North Carolina - first in flight
We're adding coverage of Senate and gubernatorial elections one state at a time: today, North Carolina.
Voters in North Carolina seem to be fond of change right now. Last year they supported a Democrat for the White House for the first time since 1976, and also ditched Republican Elizabeth Dole as their senior US Senator in favour of Democrat Kay Hagan. Republican Senator Richard Burr, up for re-election next year, will find little comfort in knowing that no Senator has successfully won re-election to his seat since Sam Ervin's re-election in 1968 (it's in Wikipedia, so it must be true). I'm pretty sure I saw a poll a few months ago (I can't find it now, of course) that suggested that as many as one-in-four people on North Carolina had never even heard of Richard Burr - which is surely not a good thing if you've been their Senator for four years and will shortly be asking for another six.
As far as I can tell so far, Burr will be unchallenged for the Republican nomination. I'm aware of four likely Democratic candidates for the primary on 4 May: Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy; attorney Kenneth Lewis; secretary of state Elaine Marshall; and former Lieutenant Governor Dennis Wicker.
In early polls, Burr appears to have a comfortable lead over both generic Democrats and named potential challengers, so maybe 2010 isn't going to be a year for change in North Carolina.
Tomorrow: Ohio.
Voters in North Carolina seem to be fond of change right now. Last year they supported a Democrat for the White House for the first time since 1976, and also ditched Republican Elizabeth Dole as their senior US Senator in favour of Democrat Kay Hagan. Republican Senator Richard Burr, up for re-election next year, will find little comfort in knowing that no Senator has successfully won re-election to his seat since Sam Ervin's re-election in 1968 (it's in Wikipedia, so it must be true). I'm pretty sure I saw a poll a few months ago (I can't find it now, of course) that suggested that as many as one-in-four people on North Carolina had never even heard of Richard Burr - which is surely not a good thing if you've been their Senator for four years and will shortly be asking for another six.
As far as I can tell so far, Burr will be unchallenged for the Republican nomination. I'm aware of four likely Democratic candidates for the primary on 4 May: Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy; attorney Kenneth Lewis; secretary of state Elaine Marshall; and former Lieutenant Governor Dennis Wicker.
In early polls, Burr appears to have a comfortable lead over both generic Democrats and named potential challengers, so maybe 2010 isn't going to be a year for change in North Carolina.
Tomorrow: Ohio.
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