News-Record.com

So I have story for Sunday - click here to read it - that seemed like a really good idea when I thought it up a week ago. I'm less sure right now, in part because I ended up having to hack the substantive bit that got me interested in writing it.

The premise is this: after talking to and watching the Internet posts of progressive/liberal/activist left Democrats, it seems they are lining up more behind Chapel Hill investment banker Jim Neal rather than Greensboro state Sen. Kay Hagan.

Now, there is a natural danger in writing about any one group of people. First off, not all members of the group will adhere to your thesis. Progressives are even less cohesive and consistent by their nature. Also, this is a story that requires some measure of nuance, which a 30-inch newspaper story doesn't always get at real well.

That said, I don't think the thesis is completely off base.

Neal sounds more like a progressive on the stump than Hagan does. His campaign thus far has been engineered around a robust web presence and talking in front of any gathering of more than five people who will sit still for him.

And Neal tends to take more black-and-white stands on the issues of the day, while Hagan is a bit more scholarly/circumspect in her approach in exploring new issues.

A good example of this, the bit I had to cut. Check out David Allen's blog post, which started tongues-a-waggin' in the liberal blogsphere. And it lead to this:

After hearing Hagan speak about the wiretapping bill now before Congress, Allen said he could not vote for her. Among other things, the bill would give phone companies immunity for illegal acts they may have committed in cooperating with phone taps requested by the Bush administration.

Democrats, Allen said, should be pushing back against that bill.

"What I get tired of is people like Kay Hagan telling me why it can't be done," Allen said.

Interviewed Friday, Hagan did not offer a yes-or-no answer as to whether she would have backed the Senate version of the wiretap bill to which Allen objects.

"I think it depends on which amendment you're looking at, and which bill you're looking at and we've got to look at all of that and see what's best for North Carolina," she said.
Neal was more definitive when asked.

"I was disappointed that the Senate buckled on the issue of retroactively granting immunity to the telecom companies," Neal said. Allowing lawsuits, he said, would allow lawyers to probe what kind of pressure the Bush administration used and figure out why some companies felt they had to cooperate and at least one did not.

Others who I spoke to for this story agreed that the telco issue would be a big issue for progressives.

Also worth noting is there were several people - all from Guilford County - who I approached for this story who either declined to talk to me or agreed to do so if their names weren't used. Both Hagan and Neal have Guilford County connections and it seems some were afraid of offending one or the other.

Update: Tom Jensen at PPP points to a post he wrote about a Survey USA poll that showed liberals in North Carolina slightly favoring Hagan over Neal. As he wrote then, it doesn’t make a great deal of sense given the tenor of the race.

But it does jibe with something James Protzman, better known as Anglico out there on the Internets shared. He said that activist, vocal liberals seem to be favoring Neal. But the next layer, those who may share progressive values but are not as active or outspoken, are split. Maybe that's what the Survey USA poll got at. Maybe not...I've been gun-shy about polls as of late.