U.S. Senate outtakes
I had occasion to talk to Democratic U.S. Senate Candidates Kay Hagan and Jim Neal this week for a piece coming up this weekend. While on the phone, I picked up a couple of tidbits from the two of them that don't fit in the story:
- * Hagan has already said she plans to stay in her state senate seat as she ran for the U.S. Senate. She also serves as chairwoman of the appropriations committee, a post that means a lot of work in May or June.
The 2008 session is the General Assembly's short session, which typically runs from May through sometime in July. Although the budget passed this year (2007) technically runs for two years, it gets a fair amount of adjustment in this off year. However, Hagan says she'll stay in her budget post.
"In the short session, we're tweaking the budget and not starting from ground-zero. We shouldn't be going in and changing everything," Hagan said. She said that she anticipates opening a campaign office in Raleigh and split time between there and the legislature.
No word on when or if she plans on sleeping.
For those playing along at home, that would mean two high-profile members of the Senate's budget negotiating team will be involved in statewide election bids next year. The other is Sen. Walter Dalton, who is running for Lt. Gov.
- * In an interview I did with Jim Neal a while ago, I asked whether he was in a relationship. He answered this way:
In response to that question, there is a firewall around my personal life. I think many people who are in elective office or running for elective office have done so. People who are close to me, my family, my children, my friends, whoever they may be, they're not running for office. I am. Not everyone is going to be comfortable being in the spotlight, is going to be comfortable getting a knock on the door or a phone call from you or another reporter. So, I won't respond to a lot of questions about my personal life.
More than one person mentioned to me, and apparently to him, that this wasn't exactly the most straightforward or realistic way for a U.S. Senate candidate to answer a pretty basic biographical question.
"I'm in a relationship with someone who is a very, very private person and I was just trying to protect his privacy," Neal said this week.