In the race for the North Carolina Senate seat, incumbant Elizabeth Dole continues to slide. The latest Rasussen poll puts challenger Kay Hagan up one point from the previous poll and Dole down one point. Hagan is at 49% while Dole is at 44%. The Dole campaign is getting desperate. Today, it was revealed that Senator Dole was putting some of her own personal money in the campaign. It is not known how much she has spent. If you believe in history repeating itself (i.e. Hillary Clinton loaning her campaign money), it looks like Dole is headed for defeat.
Senator Dole has fallen victim to some attack ads from the Democrats. This could be an instance where the Republicans might use Charlie Rangel’s troubles in attack ads against Kay Hagan. Charlie Rangel is the congressman representing northern Manhattan. He is also the chairman of Ways and Means. During the summer, it was revealed that he had four rent-stabalized apartments in Harlem, one of which he used as a campaign headquarters. A short time later, it was revealed that he failed to properly report income from an apartment in the Dominican Republic. This incident triggered calls from Republicans for Rangel to resign and he faced a vote of confidence in relation to his committee position. Rangel passed the vote which primarily fell along party lines.
In the aftermath of this incident, there has been talk that the Repulicans might use this against the Democrats in other races. This could be the case in North Carolina. We all know the North Carolina Republicans had no second thoughts when using the Rev. Wright saga against Democrats. If you’re going to go after a politician, it’s easier to link them to another politician than a minister.
On the national race, Senator John McCain will be in Wilmington tomorrow. He is going to hold a town hall meeting at Cape Fear Community College.
Obama’s visit to North Carolina last weekend was mostly just a publicity stunt. He made a suprise appearance at NC Democratic party dinner.
J.C.
