RALEIGH, N.C.  – North Carolina’s state employee pension funds need an additional $359 million from the Legislature during the next two years to keep them financially sound, State Treasurer Janet Cowell said Thursday.

The news from Cowell, who became treasurer just last month, further burdens lawmakers drawing up a state government spending plan for the next two years by quantifying the retirement system’s needs.

The plan, which covers 820,000 state and local government employees, teachers, emergency responders and retirees, is cited regularly among the healthiest in the country. But the funds lost $17 billion in value in 2008 as the nation entered a recession, falling to $60 billion.

Cowell said recently she would ask the General Assembly for $29 million more in the next fiscal year than the roughly $400 million the pension funds already receive annually from the state. But she said a steeper increase probably would be necessary for the year that begins in July 2010 because of the recent losses.

With Thursday’s announcement, she is setting the need for additional funding for the 2010-11 fiscal year to about $329 million. The estimate follows an actuarial review of the plan by an outside consultant.

The Legislature will have to agree to make this contribution level.

“I understand that this news comes at a time when families, local and state governments and the private sector are tightening their belts,” Cowell said in a news release. “However, it is important for budget-writers to take these costs into consideration as they craft their respective budgets.”

The request doesn’t change how much money the 535,000 public employees covered by the plans must contribute to the pension. They are required by law to put 6 percent of their pay into the retirement system.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – So many North Carolina residents are unemployed that the state has borrowed $13 million from the federal government in order to pay their benefits this week.

Employment Security Commission spokesman Larry Parker said Thursday that the money covered two days of payments and that the state may have to borrow again Monday. The state has a $540 million line of credit with the federal government.

The loans are interest-free if repaid by October.

North Carolina last borrowed money for the unemployment insurance trust fund in 2002, when it borrowed 23 times.

In December, the state had an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent, the highest since June 2003. Nearly 397,000 people were unemployed then, although not all receive benefits.

Officials with the state health plan said they will need a special appropriation of $300 million this fiscal year to keep the plan running and another $1.2 billion by 2011.

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama, who rewrote the book on presidential fundraising, amassed more than $745 million during his marathon campaign, more than twice the amount obtained by his rival, Republican John McCain.In his latest finance report, Obama reported raising $104 million in more than five weeks immediately before and after Election Day. It was his second biggest fundraising period and a fitting coda to a successful presidential bid that shattered fundraising records.

In the end, Obama still had $30 million left over. Overall, Obama exceeded the combined finances of the two major parties’ nominees four years ago. George W. Bush and John Kerry pulled in a total of $653 million in the 2004 primary and general election campaigns, including federal public financing money.

Obama’s prowess at attracting money, one of the many characteristics that defined his campaign, could well spell the end of a 30-year experiment in public financing of presidential contests.

After initially vowing to take public funds if McCain did, Obama became the first presidential candidate since the campaign finance reforms of the 1970s to raise private donations during the general election.

The final numbers underscore how pivotal the two candidates’ strategies were for funding their general election campaigns: McCain accepted $84 million in taxpayer money through the public financing system; Obama gambled that he could raise far more from private money.

The two campaigns spent identical amounts in June, $25.6 million each. But from there the numbers diverged widely in September and October when the Obama financial juggernaut swamped McCain. By the end, the Democrat was outspending his rival four to one. The reports submitted by the campaigns on Thursday covered the period from Oct. 15 to Nov. 24.

McCain relied heavily on the Republican National Committee to help narrow the financial discrepancy. But even with the party resources Obama had a vast money advantage.

The party committee couldn’t escape one of its most awkward moments of the campaign. After spending nearly $150,000 on clothing and accessories for McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin in September, the party reported spending more than $23,000 in additional accessories in the latest finance document. The spending ranged from $4,384 at Saks Fifth Ave. to $2,130 at Nieman Marcus to small purchases at Wal-Mart and CVS.

Party spokesman Alex Conant said Thursday that the expenditures listed in the party’s October and December reports “were the result of coordinated expenditures at the campaign’s direction.”

“Accessories have been returned, inventoried, and will be appropriately dispersed to various charities,” Conant said.

The RNC reported raising $75 million during the latest reporting period. Overall this year, the party committee raised $322 million.

It ended with $13.5 million cash on hand. The Democratic National Committee reported raising $36.5 million in its latest filing, for a total of $186 million for the year. The party had $8.7 million cash on hand, but it also reported owing $5 million on a line of credit.

Obama’s campaign said nearly 4 million donors contributed to his campaign.

But while Obama has made much of his large number of donors, the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute found that Obama collected about 26 percent of his total haul from people who gave less than $200 – about the same as President George W. Bush did in his 2004 campaign.

And like other campaigns, Obama’s relied for nearly half of its fundraising on big donors, those who gave $1,000 or more, a finding that “should make one think twice before describing small donors as the financial engine of the Obama campaign,” the institute reported.

Obama reported having nearly $30 million in the bank at the end of the reporting period and nearly $600,000 in debts. McCain reported $4 million in the bank, nearly $5 million in debts and $1 million owed to the campaign committee. McCain also filed a report for a compliance fund, used to cover expenses associated with his acceptance of public funds. He reported $25 million left over in that account.