Things are starting to take shape in North Carolina; Elaine Marshall, the state’s Secretary of State and first woman elected to statewide office, looks like she will become the first top-tier Democratic challenger to Richard Burr.
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall filed paperwork Tuesday to create a campaign committee to run for the U.S. Senate next year.
“We’ll have a more formal announcement in the future,” said Thomas Mills, a consultant for Marshall. “We were feeling we just needed to get started in moving forward.”
Durham attorney Kenneth Lewis is the only announced Democratic candidate so far. Charismatic former state Senator Cal Cunningham seems likely to get in as well, while former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker and Rep. Bob Etheridge are still considering it.
that could use a good, healthy primary.
I think the Obama/Hillary extended primary season shows all the benefits to a primary, and that one even got somewhat ugly.
Burr makes my skin crawl.
He seems very similar to the profile of Kay Hagan.
My main issue with Elaine Marshall is that she is 65 years old in 2010.
Elaine will be an awesome candidate against Burr and this race just got extremely competitive. She will win the primary, I know that a lot of Democrats were waiting for her to enter the race and they will now support her. She has been elected statewide four times now (56% in 2008!) and she is very well connected with Democrats across the state. Voters like her and Burr is going to have a tough race ahead of him. I think he is now the most endangered GOP incumbent in the country, even more than Vitter.
In terms of the primary, Elaine should win easily enough because she is well-liked among NC Democrats. Lewis and Cunningham may be fresh faces, but they are unknown and lack the same gravitas that Elaine has. I don’t expect Wicker or Etheridge to run now that she is in. Should be no problem for her getting through the primary without a really tough time.
Some people have raised concerns about fundraising based on the last time, but the reason she had trouble then was because the NCGOP kept suing over redistricting and the primary had to be moved up several times, which is why people were waiting for Bowles to get in so they could donate to him. She will get DSCC support early on and should be fine this time.
Also, interesting fact: If Elaine does win next year, NC will become the first Southern state to have two female Senators serving at the same time.
Marshall is our best bet, but I get the feeling Burr will win just because hes not a Democrat.
I think Marshall would make a very strong candidate. I’m not too concerned about fundraising because her 2002 bid was stifled by outside factors, as the wonderfully-named Possum Tracker laid out in his post.
With her in, I doubt Etheridge or Wicker will run, but Cunningham might. I’d be fine with a primary so long as it stays clean.
I’ll probably vote for Elaine in the primary in 2010 if Cal Cunningham doesn’t run. I like her a lot. She’s a hell of a lot better than Dennis “if I become governor of NC there will be no more hog lagoons!” Wicker. Bob Etheridge is not a bad pick either, although he can be a tad conservative on occasion.
Don’t give up on Cal Cunningham. He’s a candidate that can catch on fire in NC. People can relate to him better than most candidates. If he chooses to run, he has a good shot of winning the race.
If the economy and overall political environment is improved for Dems by this time next year, Marshall will win this race pretty easily, at a Kay Hagan-type margin. I am much more optimistic on this race then, say, Kentucky.