Thursday, May 29, 2008

Rob Christensen

The News & Observer

Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole began her general election TV advertising campaign Wednesday, stressing an issue she thinks will be a strength — a crackdown on illegal immigrants — and addressing a potential weakness — her image as a creature of Washington.

The Dole ad campaign comes more than five months before the Nov. 4 election. It also comes at a time when several statewide public opinion polls show Dole in a close race with her Democratic challenger, state Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro.

The TV ad features a posse of North Carolina sheriffs who discuss Dole’s efforts on behalf of a partnership between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials, to make it easier to deport illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.

“The politicians talk and talk about illegal immigration, but Senator Dole actually did something about it,” Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell says in the ad.

The TV ad also serves as a political travelogue, stressing her meetings with sheriffs around the state, showing her in places such as Beaufort, Raeford, Greensboro, Hendersonville, Lexington, Mocksville and Statesville, and then ending with footage of her at the beach.

“I’m sure glad she’s from North Carolina,” one sheriff says.

“Obviously, it’s a response to some of the polling figures which are now universally showing that she has a fairly tight race, much closer than anybody could have imagined,” said Andy Taylor, a political science professor at N.C. State University.

Dole now has the airwaves to herself. She reported having $3.1 million on hand in her campaign coffers, compared with $317,311 for Hagan, as of mid-April.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has sent out two fundraising letters on behalf of Hagan in recent weeks, according to Jennifer Duffy, a political analyst with the Cook Political Report, a Washington newsletter.

Hagan “is not capable of going up with her own ad,” Duffy said.