Posted on 06/23/2003 2:39:31 PM PDT by Amish
Two influential fund-raisers who helped Democrat Erskine Bowles in his bid for the U.S. Senate last year have agreed to help U.S. Rep. Richard Burr, R-5th raise money for his 2004 Senate campaign.
The news, first reported in the Washington political publication Roll Call, puts North Carolina Democrats in a difficult situation that may get tougher as the summer drags on.
Incumbent Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, and hasn't decided whether he will run for a second term in the Senate. That means that Bowles and other potential Democratic candidates for the seat are in limbo, while Burr is going full speed ahead.
A fund-raiser for Burr is being given later this month by R.V. Owens III, a Nags Head restaurant owner and the nephew of Marc Basnight, the president pro tem of the N.C. Senate, a powerful Democrat in the state legislature.
The other fund-raiser is being given in Charlotte on June 23 by James Hance, Bank of America's chief financial officer.
'There are a number of ways in which this (situation) hurts Bowles, or other Democrats. It really just ties their hands,' said Ted Arrington, a professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. 'This is awkward for the Democrats.'
However, at this point, there is little that Bowles can do, other than wonder if Edwards is going to run for re-election. Though Edwards could technically run for both the White House and the Senate, most observers consider that highly unlikely.
Arrington said that he thinks that most North Carolina Democrats would prefer that Edwards run for senator, but some are saying that 'if Edwards really wants to run for president - cut bait, do it, get on with it.'
A Senate spokesman for Edwards referred questions about whether Edwards would run for Senate to the Edwards presidential campaign, which did not return calls for comment.
Paul Shoemaker, a consultant to Burr, said that Burr is reaching out to moderate and independent voters, regardless of their party affiliation.
'If you look at the history of successful Republican candidates in North Carolina, they've all had to reach out and build coalitions,' Shoemaker said. 'That's one of the things we have to do.'
He said that Hance and Owens 'are actively helping us build a strong financial team of people contributing to the campaign.'
Burr had more $2 million in his campaign account at the end of March, and Shoemaker said he expects the second quarter results to push the total cash on hand to 'close to $3 million.'
A spokeswoman for the Bank of America said that Hance was unavailable. Owens could not be reached for comment.
• Kevin Begos can be reached in Washington at (202) 662-7672 or at kbegos@mediageneral.com
Jesse Helms was great at that.("Jessecrats") I like Burr from what I know about the guy.
Perhaps these defections are due to the changing demographics of the state. Despite what you hear, the state continues to trend Republican. Every week Republicans seem to gain approx. 1,000 registered voters on the Democrats. With Bush on top of the ticket, NC Democrats can't pray for split-ticketing to keep them in power forever. South Carolina and Georgia Democrats learned that the hard way.
I don't really think so; these are two high-powered money guys, not just folks realizing conservatives should be Republican. Erskine Bowles was a local out of Charlotte with lots of financial connections, and as such got the support of some of the big money men in banking. These folks may have looked this time and seen either Edwards, or Bowles running -- again! -- or Dan Blue (who I like), and said, you know, Burr's gonna win and he's gonna be better than any of these other guys.
For a Democrat, he's pretty moderate, a black Democrat who has at times had more friends across the aisle than among Democrats. He's a reasonable guy, willing to discuss things, and doesn't race-bait or anything like that. I believe he got the speakership of the NC House with Republican support, cutting a deal when he didn't have majority Rat support.
Could it be the motor votor law that is causing this? Here in Jersey the motor votor form does not give you the oppurtunity to declare party affiliation. It could be that since the law went into effect, we are seeing many less-motivated people register than would be otherwise. They'll register to vote, but not bother with the seperate form needed to declare party membership.
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