Senate 2008

(cross-posted at dKos)

Public Policy Polling confirms what we already knew--North Carolina is in play presidentially. However, news from the Senate race here isn't quite as encouraging.

On the presidential side, McCain only leads Obama 45-41--just one point over the margin of error. Barr gets 5 percent. Note, this is a Democratic polling firm--but as with the last poll from NC, from a Republican polling firm, there's virtually no good news for McCain.

On the Senate side, however, Liddy Dole appears to be pulling away from Kay Hagan. She now leads 51 percent to 38 percent ... and the trends suggest Hagan's got some work to do.

Congressman David Price was joined by the entire Democratic congressional delegation from North Carolina in endorsing Kay Hagan for U.S. Senate. While this might provide some of us with a, "Well, Duh" moment, we have to keep in mind that our congressmen aren't all from the same mold, so this is quite an accomplishment.

brownsox over at Daily Kos makes a nice catch.

"You can agree to not run advertising targeting Senator Dole during the 2008 election cycle as well as encourage your Senate nominee and national parties to abstain from third party advertisements," Mark Stephens, Dole's chief campaign strategist, said in a letter today to [Jerry] Meek."

brownsox goes on,

"So, let me get this straight; former NRSC chairwoman Elizabeth Dole, whose very job description put her in charge of steering national money to Senate races around the country in 2006, and running NRSC ads in those states...the same Elizabeth Dole who spent millions of NRSC dollars attacking Jon Tester, Jim Webb, Sheldon Whitehouse and Sherrod Brown...is now asking that the national parties stay out of her race?"

Read the rest.

Rasmussen Reports
North Carolina Senate Election
Survey of 500 Likely Voters
May 8, 2008

Dole
47%

Hagan
48%

Discuss.

How little press coverage has Senator Elizabeth Dole received over her six year tenure in the United States Senate? Some North Carolina polling numbers on Dole's voter approval ratings may help answer that question:

Very Favorable - 26%
Somewhat Favorable - 35%

Sixty-one percent of North Carolinians in this poll think that Liddy Dole, who has been a Bush loyalist in the Senate throughout her term, is doing a pretty good job. Contrast that with only 28% of Americans who think the President is doing a good job, and you're left with a fuzzy disconnect that begs the question, "Why do folks look unfavorably upon Bush but look favorably upon a Senator who has been one of his staunchest allies?"