Weekly Wrap: Early voting brings presidential candidates, questionable Common Core texts and Sen. Berger's home sale

Early voting has begun for North Carolina's March 3 primaries, which means candidates are picking up the pace of their campaign rallies.

Democratic presidential candidates Mike Bloomberg and Bernie Sanders made swings through the state, and others are expected to follow in the next two weeks. The number of appearance might pale to past elections, however, as North Carolina has joined more than a dozen other states holding primaries on "Super Tuesday," meaning candidates will be stretched fairly thin across the country.

Campaign ads and signs are another matter, though, with more than $30 million flowing into state campaigns over the last six months of 2019, according to new campaign finance records.

Then there is the question of more than a million text messages and emails that state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson sent to parents and teachers to ask their opinions on the Common Core curriculum. Parents provided their contact information to schools for updates on school schedules and emergencies, and the information was in a state database. Johnson is running for lieutenant governor, not another four years as state superintendent, and some people criticized the texts and emails as a political move. An ethics complaint was filed against him.

An ethics complaint also was filed against Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, who used campaign donations to pay himself rent on a home in Raleigh where he stayed while in session, and he then sold the home for a profit to a lobbyist who also happens to be the son of Tom Apodaca, his former right-hand man in the Senate.