Free Republic

Is U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry considering higher office? An article in the Lenoir News-Topic over the weekend quotes anonymous McHenry aides speculating that his win over Daniel Johnson this year may have positioned him for a future run: With McHenry having likely faced his last credible challenges, either from GOP or Democratic circles, speculation has begun about his political future. Those close to McHenry privately say that a run for North Carolina governor in 2012 is one possibility, though a challenge to Senator-elect Kay Hagan in 2014 could be a more likely scenario. The same senior aides, who spoke on...

Organized labor took a risk this year, pouring money and manpower into campaigns in North Carolina, traditionally one of the most anti-union states in the country. But the gamble appears to be paying off, with labor playing a role in the election of such Democratic allies as U.S. Sen.-elect Kay Hagan, Gov.-elect Bev Perdue, U.S. Rep.-elect Larry Kissell and helping carry the state for President-elect Obama. Now union leaders hope to translate success at the polls to victories in the halls of Congress and the state legislature. They will be advocating a broad agenda that includes making it easier nationally...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen.-elect Kay Hagan this afternoon dismissed her lawsuit against the woman she defeated, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, over an advertisement that Hagan said attacked her personal faith. Dole, a Republican, had launched an ad in the last week of the campaign tying Hagan to a political action group called "Godless Americans" that promotes the separation of church and state. The advertisement ended with a photo of Hagan and another woman’s voice saying, "There is no God." Hagan, a Democrat, attended a fundraiser in August at the Boston home of a couple who is active in the group. The...

The voting shift in this nation is largely about two dynamics: safe seats and the Carolina blues. To get a really good close-up glimpse of what demographic problems the Republican Party is facing in the national electorate, one has to look no further than the North Carolina Senate race lost by Elizabeth Dole. The loss by Dole was not simply a result of the headwinds (self-inflicted as they were) that all GOP candidates faced in 2008, though that was a factor. The Dole loss was more than that. Dole lost a senate seat held by Republicans since 1972. Dole lost...

In the mid-1990s, Marc Basnight, one of the state's most powerful politicians, personally recruited two young lawyers to run for the North Carolina Senate. Neither of them had ever held elective office, but Basnight, the Democratic leader of the Senate, persuaded them to run. Their names were Kay Hagan and Walter Dalton, and with Basnight's help, they quickly rose through the legislative ranks. Around that same time, Basnight personally picked another up-and-coming state senator, appointing her to a powerful post as a key budget writer. Her name? Bev Perdue.

Two minutes and thirty seconds is all it takes to see why you need to support Elizabeth Dole. Two minutes and thirty seconds is really all it takes to watch this: What is it? It documents Kay Hagan's ties to the Godless America PAC. Godless America PAC is a legitimate organization that denies there is any such thing as God. They want to remove "In God We Trust" from our currency. They want to remove God from the Pledge of Allegiance. They even, no kidding, want to get rid of Christmas as a federal holiday. Seriously. And one of their...

In an election for United States Senator from North Carolina today, 24 weeks to Election Day, incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole narrowly edges Democrat Kay Hagan, 50% to 46%, according to this SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WTVD-TV in Raleigh.

State Sen. Kay Hagan said Tuesday she is "looking into" a run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Elizabeth Dole. The Greensboro Democrat's name has been raised frequently by political analysts in the past nine months as a potential contender. However, this is the first time Hagan herself has directly addressed the possibility of challenging Dole, who faces re-election in 2008. Until now, Hagan has been circumspect in talking about a potential run, saying during this year's legislative term that she was focused on completing the state budget. On Tuesday, Hagan said Dole is "vulnerable" to a...