[mykdsmom]

Asked to rate Easley's job performance, 52 percent rated him good or excellent

What are these people smokin? NC Ping!

[AntiGuv]

[Burr] expressed surprise that he was leading Bowles, who just came through a statewide campaign, losing to Republican Elizabeth Dole for U.S. Senate last year.

I can't imagine why. It's difficult to come up with a more worthless (and creepy) candidate than Erskine Bowles. Well, except Dan Blue comes to mind..

The GOP should be concerned about Bobby Etheridge - he'd be the toughest D nominee, by far....

[southernnorthcarolina]

It's the Raleigh News & Observer -- please do not inflict that rag on my fair city.

Not that the Charlotte Observer is much better.

Anyway, Burr's lead over Bowles at this point is amazing. I suspect it has a lot to do with name recognition -- negative name recognition in the case of Erskine Bowles, who of course ran for the Senate in 2002 against Elizabeth Dole. For him to be trailing a Congressman who represents Winston-Salem and parts of the Blue Ridge in the far NW corner of the state, and who has never run statewide before, is quite interesting.

A story on the coming NC Senate race last week contained this fascinating statement:

"We don't feel intimidated at all by Richard Burr," said Brad Woodhouse, press secretary for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and a former Bowles aide. "They've cleared the field for a guy who was selling toasters before he went into Congress and is virtually unknown outside his district. That's a big risk for a U.S. Senate seat." Burr, first elected in 1994, was marketing director for a wholesale business that dealt in appliances before he began his political career.

Isn't that nice? A snide comment about having to work for a living from a guy whose candidate is running on his wife's money. I'd like to see that quote get wider exposure, assuming Bowles gets the nomination, as he almost surely will. The "Party of the People" will nominate, for their third consecutive Senate race in NC, an extremely wealthy candidate who will largely self-finance his race (or, more bluntly, will attempt to buy the seat).

[Tax-chick]

It's almost 14 months until the election! (!!!) The prospect of more than a year of campaign drivel is unspeakable. Can't we just hold the election next week, after the hurricane?

[Kuksool]

Good news. Burr is initially leading Erskine Bowles.

[BlackRazor]

In case you didn't see this from yesterday.

(Yes, I'm back!)