New House Speaker Joe Hackney, D-Chatham, touched on several topics in a meeting with editorial writers this weekend at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication:

On campaign finance reform: "Money in politics is a puzzle, a problem, that we have not solved," he said. There's no support for public financing in the Republican Party and little among the Democrats. Four-year terms would help, but the public dislikes four-year terms. "Four-year terms would cut in half the money in politics," he said.

On "The Two North Carolinas": Hackney ackowledged the growing gap between the state's best educated and those falling behind (Only 68 percent of students graduate high school). "It is a problem. We have to compete globally, not on the manufacturing level but on the idea level," he said. Look for drop-out legislation. "If we can save another few kids from dropping out of a high school in North Carolina that would be a good thing."

On energy policy: Hackney said he's had a solar hot water heater on his roof since the mid-1980s. "Who knows how much that's saved me?" he asked. The state needs to do more. "I'll be really disappointed if we do not make strides on energy this term," he said. "The time is right for energy efficiency in North Carolina."