In New Mexico, the search for a university president has gone bust.

A search for the next leader of New Mexico State University has been called off because the university couldn't come up with five finalists on the right timeline.

Part of the problem: A common complaint among university folks who run these searches - a requirement that the names of finalists be made public. The law on this varies from state to state; North Carolina, for example, doesn't require that finalists be made public and universities here rarely do so.

According to the press report, some of the finalists for the New Mexico State job were scared off when they learned their identities might become publicly known. 

In my Sunday column about John Edwards, I wrote: "Edwards was the strongest presidential candidate from North Carolina in the history of our nation. Whether you liked him or not, he was a big story here."

Several readers said I was wrong. One wrote: "Take a bag lunch to work tomorrow. Walk a couple of block to the capitol and feed the pigeons sitting on the heads of three more viable candidates. Wow."

I've been to the Capitol -- and I stand by my statement. Andrew Johnson and James Polk were born in North Carolina. Andrew Jackson is claimed by North Carolina and South Carolina. But each made his political career in Tennessee. None was a North Carolina resident when he ran for president or vice president, as Edwards was. For more on the limited North Carolina roots of those three presidents, click here to read a story by The N&O's Josh Shaffer.

Edwards was born in South Carolina but has spent almost his entire adult life in North Carolina.