Pearce: The Dole Force has landed in North Carolina. I'll be on the campaign trail in Raleigh from now until the big day. It's so great to be back in the Tarheel State! Now let's re-elect Senator Elizabeth Dole!!
Presidential Race:
Pearce: In a special report for PG, Brittany Matheson, a Duke student from North Carolina, gives her first-hand perspective of the Senate race. Here's what she has to say from the middle of the campaign battlefield...With the current economic situation, the general mindset seems to be centered on the need for change. People outside of polling places are urging voters to cast an entirely Democratic ballot, preying off the general discontent. The “fix-all solution” that many are advocating, they believe, starts with a change in our nation’s leadership.
Another issue in this election is the fact out-of-state students at Duke have switched their voter registration to North Carolina due to its surprising potential to be a swing state in the Presidential Election. With a limited knowledge of NC politics, or what Senator Dole has accomplished in office, these voters may tend towards the Democratic challenger simply for the sake of change. Senator Dole has also been hurt by a huge number of negative television ads focusing on her supposed ineffectiveness in the Senate. Finally, from my perspective, Kay Hagan has been more visible and willing to interact with the people, while Senator Dole has spent more of her campaign time in invitation only, fundraising events.
With time before Election Day running short, Senator Dole needs to change the tone of the race. With any luck, she can foster momentum that was not originally thought necessary but which is now crucial for her to win reelection."
Pearce: Senator Elizabeth Dole released another new ad today in which she speaks directly to her constituents about what she believes in. This is another positive ad meant to remind North Carolina voters who Elizabeth Dole really is, the "favorite daughter" they anxiously sent to the U.S. Senate in 2002. View the ad below.
Pearce: Congresswoman Virginia Foxx from North Carolina's 5th district is facing a tough fight for reelection, due more to the R beside her name than the strength of her opponent. Dr. Foxx is facing Roy Carter, an unknown highschool football coach with no experience in elected office. However, in an election cycle in which "change" has become the golden rule, the Congresswoman is being tested. Virginia Foxx should be able to withstand the anti-Republican sentiment by reminding voters of her Appalachian conservative values and record of using her feisty personality and impressive work ethic to make things happen for them in the U.S. Congress. Voters should also know that she has recently received the "Tax Fighter Award" from the National Tax Limitation Committee which said “Congresswoman Foxx’s votes on tax and spending issues earned her an ‘A’ grade and the Tax Fighter Award." "Congresswoman Foxx has been a major asset to taxpayers across America. She has the courage to challenge the orthodoxy of Washington spending and earmarks.” This is certainly the kind of voice most citizens of the 5th distict want in Congress. I therefore expect that, after taking a good look at Dr. Foxx's four year record in the House, voters will send her back for a third term.
Presidential Race:
NYT: Before this campaign season, Senator Elizabeth Dole was not considered a particularly vulnerable incumbent. As Washington royalty with a gold-plated résumé, she won the seat once held by Senator Jesse Helms by a nine-point margin in 2002. But on Tuesday, when Mrs. Dole appeared at a rally for Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican candidate for vice president, she was appealing for her political life. More...
ABC: Whether Democrats can reach the 60-vote threshold depends on the outcome of races like the one in North Carolina, where Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole is seeking a second term in a race that was never supposed to be close. More...
Dome: The Senate race has tightened. According to a recent survey by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan had 46 percent, Republican Elizabeth Dole had 44 percent and Libertarian Christopher Cole had five percent. Five percent were undecided."The movement here is similar to that seen in the Presidential race. Hagan is holding steady with an 11 point lead among independents, but Dole has made some in roads with Democrats, who now report supporting Hagan by a 75-16 margin, down from 79-12 last week," pollster Tom Jensen writes. More...
Cook: McCain needs something big to change the dynamics -- something bigger than a kick-ass ad, a strong debate performance, or a misstep by Obama. If voters stay focused on the economy, this contest could soon be out of McCain's reach. If their attention returns to national security in the next week or so, he could still come back. More...
AP: Wall Street stormed back from last week's devastating losses Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrials soaring a nearly inconceivable 936 points after major governments' plans to support the global banking system reassured distraught investors. All the major indexes rose more than 11 percent. The market was likely to rebound after eight days of precipitous losses that took the Dow down nearly 2,400 points, but no one expected this kind of advance, which saw the Dow by far outstrip its previous record for a one-day point gain, 499.19, set during the waning days of the dot-com boom.
AP: Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole says she is spending some of her own money on her first reelection bid, trying to offset millions of dollars in negative spending Democrats have used to make the race one of the closest in the country. "You get such a lot coming at you and spending a great deal of time raising money -- there just comes a point when you feel like you need to put some skin in the game," Dole said.
More... http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1253148.html
Pearce: McCain visited his Arlington, VA campaign headquarters Sunday and vowed to whip Obama's "you-know-what" in Wednesday night's final debate. After a steady slide in the polls following his large convention bounce in early September, all three major tracking polls will show McCain chipping away at Obama's lead when they are released on Monday. This is still Obama's race to lose, in large part due to the current economic environment, but McCain is not going down without a fight. In an election year that has been historic and unprecedented in many ways, no one should write McCain off yet. A shift in voters' focus or an "October surprise" could change everything. We may still be in for a very late night on November 4th.
AP: For Bush, last 100 days to feature 'no letting up'The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States recorded its largest drop ever as consumer demand continued to wane and oil prices slid, a prominent industry analyst said on Sunday.
Cook: Since early September this race has shifted rather dramatically in Obama's favor. As long as the focus is almost exclusively on the economy, this race is almost unwinnable for McCain. It would take a major external event, the proverbial October Surprise, to shift the spotlight to national security or some other subject that would allow McCain to highlight his strengths. At this stage, the most relevant question would seem to be: "How big will the train wreck be for the Republican Party up and down the ballot in November." Obama currently has a 260 to 163 Electoral vote edge, with 115 Electoral votes in the Toss Up column. 270 are needed to win.
Politico: With 30 days until Nov. 4, Karl Rove projects that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would get at least 273 electoral votes – three more than are needed to win – if the presidential election were held today.But Rove warns that this race is “susceptible to rapid changes,” so no definite prediction is possible.
The remarkable forecast from the architect of the last two nationwide political victories underscores the straits that have rapidly enveloped Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as the banking and credit crisis spread.
More... http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14294.html
Election 2008:
Reuters: The U.S. government enacted a landmark $700 billion bank bailout on Friday, but investors questioned whether it could contain a panic that began on Wall Street and spread to become a global financial crisis.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved the rescue plan by a vote of 263-171 on Friday. That sent the measure to President George W. Bush, who quickly signed it into law, concluding two weeks of high-stakes haggling over the plan that had roiled and captivated global markets.
More... http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE49267J20081003?sp=true
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