Look for Raleigh’s New Bern Avenue to be crammed with TV trucks Wednesday as the media camps out to see who will be called to testify before the federal Grand Jury. We hear that the former head of fund raising for both Governors Perdue and Easley will be among those taking the stand. There have been other subpoenas issued.

While on the subject, Democrats (and some in the media) have tried to contend that news leaks about a federal investigation into Governor Perdue’s campaign were a last-minute Republican political ploy. That dog won’t hunt.

We first learned about the federal investigation not from the fibbies or U.S. Attorney, but from The News and Observer. It was the good reporting of Michael Biesecker that first hinted at any federal involvement. Wake DA Colon Willoughby, a Democrat, spilled the beans.

“News of the federal investigation broke after Willoughby said potential witnesses contacted in his investigation had received orders to appear before the federal grand jury,” Biesecker stated in his story. Obviously the federal case had been underway for some time and Willoughby was just acknowledging it as a matter of fact.

Regarding partisanship and attempts to influence elections quite the contrary might be the case. We understand that indictments in the Easley campaign investigations have been withheld until after the election and will be released simultaneously, an obvious attempt by both the federal and state prosecutors to avoid influencing the election.