News-Record.com

Teresa Sue Bratton, the Democrat challenging Republican incumbent Howard Coble, got some love recently from NPR Political Junkie Ken Rudin. About three-quarters of the way through this online piece, Rudin posts a picture of Bratton's campaign button.

He writes:

Back in 2006, we initiated this feature, by which we asked you to send in campaign buttons for candidates for the Senate, House and governor. Our end of the bargain — aside from satisfying Ken Rudin's button craze, which is bordering on the unhealthy — would be to feature the candidates in a "Meet the Challenger" section.

This week: Teresa Sue Bratton, a Democrat running in North Carolina's 6th District, and Doug Cloud, a Republican in Washington's 6th CD.

Bratton, a pediatric allergist in her first race, faces an uphill battle against 77-year-old Republican incumbent Howard Coble, first elected in 1984, in a state that is likely and a district that is almost assuredly to go for John McCain. Coble, who usually tops 70 percent of the vote, is known for his constituent service, but Bratton thinks this is her time, given the fact that "people see a crisis in health care, in our economy and our environment." Bratton points to Coble's 2007 vote against reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program as one of the reasons she says it's time for a change. On the environment, she has a plan to reduce the impact of climate change "by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, improving air and water quality, and making our food supply and housing stock safer." In Iraq, she believes in an "orderly withdrawal of troops ... as soon as possible," but she supports an increase in U.S. troops in Afghanistan.