Sunday morning: The Senate race and the famous among the GOP
Good Sunday morning. Here are a couple of quick updates:
- *Here's my story on immigration as an issue in the U.S. Senate race. From the lede:
Tar Heel voters have been telling pollsters that immigration will be an issue they weigh in choosing their next U.S. senator. That suits incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole just fine, say campaign consultants and others who study elections.
"Not only is it going to play in her favor, she knows it's going to present a problem for any Democratic challenger," said Hunter Bacot, a political science professor at Elon University and director of the Elon University Poll.
- * Also on immigration, a story from the New York Times:
THE Republican presidential candidates talk about illegal immigration as if they were in an arms race on toughness. The Democratic candidates have begun to tread more warily on the issue, as their debate last week in Las Vegas showed, but they still favor the language of accommodation over alarm.
Each approach, political strategists and officials warn, could have costs next November. Pollsters on both sides agree there is widespread anxiety, even anger, about the impact of illegal immigration. But an increasingly influential Hispanic electorate could be turned off by a hard line from the party they turned to in increasing numbers in the last two presidential elections.
Much will depend, strategists say, on how the candidates balance their statements.
- * Mark Johnson at the Charlotte Observer looks at what role Jim Neal's sexual orientation has played in the Senate campaign thus far. From the story:
Schumer and the national Democrats, who boast of their party's inclusiveness, effectively ignored Neal, who is openly gay. After he announced his campaign in October, he telephoned Schumer. The call wasn't returned. Neal was the first Democrat to step up to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.
- * And the N.C. GOP held their annual Hall of Fame awards banquet. In District 6, former Randolph County Sheriff Litchard Hurley was named to the hall, edging out other luminaries like Rep. John Blust.
Also from the banquet: In a straw poll among the three GOP candidates for governor Sen. Fred Smith placed first, former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr placed second and lawyer Bill Graham placed third.