Carolina Politics Online

Richard Burr’s campaign headquarters here in the basement of a bank building may look unassuming, but it neatly illustratesthe problem for his Republican primary challengers.

Burr has space set aside for volunteers, fundraisers and strategists, all of whom are working for a candidate who has already successfully run one statewide campaign and six bids for the U.S. House before that. The campaign expects to raise $15 million by the end of the year.

Designed to fight off the Democrats’ eventual nominee, Burr’s operation is beyond anything GOP challengers Eddie Burks or Brad Jones say they have at their disposal.

“I can’t imagine it,” Burks said of Burr’s fundraising goal. “There’s just no way that I can get the kind of money he has … Everybody who’s sent me anything, I’ve known who they are.”

The News-Record

It’s a shame that running for office has become so difficult for the average American. I think one of the reasons our country is in such a mess is because most of the successful politicians don’t have to be policy experts as long as they’re fundraising experts.

“I can’t imagine it,” Burks said of Burr’s fundraising goal. “There’s just no way that I can get the kind of money he has … Everybody who’s sent me anything, I’ve known who they are.”

Burks’ campaign staff consists of a manager and a treasurer, but he has no plans to hire a fundraising consultant.

That said, Burks has already produced three television spots and hopes to have enough money to put them on in specific spots throughout the state.

Jones said he will use some radio commercials and rely on friends throughout the state to spread the word about his campaign.

“It’s just going to be a grass-roots thing,” he said.

Neither Burks nor Jones think that Burr has been conservative enough or responsive to North Carolina’s needs.

“During the years of the Bush administration, he was a rubber stamp for every spending program,” Jones said. “They tried to outspend the Democrats and he went right along with it. And now that the executive branch is no longer held by a Republican, he’s acting conservative again.”

Jones said if he were elected he would call for an audit of all federal systems “down to the broom closets” and push Congress to adopt a balanced budget. The federal government also needs to make good on promises to those who have been forced to pay into Medicare and Social Security, he said.

When asked why he was running against Burr, Burks said it wasn’t an easy decision for someone who has served one term as a small-town mayor and is in the third year of his first term on the Asheboro City Council.

“It came to me in church one evening,” said Burks, who describes himself as a born-again Christian. Feedback from other businessmen and local government officials helped push him fully into the race.

“I found a surprising number of people who are involved in politics … who knew nothing about Senator Burr,” Burks said.

He said other city officials described Burr as “inaccessible.”

The so-called “jobs” bill passed the Senate by a vote of 70 – 28 and will result in throwing away another $15 billion in money we don’t have and in the end will do absolutely nothing to help our ailing economy.  It is estimated by some that the bill will create 250,000 jobs, a smidgen of the 8 million that have been lost, but what happens when the money runs out?  Well, so do the jobs and that’s the main problem.  These are temporary jobs that are nothing more than band-aids.  In the long run our economy will still be in the crapper.

Part of the incentive that will allegedly create these jobs is an exemption from the payroll tax for businesses that hire new workers and an extra $1,000 credit if they employ them for at least a year.  So let’s think about that.  If I hire a new employee for, say, $40,000 a year, I don’t have to pay the 6.5% payroll tax on their salary and I get a $1,000 credit from the Feds a year from now.  Perhaps my math is fuzzy, but I’m still out $39,000.  In a down economy the demand for my services isn’t picking up, so what good will it do me to bring on this extra employee?  Legislation like this is living proof that anybody off the street can run for office.

Your two North Carolina Senators, Richard Burr (R) and Kay Hagan (D), supported wasting your hard earned money and adding more to our already chronic national debt.

U.S. Senate- Republican Primary
Richard Burr (i)- 55%
Brad Jones- 10%
Eddie Burks- 3%
Undecided- 31%
(moe-3.9%; PPP, 646 Republican voters, Feb. 12 to 15)

U.S. Senate- Democrat Primary
Elaine Marshall- 29%
Cal Cunningham- 12%
Ken Lewis- 5%
Marcus Williams- 2%
Undecided- 51%
(moe-4.9%; PPP, 400 Democrats, Feb. 12-15)

Elaine Marshall- 14%
Cal Cunningham- 4%
Ken Lewis- 5%
Undecided- 77%
(moe-5%; Civitas, 367 Democrats, Feb. 15-18)

h/t- The N&O

Sen. Richard Burr made his re-election campaign official on Monday when he filed for re-election.

But he’s not going to have the Republican primary all to himself. Over the last year, many conservatives have shown displeasure (to put it mildly) with Burr’s support of some budget-busting spending bills.  He voted for the first bailout in the last months of George W. Bush’s administration, for instance. Sure, Burr looks like a piker now that Obama’s in office, but it’s too little too late for some conservatives.

Brad Jones, a 65, who runs an electronics businessman, said he is running to provide a more conservative alternative to Burr, Rob Christensen reports. Jones said the Burr “rubber stamped” all of the spending policies of President George W. Bush and voted for the bank bailout.

“I want to give people an alternative,” Jones said. “I’m more of a Jesse Helms conservative. Now that there is a Democrat in the White House, he (Burr) is acting more conservative.”

Eddie Burks, a 48-year-old Asheboro City Councilman, calls Burr “unresponsive and inaccessible.”

“Have you seen any leadership from Sen. Burr?” Burks asked in an interview. “I haven’t. Most people can’t tell me anything they like about the senator.”

The N&O

Senator Richard Burr (R) so far this election season has been leading all of his potential Democrat opponents by a decent amount, but he has been doing so usually only polling in the low 40s.  His numbers have improved a bit.  According to a new Rasmussen Report, Burr is leading Education Secretary Elaine Marshall 47% to 37% and has a very handy lead over Cal Cunningham 50% to 34%.  Any polling under 50%, however, is still a sign of vulnerability.

In another poll from Public Policy Polling, both Senators Richard Burr and Kay Hagan are showing poor approval ratings from the voters of North Carolina.  Burr’s numbers shows a paltry 35% approving of his job in Congress with Hagan having relatively the same lack of popularity at 36%.  Hagan, of course, has another five years before she needs to worry about being reelected; Burr has only 11 months.

Despite Burr’s low approval rating, as every other poll that has been commissioned, he still leads all of his potential Democrat opponents, although the gaps have narrowed.  Burr leads Elaine Marshall by five points, Kenneth Lewis by six, and Cal Cunningham by nine.  This shows that either folks still aren’t sold on their selection of replacements to Burr, of which there is plenty of time to change, or that they feel even less confident in putting a Democrat in his place given the unpopularity of the party in D.C. right now.

It seems people feel like they have a choice between a giant douche or a turd sandwich.

Cal Cunningham has reversed course from a month ago and has now decided that he is jumping into next year’s U.S. Senate race in North Carolina.  Cunningham is a Democrat who will be vying for his party’s nomination to take on incumbent Republican Senator Richard Burr.

DURHAM — Democratic Senate candidate Kenneth Lewis criticized Republican Sen. Richard Burr’s position on health care legislation Thursday, saying he was part of the Washington establishment that had blocked efforts to make health care more affordable.

The News & Observer

I’m not trying to defend Burr because his performance in the Senate leaves a lot to be desired, but Lewis is full of it.  The health care bill going through the Senate and the one already passed by the House do not make health care more affordable.  It will make insurance more expensive for the 85% of Americans that currently have it.  Every study of these bills has stated so including the CBO so either Lewis is misinformed or he is just lying.

UPDATE: Etheridge is out. [N&O] With no more top candidates to recruit, Dems turn to this woman.

National Democrats are apparently stepping up their efforts to try and recruit Congressman Bob Etheridge (D-NC-02) to run against Senator Richard Burr in next year’s election.  They evidently think that Etheridge could bring a strong challenge to Burr.  While I realize Burr isn’t all that popular or well known around the state, I think they’re wrong.

Bob Etheridge has this image that he is some middle of the road moderate, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Look at his voting record:

• Voted for Wall Street Bailout?  Check!
• Voted for the Porkulus bill?  Check!
• Voted for Crap and Tax?  Check!
• Voted for the largest budget deficit in American history?  Check!
• Voted for the health care bill that will put people in jail for not buying insurance?  Check!

Bob Etheridge has more in common with far left radicals than he does with the people of North Carolina and I think the Burr campaign will take Etheridge’s record and absolutely destroy him.  That’s my opinion.

In related news to this race, former state legislator Cal Cunningham has decided to bow out and not run.  He was being embraced by the left wing extremists at BlueNC.

Additionally, Republican Dan Mansell of Selma has decided to make another run for the Second Congressional District seat.  I think if Mansell is well funded he can make a similar case and mount a competitive challenge to Etheridge, although it will be more difficult for him to defeat Etheridge than Etheridge to defeat Burr.  Of course, if Etheridge does run against Burr and NC-02 is an open seat then Mansell has an excellent chance of winning because this seat leans slightly Republican according to the Cook Political Index.

According to a poll out by Elon University, only 19% of North Carolinians feel that Senator Richard Burr deserves reelection to a second term. I am surprised by this, but not that surprised. I am not at all shocked that the number is low. As I’ve written before, Burr and his staff haven’t done a lot of work in the PR department. His approvals have been hovering around 40% and below for a while now. What surprises me is how low this number is. God, that’s worse than George Bush. Somebody on his staff had better wake him up pretty damn quick if he wants to see another six years.

Despite this low number, he still out polls all potential Democrat candidates by double digits which means two things. The candidates have so far been lackluster and there are a lot of undecided voters. Burr hasn’t done much to put his name in the lime light, but the state as a whole isn’t overly happy with Obama or the Democrat party at the moment. It seems people haven’t thought much about this yet, but I think with such poor numbers on both sides of the aisle, this opens up a great opportunity for a third party candidate to hop in and get some momentum, much like what is happening in New York right now with the 23rd Congressional race.

Well, this is quite the political oddity.  According to Public Policy Polling, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) has experienced a drop in his already dangerously low approval rating for an incumbent, but his lead among his potential opponents has actually increased.  Yeah, I can’t wrap my brain around that one either.  Perhaps it’s a sign of some general frustration North Carolinians might have with the Democrats running the state and the country.

General Election Matchups
Burr 46 — Cunningham 27 — Und 27
Burr 44 — Etheridge 33 — Und 23
Burr 45 — Foy 29 — Und 26
Burr 44 — Lewis 30 — Und 26
Burr 44 — Marshall 32 — Und 24
Burr 43 — Wicker 30 — Und 26

Burr 45 — Generic D 34 — Und 22

The latest Rasmussen poll shows Burr still under 50, but holding double digit leads against his Democrat opponents.

An amendment was successfully passed today in the U.S. Senate defunding ACORN by an overwhelming margin.  ACORN has been a pariah on our political system, engaging in forms of election fraud by registering phony voters.  They were one of the groups putting pressure on banks and other lenders to engage in risky mortgages with lower income people, contributing to our current banking crisis.  They’ve been prosecuted in about a dozen states now and just a few days ago the Census Bureau severed ties with them.  In light of all of this, you’d think a vote in the Senate to disallow them from receiving Federal tax dollars going forward would be a rather important vote to cast.  Yet, for some reason Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) didn’t feel it was worth showing up for.

That’s the analysis of the political pollster Public Policy Polling.  It’s not that Richard Burr has done a bad job for the folks in North Carolina.  It’s not that they’re all that unhappy with him.  The problem is he just hasn’t done anything significant enough to get leave his personal imprint on and get recognition from.  Basically, nobody knows who he is or not enough about him to form an opinion after five years in the U.S. Senate.

Burr’s approval rating is only 38%, which would usually be considered abysmal for an incumbent. Interestingly, his disapproval is only 32%, with a whopping 29% undecided.

It’s not that he’s unpopular — it’s that in the time since he was first elected in 2004, he has thus far failed to actually make an impression on the voters.

The pollster’s analysis suggests that the outlook for this race could depend on the national climate: “Burr’s standing has improved a little bit as the climate has gotten worse for Democrats nationally but if Barack Obama’s approval starts heading back in the right direction this race has the potential to be a toss up.”

TPM

Which is what I’ve said as well.  If next year is good for Republicans, Burr is safe.  If not, he could be taken down like Dole was last year.

The good news for Burr is that he is still beating all potential Democrats by a decent margin.  The bad news is he is still way under 50% and there are a lot of undecideds, who historically will break for the challenger.

About a month ago there was speculation that North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall was considering a run for the U.S. Senate against Richard Burr next year. Those suspicions were confirmed today when she filed papers for the race.  Conventional wisdom would dictate that Marshall should be the toughest candidate to face Burr of all those who might run, save Bob Etheridge perhaps, however a poll done by Public Policy Polling, a Democrat pollster didn’t show her numbers being much different from the other lesser known candidates.

H/T to BlueNC

The part that stood out at me was when Burr said “It’s ok if you want to have a government option but you’ve got to leave the private sector private.” Wrong. A public option is not ok. Or is Senator Burr unaware of the $11 trillion national debt we have? Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy. Social Security is insolvent. These people can’t write a budget without a deficit. We can’t afford more entitlements to people who don’t pull their own weight. The United States of America is going BANKRUPT!

Former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker is being courted as a possible Democratic opponent to Republican Sen. Richard Burr next year.

And while he is not committing to anything, he is listening.

Wicker, a Sanford resident who practices law in Raleigh, said he has had conversations with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, former Gov. Jim Hunt and others.

Charlotte Observer

I imagine some kind of poll will be commissioned to see how Wicker stacks up against Burr.  I am willing to bet that the numbers won’t be much different than they have been for Elaine Marshall, mainly because a lot of people probably won’t know much about Wicker or even who he is.  Everyone knows the governor’s name, but you don’t often hear much about the number two guy.

A new Public Policy Polling is out today showing Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) leading all of his potential Democrat challengers, but he is still well under 50%.  Burr gets 43% of the vote against all match ups.  The strongest competitor is Secretary of State Elaine Marshall who trails him with 31%.  State Senator Cal Cunningham comes in with 28% and both Kenneth Lewis and Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy receive 27% when matched up against Burr.

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall is “pretty seriously leaning towards” running against Republican Sen. Richard M. Burr in 2010, campaign strategist Thomas Mills tell CQ Politics.

“She’s gotten very strong feedback both in state and in Washington,” said Mills.

If you paid attention to President Obama’s health care forum in Raleigh, N.C. on Wednesday, you would have noticed her there, as well.

As the number of Democratic prospects continue to dwindle, Marshall is looking like a lead contender to take on Burr, whose shaky standing at home has Democratic party leaders drooling.

CQPolitics

Marshall would probably be the only really competitive opponent Burr could get next year.  The Democrats have not been able to produce anything more than third tier challengers.  Marshall would make it more exciting, but I still think Burr is going to have the upper hand.  Everything right now is pointing to a good year for the GOP in 2010, but that could change in a minute.