Senate 2008

(cross-posted at dKos)

Public Policy Polling confirms what we already knew--North Carolina is in play presidentially. However, news from the Senate race here isn't quite as encouraging.

On the presidential side, McCain only leads Obama 45-41--just one point over the margin of error. Barr gets 5 percent. Note, this is a Democratic polling firm--but as with the last poll from NC, from a Republican polling firm, there's virtually no good news for McCain.

On the Senate side, however, Liddy Dole appears to be pulling away from Kay Hagan. She now leads 51 percent to 38 percent ... and the trends suggest Hagan's got some work to do.

The North Carolina Bar Association is hosting a forum for State Senator Kay Hagan and her Republican opponent, Senator Elizabeth Dole. This will be an opportunity for the two candidates to discuss their plans for North Carolina in Washington. The event will be held at the Sheraton Atlantic Beach in Atlantic Beach, NC.

Congressman David Price was joined by the entire Democratic congressional delegation from North Carolina in endorsing Kay Hagan for U.S. Senate. While this might provide some of us with a, "Well, Duh" moment, we have to keep in mind that our congressmen aren't all from the same mold, so this is quite an accomplishment.

Internal polling performed by Anzalone-Liszt for the Hagan campaign confirms the most recent independent polls released showing that the race for the NC Senate seat is much tighter than some believed it would be at this point. (Cross tabs not available.)

I realize conventional wisdom says to ignore internal polls and I usually do when they show a result far different from other polls. This internal poll confirms the Public Policy Polling results directly after the May primary election. It is also in line with the most recent Survey USA poll which was conducted prior to Elizabeth Dole's ads depicting her as a tourist in several NC cities.

brownsox over at Daily Kos makes a nice catch.

"You can agree to not run advertising targeting Senator Dole during the 2008 election cycle as well as encourage your Senate nominee and national parties to abstain from third party advertisements," Mark Stephens, Dole's chief campaign strategist, said in a letter today to [Jerry] Meek."

brownsox goes on,

"So, let me get this straight; former NRSC chairwoman Elizabeth Dole, whose very job description put her in charge of steering national money to Senate races around the country in 2006, and running NRSC ads in those states...the same Elizabeth Dole who spent millions of NRSC dollars attacking Jon Tester, Jim Webb, Sheldon Whitehouse and Sherrod Brown...is now asking that the national parties stay out of her race?"

Read the rest.

Rasmussen Reports
North Carolina Senate Election
Survey of 500 Likely Voters
May 8, 2008

Dole
47%

Hagan
48%

Discuss.

How little press coverage has Senator Elizabeth Dole received over her six year tenure in the United States Senate? Some North Carolina polling numbers on Dole's voter approval ratings may help answer that question:

Very Favorable - 26%
Somewhat Favorable - 35%

Sixty-one percent of North Carolinians in this poll think that Liddy Dole, who has been a Bush loyalist in the Senate throughout her term, is doing a pretty good job. Contrast that with only 28% of Americans who think the President is doing a good job, and you're left with a fuzzy disconnect that begs the question, "Why do folks look unfavorably upon Bush but look favorably upon a Senator who has been one of his staunchest allies?"

Like many here, I was very impressed with Jim Neal when he first announced he was going to run for the U.S. Senate and was flattered that he immediately reached out to BlueNC. I respected the way he handled the outing of his sexual orientation in the political arena and was fairly certain I had found my candidate.

This is a blog I never thought I would write. I'm an unpaid volunteer for the Jim Neal campaign - but after seeing a torrent of emails and press releases from State Sen. Kay Hagan’s campaign claiming she “won the debate” at Craven Community College, I just had to speak up. We CAN do better than this.

I’m not sure whoever wrote her press release was listening to the same debate I was. Listen and decide for yourself at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/pre/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTIC...

Senator Hagan didn’t win the debate – but she proved she’s capable of repeating focus-group tested lines crafted by her Washington consultants – show stoppers like “Washington is broken.”

Well Senator Hagan, here’s the news: Raleigh is broken too.

This is a blog I never thought I would write. But I never thought I’d see a torrent of emails and press releases from State Sen. Kay Hagan’s campaign claiming she “won the debate” at Craven Community College.

I’m not sure whoever wrote her press release was listening to the same debate I was. Listen and decide for yourself at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/pre/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTIC...

Senator Hagan didn’t win the debate – but she proved she’s capable of repeating focus-group tested lines crafted by her Washington consultants – show stoppers like “Washington is broken.”

Well Senator Hagan, here’s the news: Raleigh is broken too.