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North Carolina Race Heats Up
Greensboro News and Record ^ | June 18, 2002 | Eric Dyer

Posted on 06/18/2002 12:28:53 PM PDT by afuturegovernor

North Carolina Race Heats Up
6/18/02
Source:Greensboro News and Record
By: Eric Dyer
This article has been excerpted

From partisan sniping to a fresh round of advertising, the race for North Carolina's open U.S. Senate seat has entered a new phase, even though neither major party has yet picked a nominee.

The primary contest apparently has ended for one Democratic hopeful, at least rhetorically. Twice in the past week, Erskine Bowles set his sights on Republican contender Elizabeth Dole and hammered her on the environment, health care and Social Security.

Bowles, a former Clinton White House chief of staff, said his intent was to draw Dole into an issues debate, which he contends she so far has refused to do. "Each day we get closer to November," Bowles said in an interview. "You can't wait but so long. It think it's important for people to know where Mrs. Dole stands."

Dole spokeswoman Mary Brown Brewer said Bowles was using a practiced Democratic strategy of "scare tactics targeting seniors."

Meanwhile, the Dole campaign is scheduled today to begin running its first TV commercials.

One half-minute ad focuses on the state's troubled manufacturing sector, with footage of Dole chatting up workers in an undisclosed textile mill. She then says the government needs to cut taxes, enforce existing trade agreements and reduce regulations on businesses to "get our economy going and put our people back to work."

A glowing biographical commercial that features a cameo appearance by Dole's husband, former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, is to air later this week.

Brewer said the media blitz was beginning to coincide with growing interest among voters in the Senate race, not as a response to Bowles' new attention to the Republican front-runner. Bowles ran commercials earlier this spring but has put them on hiatus.

These moves from the two camps with the largest treasuries and the greatest national party support mark a significant shift in a high-profile Senate race that is way behind schedule. Primaries that were planned for May have been delayed until the federal government signs off on revised legislative district maps.

Sixteen people - nine Democrats and seven Republicans - are still on the ballot for the seat GOP Sen. Jesse Helms is leaving.

Dole has an endorsement from the White House and other Republican power-hitters, positioning her as the party's presumed nominee. Bowles faces a competitive primary from challengers such as Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and state Rep. Dan Blue.

Thad Beyle, a UNC-Chapel Hill political scientist, said Bowles, through his attacks on Dole, may be trying to create the impression they are destined to square off in the general election.

"He's behaving like a winner," Beyle said. "It's sort of saying, 'I'm going to be the nominee.' "

Even before now, Dole had been in the Democrats' cross-hairs. But she was always talked about in oblique references and, for the most part, never by name.

Beyle said the attacks on Dole may chip away at her support, but the strategy also could have the opposite effect. Republicans who dislike Dole might rally around her because a Democrat is pummeling one of their own, he said.

The state GOP has taken notice and in a statement chastised Bowles for attacks it deemed "personal and mean-spirited."

Bowles unleashed his latest strategy before a small group of Latino Democrats who gathered at the state party's convention June 8. He expounded upon his message Wednesday during a luncheon in Charlotte.

Besides poking at Dole for her absence from the state, Bowles tried to establish how they differ on three issues.

Bowles criticized Dole for supporting proposals that would allow people to invest a portion of their Social Security payments, which he has called "risky" and "crazy." Her campaign said Dole wanted to limit any such option to safe investments such as a bond index fund.

Turning to the environment, Bowles criticized Dole's past endorsement of a Bush administration plan, the Clear Skies Initiative, that environmental groups contend would result in dirtier air.

Dole has said she backs the Bush initiative but wants the government to scrub up its own utility, the Tennessee Valley Authority, which has been blamed for polluting western North Carolina.

Bowles also charged that Dole has voiced support for Republican prescription-drug benefit proposals that are inadequate and increase deductibles and premiums. Aides to Dole said Bowles' critique was off the mark.

That a Democratic candidate would attack Dole may be a new twist in the Senate race. But for months, the state's party organization has fired out news releases almost daily targeting Dole.

Past public-opinion polls have given Dole a wide lead over any Democratic rival. Yet GOP leaders apparently do not consider her a guaranteed winner.


TOPICS: North Carolina; Campaign News; U.S. Senate
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 06/18/2002 12:28:53 PM PDT by afuturegovernor
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To: afuturegovernor
A candidate who is winning talks about what he will do for you when he takes office. He thanks people for their kind and generous support. He talks alot about not getting overconfidant and not taking anything for granted.

A candidate who is losing tells you what a dirty rotten no good evil rotten person his opponent is.

2 posted on 06/18/2002 4:26:56 PM PDT by Common Tator
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To: afuturegovernor
Dole has an endorsement from the White House and other Republican power-hitters, positioning her as the party's presumed nominee. Bowles faces a competitive primary from challengers such as Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and state Rep. Dan Blue.

I wonder if any NC GOP power-hitters have endorsed her? You wouldn't know it of course from this stupid article that tries to paint Dole as some Washington, D. C. plant by the RNC. They forget to mention that former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot, former Sen. Lauch Faircloth and retiring Sen. Jesse Helms have all thrown their support behind Dole-- with Vinroot and Faircloth serving on her campaign staff.

3 posted on 06/18/2002 5:17:37 PM PDT by GraniteStateConservative
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To: GraniteStateConservative
No kidding.
4 posted on 06/19/2002 6:56:43 AM PDT by I Am Not A Mod
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