RALEIGH - With a state budget in place, legislative leaders agree they want to finish their regular business for the year by Friday.

But with some House members seeking votes on a death penalty moratorium, senators looking at a jobs-growth package and Gov. Mike Easley quietly pushing the legislature to vote on a lottery, the coming week may be a series of all-nighters for lawmakers.

Easley, a Democrat who made a statewide lottery a key part of his 2000 election campaign, has called House co-speakers Jim Black and Richard Morgan into his office to ask them for a lottery vote.

"He wants it real bad," said Black, a Matthews Democrat.

Black wouldn't rule out a lottery vote but expressed skepticism.

"That's a pretty complicated issue for a week," he said.

House members killed an attempt last year to let voters have their say on a lottery in a November referendum, but more than a quarter of the 120 House members are new this year and lottery supporters believe they have as many as 55 votes on their side and 10 undecided lawmakers. The Senate has repeatedly endorsed lottery proposals, but has not held a vote this year.

"It's real close," said lottery bill sponsor Rep. Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank, who believes it would be harder for Republicans to support a Democratic governor's lottery next year in the midst of election season. "I feel like this is our best chance for two years," he said.

The House co-speakers have agreed to hold a committee hearing Tuesday on the proposed death penalty moratorium, which has already passed the Senate, though Black supports it and Morgan, a Pinehurst Republican, doesn't.

The sponsor, Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham, believes he has at least 50 of the 61 votes he needs for a two-year halt to executions and a study of whether the state's sentencing system is fair or flawed. He wants to use the hearing to feel out whether he has the additional votes he needs.

Luebke said he's inclined to avoid a vote if he doesn't have the numbers because a no vote this year also would kill the proposal next year, during the legislature's "short" summer session.

Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight has talked about coming back later in the year to vote on proposals to reduce the cost of medical malpractice insurance and to put together a jobs-growth package that may include money for a cancer center at UNC Chapel Hill. Or he may ask House leaders to stay an extra week or so if he thinks lawmakers can resolve those issues quickly.

But the House is inclined to wait until next year for these projects, especially because lawmakers will already have to return to Raleigh to redraw their legislative districts.

After a protracted battle last year that led to a Superior Court judge drawing the district lines, lawmakers are waiting for guidance from the state Supreme Court before returning for a probable special session to redraw the districts they will campaign in next year.