In politics, money follows power -- and it was true for Republican candidates who were on the rise all year and then took control of the state legislature on Election Day.

An analysis by the News & Observer of campaign finance records shows that Republicans in the state House and Senate posted big gains in their fundraising efforts, with many key members of the GOP doubling their take over the past two years.

Some Democrats brought in more money this year, too, but one who didn't is the biggest money-raiser on that side of the aisle: Senate leader Marc Basnight.

Basnight, in charge of the Senate for 18 years, saw his fundraising drop by 9 percent from 2008 to 2010, the analysis shows.

Much has been made already about the influence of outside money on the legislative races, sums that aided Republicans and brought them closer overall to what Democrats in North Carolina have been able to raise while in power.

But another scorecard is how much the candidates themselves brought in.

We've assembled a chart of the heavy hitter money-raisers over the past four state legislative election cycles. (Click below to read full post, which includes a link to the chart.)

At a news conference Thursday, state Republican Party chairman Tom Fetzer said the party will file a request for documents related to the state Board of Election's ongoing probe of airplane flights by candidates.

The party put out a news release about its intention to file a records request.

Requesting documents is a basic part of our work here, and we don't generally announce when we make a request.

But last month, we made the same request for documents and we began discussions with state elections officials about what is going on, and those talks are ongoing.

We can say, based on that work, that....

The state Board of Elections will call Ruffin Poole to testify next week in an aspect of its mostly concluded probe involving former Gov. Mike Easley.

The board wanted to hear from Poole in October, but Poole refused and fought the board's efforts to the state Court of Appeals. The court said he should testify, but the board's hearing had wrapped up.

Testimony in the hearing showed that Poole was involved in fundraising for Easley from a developer at the same time that Poole was a key aide to the governor in resolving permitting, board appointments and other regulatory matters. Poole was known as a fix-it man for Easley and records show he handled a wide range of issues close to the governor.

The state board will meet Thursday, Dec. 17, at 10 a.m. and the first item on the agenda will be Ruffin Poole, said elections director Gary Bartlett. The meeting will be at the board's office in downtown Raleigh.

Poole on Tuesday resigned his spot on the Golden LEAF foundation, a board the controls millions in tobacco settlement money that flows to North Carolina. 

Today's hearing officially begins at 11 a.m., but if history is a guide there will be delays. The board could go into a closed session to discuss legal matters. It also could take up the Wake County school board runoff issue. And there could be general delays to work out any technical glitches. Stay tuned to newsobserver.com and this blog for updates throughout the day.

Testimony from Scott Falmlen in Florida led to a statement that he had made "purposeful misstatements."

Former state auditor Ralph Campbell Jr. and Fayetteville car dealer Robert F. Bleecker have been issued subpoenas for the Easley hearing, which begins Monday.

Our friends at Under the Dome have a nice recap of past state Board of Elections hearings.

The state board has issued subpoenas for the Easley hearing. They include a "who's-who" of the state Democratic Party. Read story here.

Two former Republican lawmakers want elections chairman Larry Leake to step aside from the Easley hearing. Leake says he doesn't plan to.

Please use this spot to discuss the ongoing hearing by the state Board of Elections. We will keep a link to the discussion at the top of the Investigations blog, so you do not have to scroll down to find this posting each time you want to return to catch up on the chatter. This is also why you don't see the comment function turned on at other posts. We hope doing it this way proves helpful, and please feel free to let us know what you think.