State Sen. Fred Smith of Clayton won a straw poll over the weekend among activists who attended the N.C. Republican Party's GOP Hall of Fame dinner.

Smith got 127 votes, former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr received 46 votes, and Salisbury lawyer Bill Graham got 30 votes in an unscientific survey of who party loyalists liked in the Republican primary for governor.

Article above published in the News & Observer, Under the Dome column on November 20, 2007, available online HERE.