Two national-media takes on Dole-Hagan
The U.S. Seante race between U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and state Sen. Kay Hagan is getting an increasingly level of attention from national media outlets. After the jump, the take from NPR and NY Times.
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From NPR:
- Democrats in North Carolina and in the U.S. Senate had a tough time finding a candidate who would face Dole because state officeholders, including Hagan, didn't like their chances.
"I have a great family life and I had a very powerful position in the state Legislature and I did turn it down," Hagan said. "However, that very next day I knew it was the wrong decision."
But timing is everything, and Hagan now has a better than even chance of being elected to the Senate.
Hagan portrays Dole as being out of touch with North Carolina and closer to Kansas, where her husband, former Sen. Robert Dole, lives.
"So here she is now representing North Carolina in the U.S. Senate and she really hasn't lived here in over 40 years," says Hagan. "So I always talk about the fact that I live in North Carolina — and my husband can vote for me."
Click here for the full story, which includes an audio link.
And from the New York Times:
- But on Tuesday, when Mrs. Dole appeared at a rally for Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican candidate for vice president, she was appealing for her political life. She told the crowd of party faithful that the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senator Charles E. Schumer, was spending nearly $10 million of “New York money” on “negative, ugly, mean-spirited, untruthful ads” against her, and the crowd responded with lusty boos.
“Elizabeth Dole’s in a tough race,” she said.
As economic turmoil has driven down support for Republican candidates in recent weeks, several polls have suggested that Mrs. Dole’s opponent, Kay R. Hagan, a relatively unknown state senator from Greensboro, has closed Mrs. Dole’s double-digit lead or even pulled ahead, and many analysts are now calling the race a tossup.
Ms. Hagan is a crucial part of the effort by Democrats to gain a 60-seat majority in the Senate, a margin that could limit Republican filibusters. From Nov. 16, 2007, to Oct. 5, the Democratic senatorial committee spent more than $4 million on advertising in North Carolina, more than in any other Senate race, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG, a political data firm in Arlington, Va. The Democrats have reserved television time worth millions more.
Mean while, Dome says Dole is putting some skin in the game:
- Sen. Elizabeth Dole said she has put some of her own money into her re-election campaign, but she is declining to say how much until her campaign report comes out Friday.
She called the use of her personal money "an investment" that puts "some skin in the game."
Dole, a Republican, said she has raised $3 million in campaign contributions since July 1. Her opponent, Democrat Kay Hagan, reported raising $2.6 million during that period.
Speaking to the editorial board at The News & Observer on Thursday, Dole said she was concerned about all the money being spent against her in the independent ad campaign paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
"Ten million dollars of it is coming in right after me in some of the most ugly, nasty ads I have ever seen," Dole said.
