign ad, which went on to say the attorney general helped modernize the state’s crime lab and added dozens of DNA experts.

Crumley has criticized Cooper for opening a new lab in Greensboro that doesn’t have the equipment to perform DNA testing, and said officials have told him it still takes several months for analysis of crime lab evidence to be returned to law enforcement.
 
Crumley has been involved in Republican campaigns since the 1970s, and he launched an unsuccessful bid for the state Senate in 2002. His law firm, Crumley and Associates, has 13 offices in North and South Carolina and focuses on auto accidents, Social Security and workers’ compensation cases.