tim dunn

CQPolitics.com - NC 8: Dunn’s Drop Out Brightens Prospects for Hayes

But Dunn’s dropout was even better news for Hayes, whose chances for winning a fifth term in the potentially competitive 8th District greatly improved. With Kissell still unproven as a candidate and lacking the publicity draw of Dunn’s service in Iraq, CQPolitics.com has changed its rating on the race to Republican Favored from Leans Republican.

And here we thought Hayes would just roll over and play dead.

Larry Kissell is a strong progressive candidate and he is on track to take North Carolina's 8th Congressional District away from Republican Robin Hayes. Larry has tailored his issues to the voters in the district and his stance on each reflects true progressive ideals.

A couple of weeks ago I had an opportunity to meet Larry. I hadn't realized he would be at the Democratic convention in our county. I had been interested in this race from the beginning as I live on the border of his district, but not in it. I had initially thought Tim Dunn was the candidate to beat Hayes, but long before Dunn bowed out I had started to gravitate to Kissell. I wanted to meet him to see if all those qualities I felt he had - humility, integrity, compassion - were real.

Grab a cuppa and read the rest...

Despite the fact that Tim Dunn quit campaigning for Congress in the 8th district and endorsed his opponent, Larry Kissell, his name will appear on the ballot in May's primary. This is due to the fact that North Carolina law does not allow qualified candidates to quit a race. Congressional Quarterly detailed the problem:

State election law dictates that candidates who have filed and qualified to run cannot remove their names from the primary ballot once the filing deadline passes. That occurred on Feb. 28.

What do you do if you're not a Fighting Dem? What do you do if you're just a hard-working public school teacher who's sweating blood to unseat a Republican sleaze bag in a race that Hotline says:

"Without [this seat], it's hard to imagine where (Democrat) pickups 14 and 15, etc., come from."
        House Race Hotline on NC-08, March 2006

This post is for all of you who like your breakfast toast over Dunn. In addition to the coverage on BlueNC (press release, forum discussion), here's a quick roundup of what's out there on the interweb:

The text of the press release follows:

DUNN EXITS RACE FOR 8TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Democratic congressional candidate Tim Dunn announced today that he was ending his bid to represent the 8th congressional district. Dunn said:

“I am withdrawing from this race because I am no longer in the position to meet my family financial obligations and continue with this campaign. The stakes are too high to not be able to devote every bit of my being into winning this race. But after being in this campaign for over six months, it is very apparent that I will hurt my family and also the ultimate goal of this campaign if I continue in this race. It has come down to a choice between my family obligations and the campaign for Congress and my family will always come first.”

Everyone knows that Robin Hayes broke his promise to his constituents. He had promised to vote against CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Republicans and corporate interests in Washington had different plans for Hayes.

Hayes sold his vote. He sold out his constituents. Now we're finding out just how much the Republican Party and corporate Washington are paying Hayes for that vote. The Charlotte Observer has this to say:

All the dirty details below the fold...

The Charlotte Observer has a piece this morning that makes the future of North Carolina's 8th Congressional District appear bleak. The financial numbers aren't looking good for Democrats Tim Dunn and Larry Kissell.

According to the FECinfo data compiled by the Observer, Robin Hayes had $733,837 in the bank as of 12/31/05. Tim Dunn had $47,118 and Larry Kissell had $3,653. It's a good thing the numbers don't tell the whole story.

Dunn and Kissell are running against each other in a primary. This means that the money will leave the campaign as quickly as it is coming in. I haven't seen anything by Tim Dunn that is out locally yet, but Larry Kissell is running a traditional grassroots campaign with a twist. He has also reached out to the netroots for support.

In the race for North Carolina's 8th Congressional District, there seems to be two Democrats seriously vying to take down Robin Hayes: Tim Dunn and Larry Kissel. Larry Kissel has thus far dominated the online/blog race and Tim Dunn has grabbed the national attention. Tim Dunn now adds USA Today to the national media outlets that are giving him exposure. From the USA Today:

Tim Dunn, 45, is a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Reserves who served in Baghdad in 2004 as a legal adviser to the Iraqi Special Tribunal trying Saddam Hussein. If the Democrat wins a party primary, he would face GOP Rep. Robin Hayes in a North Carolina district with a strong military presence that leans Republican.

Real Values has the scoop here:

In a huge boost to Lt Col Dunn's campaign to replace CAFTA flip-floppin Robin Hayes, former Georgia Senator, and war hero, Max Cleland will come to NC to campaign for him.