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When a local radio show ran a contest to bring in campaign signs for cash, one result was that more than a few people woke up Wednesday to see the signs for their favorite candidates gone from their yards.

"Murphy in the Morning," a quirky radio show on WKZL-107.5, told its listeners that the person who came in with the most campaign signs Wednesday morning would win $500.

The stipulations: Only take signs from public places, such as intersections.

The show, which has run the contest for the past four years, wound up collecting 20,000 campaign signs.

But some people with missing signs were a little miffed.

"They were overzealous young men that wanted to make some quick money, and in the wee hours of the morning they went on a sign-snatching spree," said Ivan Cutler, who lost signs for Barack Obama and Paul Gibson.

"They had thousands and they were just throwing them in a Dumpster," said Cutler, who met the contestants at Village Tavern, where the winner was named.

"What bothered me the most was they went on private property," he said. "It's just a campaign sign."

For others, the signs are a keepsake from the election.

"It was a historical campaign and I planned to keep the sign to remember it by," said Lori Lewis, who lost a sign overnight but got another back when she called the station.

A director at the station chalks it up to some hooligan's shenanigans.

"There's always going to be one bad apple that can spoil a bunch," said Jason Goodman, program director at WKZL. "And it's like telling people at a bar, 'Here's a drink, but don't go and drunk-drive,' and they do."

About those predictions

Back in October, Inside Scoop reported on an analysis by John Davis, a political analyst with the now-mothballed NC Free think tank.

He said Republicans might be in a position to take control of the state Senate because Democrats were defending eight vulnerable open seats.

In 2007 and 2008, Democrats held 31 of 50 state Senate seats and Republicans would have needed to pick up seven to take control.

How did that turn out?

Democrats lost one seat and now hold a 30-20 majority.

Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight took a little time to gloat last week, calling Davis' forecast a wild, um, donkey prediction.

To be fair, Davis qualified his analysis, saying that it would be a long shot.

"Long shot?" Basnight said. "It weren't even a shot."

Staff writers Mark Binker and Gerald Witt contributed.