Morning post: The Speaker is

The next Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives is not Jim Black. This according to Jim Black, who says he’s out.
Meanwhile the people who speculated that Black was going to hang on are rethinking the horse race with James Crawford and Drew Saunders getting good play. Other top names running are Joe Hackney and Dan Blue–both much more progressive than Crawford and Saunders.
As you might guess there’s plenty of talk going on today about this, like at BlueNC.
Also, timing it right on the cusp of Black’s decision, the Governor says he won’t get involved in the Speaker race.
Easley held his end of the year chat with the Capital press corps yesterday so we’ll see a lot of stories with the Governor in them over the coming days. Here’s another tidbit—Easley on not running against Dole:

“Every time I’ve had a job, it’s been an executive level where I make decisions and I don’t have to check off on a whole lot of other people,” Easley said. “I think I would find the legislative process frustrating. … I just don’t think the Senate would be my highest and best use.”

Added bonus: Here’s an audio mashup I did at the end of the session. Kinda speaks for itself.