North Carolina Democrat Elaine Marshall released the results of a new internal poll that found the four-term secretary of state leading incumbent Republican Sen. Richard Burr by 2 points. That’s well within the margin of error, but more to the point was that Burr was held to 35 percent and that nearly a quarter of voters had yet to make up their minds.

The poll was conducted by Lake Research Partners, a firm that conducts polling for Democratic candidates, from July 15-19 among 600 likely voters with a 4-point margin of error. It found Burr to not only have a low job approval rating, but also found a plurality of voters view him unfavorably.

Real Clear Politics

I’ve said many times that Burr is not a lock for reelection, but I’m not buying this.  For one, it’s an internal poll and you simply can’t trust those.  Second, it’s an outlier.  Other polls on this race don’t come close to reflecting the same results.  If we see the same results from a credible pollster like Gallup, SUSA, Rasmussen, etc. then I’ll believe it.

Elaine Marshall can absolutely win this race, though.  I don’t think she will, but she could.  Burr’s approval rating has been well below 50 ever since the election year started.  He is going to be saved by the national mood of the electorate who right now hates the Democratic Party.  If the 2010 environment was like ‘06 or ‘08 Burr would be a dead man walking right now.

The illegal immigration amendment was defeated 55 to 43.  It would have barred funding for the Federal government to prosecute the law.  Democrat Kay Hagan voted against the amendment, while Republicans Lindsey Graham and Richard Burr, along with DeMint, voted for it.  A few Democrats from other states crossed over to support DeMint’s efforts, but not nearly enough and that was expected.  The left has been particularly outspoken against Arizona’s efforts to protect their state from the harm caused by mass illegal immigration.

Permanent repeal of the Estate Tax was nothing but a pipe dream and only 39 Senators voted in favor of it, about what I would expect.

The repeal movement has lost some steam in recent years as former enthusiasts in the business community have sought compromise with the Democratic majority on a plan that would lower the tax, not eliminate it.

But a core of groups representing small businesses and conservatives continue to push repeal, arguing that the tax is an unfair government intrusion and that it serves as a disincentive for individuals to build family businesses.

“What right does a government have to take someone’s property because they die?” DeMint said on the Senate floor.

NASDAQ

Great question, huh?  That is the one that has always rankled me.  Why is the government entitled to anybody’s property simply because they die?  It’s absurd.  The property should stay in the family where it rightfully belongs.  Family business owners and family farms get clobbered by this.  Just because one’s estate is valued at a few million dollars does not mean they are millionaires bathing in golden bathtub of 100 dollar bills.  Pieces of farm equipment can cost a few hundred grand alone and that is all added into the value of the estate.  It’s not uncommon for the children of a family farmer to have to sell off the farm in order to pay the inheritance taxes on the estate.

The Estate Tax is nothing more than another weapon used in the Marxist tactic of class warfare.  It was established by politicians seething with envy, jealousy, and greed.

Kay Hagan (D) of North Carolina voted for the bill.  The three Republican Senators in the Carolinas:  Richard Burr, Lindsey Graham, and Jim DeMint voted against it.

A coalition of four environmental, labor and veterans groups began airing an ad today showing an oil-covered man – identified as Burr – being pulled out of the ocean like a sea bird. The man in the suit is shown being cleaned in a rescue operation, reports Rob Christensen.

Under the Dome

The irony here is that these groups probably also supported President Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign and he received more donations from BP than any other American politician.

The Burr campaign noted that Burr had just introduced legislation that would encourage the country to become less oil dependent through tax policies to encourage nuclear power, electric vehicles and natural gas vehicles.

“If the groups running this ad would stop long enough to realize that Senator Burr just introduced an energy bill that has the greatest offset on emissions, they might not have wasted so much money,” said Samantha Smith, Burr’s campaign spokeswoman.

Senate Bill 1557, the Preserving Public Access to Cape Hatteras Beaches Act of 2009, was sponsored by Senator Richard Burr last August in order to reinstate off road vehicle use on the Hatteras seashore.  The Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society sued the state in 2007 to prevent such access until a management plan has been devised as required by an Executive Order issued by President Richard Nixon in 1972. A lot of recreational use of the beaches has been prevented since the lawsuit three years ago and it has apparently upset some of the locals.

Even though it would appear that the folks of North Carolina feel Richard Burr is an ineffective Senator overall, they still seem to prefer him over any of the Democrats.  In my opinion, this emphasizes the disconnect that exists between the Obama administration and the American people in general.

With a few words Wednesday – “I would have to object” – Sen. Richard Burr joined an angry Republican pushback to the nation’s sweeping health overhaul.

Burr used a parliamentary maneuver to derail an Armed Services Committee hearing for which commanders had traveled from South Korea and Hawaii to discuss the Pentagon’s needs for the next year.

It was one of several hearings on issues ranging from homeless veterans to police trainers in Afghanistan that were upturned by Republican tactics to slow the workings of the Senate.

The N&O

 Y’know… I’m pissed too, and I’m certainly going to do everything I can to defeat or overturn this massive turd the Democrats have shoved into my breakfast cereal and told me is just a big chocolate sprinkle. But I’m a piss-ant little blogger; Richard Burr is a U.S. Senator. There’s a time and place and method to protest, and holding up an Armed Services Committee meeting to which many high-ranking officers have traveled is not the way to do it.

Sen. Burr- stay mad, but stay professional.

Rules prohibit committees from meeting two hours after the Senate convenes unless there is unanimous consent, normally a formality.

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, a Democrat who is the Armed Services Committee’s chairman, said that both he and Sen. John McCain, the committee’s top Republican, wanted to go forward.

The hearing was to allow testimony from three military leaders: Adm. Robert Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii; Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command; and Army Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of the U.S. forces in South Korea.

“They’ve been scheduled a long time,” Levin said. “They have come a long, long distance.”

About lunchtime Wednesday, Burr, who was on the Senate floor for the health care debate, came forward.

“I have no personal objection to continuing,” Burr said. “There is objection on our side of the aisle. Therefore, I would have to object.”

That stopped the hearing.

A Veteran Affairs hearing on homelessness was suddenly shut down at 11 a.m.

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.”

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- 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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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