Day: May 5, 2008

Sen. Elizabeth Dole is up for reelection this year, and the combination of her underwhelming performance over the past six years and the general bad odor emanating from the Republican Party of late makes her particularly vulnerable. (A longtime resident of the Watergate apartments in Washington, D.C., Dole has also irked many of her constituents by failing to spend much time on the ground in North Carolina. She grew up in Salisbury but has not been a full-time resident of the state since the 1960s.)
Dole has also irked many of her constituents by failing to spend much time on the ground in North Carolina. She grew up in Salisbury but has not been a full-time resident of the state since the 1960s.
After a lot of debating about holding a debate, the five Democrats running to square off against Dole met in Greensboro last week. The candidate with the lead in the polls is Kay Hagan, a state senator from Greensboro. Her most competitive challenger is Jim Neal, a corporate financial adviser from Chapel Hill.

Hagan … said she believes any Democrat has a good chance of defeating Dole in the November election. But she vowed to be that candidate, contrasting herself with Dole on issues such as the minimum wage, financial aid for students and veterans benefits.

Neal repeatedly tried to engage Hagan during the hour-long debate moderated by students on the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Spartan TV. And while Hagan tried to focus her responses on Dole, she also contrasted herself with her Democratic competitors, including Lumber-ton attorney Marcus Williams and Moncure podiatrist Howard Staley. [Duskin Lassiter, a Lexington trucker, did not participate.]

Hagan, contrary to the other three candidates on stage, would not dismiss the possibility of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a way to soften soaring gas prices — an idea often proposed by Republicans but rejected by congressional Democrats.

“I think that’s an issue of a cost-benefit ratio,” Hagan said. “You’ve got to look at how much oil is there, how long it will last and what is the risk from an environmental standpoint. I will really study the cost-benefit analysis.”

The veteran lawmaker said the more urgent priority was finding alternative sources of energy. She also advocated eliminating incentives for oil companies.

Neal … immediately said he opposes drilling in Alaska, suggesting the nation should tap into the nation’s large strategic petroleum reserve first. President Bush favors continuing pumping oil into the reserve in case of an international disruption in oil markets.

“I don’t believe we can begin talking about plundering our natural environment in order to generate more oil on the marketplace,” said Neal, an entrepreneur.

Williams cited data indicating the oil in the wildlife refuge would take years to develop and do little to influence gas prices. Staley said drilling for oil and would only continue a cycle of President Bush’s energy policy, which he dubbed “Drill until you’re sick. Get all the oil out of the earth you can.”

“It’s only led to more consumption and more pollution,” Staley said.

But do the Democrats have a chance of taking Dole’s seat this year? Despite the fact that Dole occupies the seat once held by Sen. Jesse Helms, and Republican Richard Burr won the other seat when Democrat John Edwards decided not to run for reelection in 2004 when he was John Kerry’s running mate, the answer is yes.

While North Carolina has been a reliable red state in every presidential elections since 1976, Democrats have historically done well in state races. North Carolina has had a Democratic governor in six out of the last eight terms, and Democrats control both houses of the legislature.

This is the final post from a friend in North Carolina who has been monitoring the buildup to tomorrow’s presidential primary and giving us a Wilmington-eye view on the campaign. Thanks Mike!

With just a few days to go before the North Carolina primary, it’s not surprising that almost everybody here in Wilmington is talking politics. We hear a lot about Democrats bickering, but my guess is a lot of Republicans are bickering too. And it’s not just about McCain being too liberal (though my Republican friends here do view him as such).

As one example, I stopped by an old friend’s house this week. Larry works at the local Goodyear tires. Teresa, his wife, is unemployed, but not looking for a job any more since she has become a grandmother and is busy with the grandkid. She’s bolting the Grand Old Party (literally, this year) to vote for Hillary. Her husband is seething about this: “She [Hillary] talks disrespectfully of President Bush. He’s our president and presidents deserve respect.” He looks at her with intensity when saying this.

But their kid is in the military (in Iraq last year, stationed in Hawaii now), Teresa doesn’t want any chance of him going back to Iraq. Plus, there’s that gender issue: “It’s time we had a woman in charge,” she says.

Larry spits back: “Mrs. Bill Clinton will not be in charge. It’s Bill Clinton’s third presidency!”

“Oh,” I interject innocently, “you’d rather have Obama?”

My son is with me, so Larry tones down his terminology when he replies that “America is not ready to vote for a black man.” He does not use the “N word,” though in other company he would perhaps do so.

The next day I had lunch with Ron, a home repair guy who pretty much says the same thing about Americans never voting for a black man. Maybe blue-collar folk are the true elitists in our country.

Anyhow, as for the campaign itself, I kind of see what Larry means about Mrs. Bill Clinton, just because Mr. Hillary Clinton is so much in evidence, doing a spectacular job of campaigning at the local level. On one day alone he made 12 stops in Carolina towns, with highlights of his address airing on newscasts throughout the state.

His stump speech is about 25 minutes; he takes no questions from the audience or press, but revels in speaking to the common people. They applaud and he moves onto the next town. The crowds are large and enthusiastic — proud that an ex-president has come to their small town.

To me, Bill Clinton conjures images of that old populist William Jennings Bryan, at least as he was portrayed by Fredric March in “Inherit The Wind.” Sounding much like Bryan railing against banks, railroads and Adlai Stevenson (an elitist from Illinois), Bill Clinton criticizes oil companies and elitists (though not mentioning Obama by name).

Following his failed runs for president, Bryan took to going from Southern town to Southern town with lucrative speaking engagements, raising the hopes of people by trashing Darwinism, hailing the of glory of America’s past and praising the common sense of small-town people.

For his part, Bill Clinton essentially calls for a return to the glory days of the ’90s, praising the wisdom of the people in the crowd and emphasizing Hillary’s common sense. “She got that by spending 14 years with the people in Arkansas,” he says with a kind of weird, ingratiating smile. “There’s not much difference between the good people of Arkansas and the good people of Carolina.” Wisely, no mention of Scranton or New York people this time around.

Anyhow, that’s my final Carolina primary update. Packing my bags and heading to Chicago for the summer, so you’ll have to rely on the professionals from now on.

Before leaving, I participated in early voting, expecting long lines, but finding none, just me, some black men (two bringing their kids) and old white women (taking a very long time to vote). I found the low turnout a little surprising because there are only two early voting places in Wilmington: one at the senior center, one at the government center. The latter is conveniently located near both the university and a strip club, so you’d think there’d be greater voter interest. However, as of Thursday morning at 11 a.m., neither of those demographics appeared to see any need to vote early, despite Senator Obama’s exhortations to do so during his rally in the Port City.