Kenneth Lewis

Wow, the DSCC isn’t even trying to hide it anymore. Look at this post their latest twitter posting: Less than 30 days until the #NCSen primary. Join @calfornc! http://calfornc.com/30-3-30 #30330

Cal, don’t forget that North Carolinians are the ones who get to decide not DC. Poetry and the DSCC can only get you so far.

I raided the candidates websites, Facebooks, and Flickr accounts to put together a compilation of why I think the Democratic party is heading for a win this November. I hope having all these photos in one place will both make for a fun look-through, but also an easy resource for when people are writing blog, message board, or website articles on the election or any of the candidates because we certainly need all of that we can get. I invite any campaign supporter, campaign staff, or anyone else to add all the photos to this blog posting that you'd like. Retail politics FTW. Gotta collect 'em all!

Hello friends.

We just released the second part of our "Meet Elaine" series, and I wanted to make sure you got a chance to see it. It's called "Experience" and it talks about who I am, what I've done, and what kind of Senator I'll be for the people of North Carolina.

Thanks for your friendship and support.

Learn more:
http://ElaineMarshall.com

Make a contribution:
http://ElaineMarshall.com/donate

Become a fan on Facebook:
http://Facebook.com/Elaine4NC

Cal Cunningham apparently had a fundraiser in DC tonight with lobbyists. Does he really have this wrapped up or are DC connections all he has? I guess Cal is not going to make a "no donations from lobbyists" pledge?

I haven't been paying as much attention to the race the past few weeks, but I have seen 2 things from Cunningham: Washington, DC insiders and negative campaigning against Burr. From Marshall I have seen e-mails to make calls for Coakley (I bet she wishes she could take that back). There has been no debate in this primary. I want to see these candidates distinguish themselves. Maybe Elaine and Cal will split the vote and Lewis will end up winning with a more niche/low cost strategy. I want one of these candidates to come out and say where they stand. I expect to see a strong flow of comments tonight following the state of the union.

Digging in Federal paperwork this week I came across an unfamiliar name that led to this curious statement on a Facebook page:

Have you noticed that Senator Burr has suddenly become a little more visible? The Party is concerned that he’s the most vulnerable Republican Senator preparing for 2010 elections. The John Locke Foundation states that he’s not unpopular just unknown and needs to define himself before the electorate. Where has he been since he first arrived in Washington in 1994? Fifteen years later and you’re still unknown, Senator? Where have you been hiding? You haven’t been in North Carolina listening to the people who elected you!

What to make of this? ...

Any one of them would be an excellent Senator, light years ahead of Richard Burr. As the campaign moves onto the public radar screen over the next five months, it'll be interesting to see how they position themselves and how citizens respond. So many of us think about elections only when we have to, if that. Choices get made for the most fragile of reasons ... from color of yard signs to color of skin. At that primal level, the Senate primary is an election between a young white guy, an older white woman, and a black guy. For some, that will be as deep as it gets.

I was surprised to receive a phone call from the Kenneth Lewis campaign a couple of weeks ago; I knew a few things about the Durham attorney, who has jumped into the U.S. Senate race to dislodge Richard "Bank Run" Burr from his seat -- 1) he has little name recognition; 2) he has not held public office before and 3) he has worked behind the scenes in politics for a long time, fundraising and organizing on several campaigns, including the U.S. Senate campaigns of Harvey Gantt and Erskine Bowles. In 2008, he was part of the finance team in North Carolina for the Obama campaign.

Ed Cone thinks Richard Burr is not as vulnerable as Liddy Dole was, and he's probably right. After all, Burr appears to actually know where North Carolina is, and has even been here a few times. That said, the senior Senator definitely has his work cut out. From where I sit, there are several big things he'll need to explain:

His personal little bank run at the height of the financial crisis

Proposing to allow 100,000 mentally incompetent veterans to buy guns

Standing in the way of giving raped military contractors the right to justice

Sitting on his hands for five years on health care, then magically coming up with a bullshit plan of no use to anyone

If you have other suggested lines of attack against Bank Run Burr, let's hear them.

Last year's US Senate primary wore the hell out of me. It was hard and ugly and full of many lessons. In a comment earlier today, Dan Besse, pointed to one of them.

Enough with the intraparty sniping! It's way too early to start that ... stuff. In fact, let's not do it at all this time. For once.

We have quality candidates. Pick your favorite and work for her or him. Speak her/his praises and tell us why she/he should be the pick. Kindly stop trashing the others. And I am speaking to all sides in the debate. Thanks.

Dan Besse

There's something about holiday breaks that pushes me into a pondering mood. Back when I was CEO of a company, the day before going on vacation was always emotional for me. It felt as though I was leaving forever and wanted people to know how much I appreciated them. Looking back, it seems so fatalistic. I think I was worried about dying. On that happy note, my thoughts today flow in those two familiar directions, gratitude and anxiety.