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Jay Ovittore knows a thing or two about painting, blogging and playing the drums. But can he beat a seventy-something Republican who's been in Washington since The B-52s' "Love Shack" was a hit?

Ovittore thinks so. He wants to challenge Howard Coble, a well-known Republican from Guilford's Alamance Church community. Coble has represented us — we in the 6th Congressional District of central North Carolina, including parts of Guilford and six other counties — since 1989.

"People are always looking for different," Ovittore said Monday, "and I'm your different."

And how. Coble is 76; Ovittore, 34. Coble is comfortable in a straw pork-pie hat. Ovittore is comfortable with his Chinese dragon tattoo on his right forearm, one of more than a dozen tattoos he has.

Ovittore has never held an elected office. But he's the past president of the Young Democrats of Guilford County and serves on the Human Relations Commission in Greensboro.

We at Scoop know he's driven. Just read his blog, http://jovittore.blogspot.com. Or hear him play the drums, which he did last weekend playing Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" with The Radials during a house party in Greensboro's Aycock Historic District.

But Ovittore doesn't have the blues about his chances. He wants to go to Capitol Hill as a drum-playing, painting contractor with a mission of improving health care, jobs, education and the lives of tobacco farmers.

He'll announce his candidacy Nov. 15 at Greensboro's Phill G. McDonald Plaza.

A Gibson-Alston standoff?

Now that county commissioners Paul Gibson and Melvin "Skip" Alston have expressed some degree of interest in seeking Kay Hagan's state Senate seat, the intriguing possibility of a May primary between the rival Democrats emerges.

According to Alston, it's possible. Hagan, a Democrat who represents District 27, is seeking the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Elizabeth Dole.

"If Paul's the only one that runs, and he's unopposed, then I will be getting out there," Alston said.

There's no love lost between Gibson and Alston, who have been battling one another on county issues such as jail crowding and non profit funding.

Gibson, the chairman, this year called Alston "the most despicable man I've ever met in my life." And Alston called Gibson "the sorriest chairman we ever had on this board."

Both commissioners will face re-election in 2008, but Alston represents a district while Gibson holds an at-large seat. They won't run against each other.

Unless, of course, they both decide to run for Hagan's seat.

Fox returns

Brenda Jones Fox is back on the job as Guilford County's finance director, but the controversy surrounding her suspension may just be heating up.

Fox, who had been on paid administrative leave, returned to work Monday after a conversation on Friday with her boss, County Manager David McNeill. County commissioners put McNeill in charge of Fox many months ago; before that, the commissioners were her immediate supervisors.

McNeill declined to comment on the reasons for Fox's suspension other than to say the matter has been resolved. Fox, who did not return telephone calls Monday, had been on leave since Oct. 17.

"I haven't asked the manager too many questions," Gibson said. "That was something that fell under his purview."

Alston, the board's vice chairman, said it was his understanding that an employee had filed a complaint against Fox, but that from what he'd gathered, "it did not involve her directly."

Alston called Fox's suspension an "overreaction by the manager," adding that he would "call for him to apologize to her at the next meeting."

"You don't suspend somebody and embarrass a senior employee like that without having your facts together first," he said.

Backing Moore

Like the kids choosing up sides for kickball, local pols are picking teams for the 2008 primaries. In the latest round, Greensboro Democratic Reps. Maggie Jeffus and Pricey Harrison signed onto a letter from "women legislators" backing State Treasurer Richard Moore in the governor's race.

Moore and Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue are the two major Democratic candidates in the race.

Last week, Perdue landed an endorsement form Emily's List, a widely respected political action committee that furthers the causes of female candidates.

Monday's letter from Harrison, Jeffus and a handful of others seems to be something of a counter punch to that endorsement.

"I really was impressed when he came out for the minimum wage before it was popular," Harrison said. The legislature voted to raise the minimum wage during the 2006 legislative session. She also noted that she was won over by Moore's work on climate change.

Jeffus said she had known Moore for a "long, long time" and worked with him during his service in the legislature. She pointed to his work during Hurricane Floyd when he was secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety.

Caucus update coming

Rep. Alma Adams, a Greensboro Democrat, told Scoop back in September that she'd have an update regarding the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus Foundation in October.

Questions were raised this year about the foundation and its ties to the N.C. Legislative Black Caucus, a group of influential legislators. Much of the scrutiny focused on the ability of a foundation headed by legislators to raise money during times, from people and in amounts that elected officials cannot.

Well, October's gone and we called Adams to ask what was up.

"They got a little bit behind on our audit so I don't have all the information I want yet," Adams said. The "they" in this case is a private auditing firm hired by the caucus. "My expectation is I'll have something to say before the month is out."

Staff writers Jeri Rowe, Mark Binker and Nate DeGraff contributed.