Word: hagan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...HAGAN...
...definitely pick up a few new seats. Former Virginia governor Mark Warner, as widely expected, is already projected to win the commonwealth's seat being vacated by the retiring John Warner (no relation). More significantly, freshman Senator Elizabeth Dole has lost her North Carolina seat to Democratic challenger Kay Hagan; Dole's last-minute attack ad tying Hagan to an atheist PAC appeared to have backfired. The drag of President Bush continued in New Hampshire, where former governor Jeanne Shaheen easily defeated incumbent John Sununu Jr. And as expected, Tom Udall easily won the open seat in New Mexico...
...Dole campaign spokesman Dan McLagan admits Hagan's efforts have gained her points but says, "It's more tonnage than cunning," and predicts the latest round of ads will help win it for Dole...
...With the race as tight as it is, Hagan's chances in the once reliably red state may boil down to voter education thanks to a quirk of state political history. In the '80s, the Democratic controlled legislature got tired of losing down ballot races thanks to weak presidential candidates and separated the ballots. On this year's ballot, therefore, voters have to vote twice-once for president and once for the Democrats from the state - rather than being able to make one single choice for the entire slate of Democratic candidates...
...Dole may yet pull out a victory despite the predictions of the pollsters. If she does, it will be hard to argue that it wasn't her attack on Hagan's faith that put her over the top. That may leave some observers, including eleven in-state newspapers, shaking their heads, but as the Charlotte Observer put it, "Somewhere, Jesse Helms is laughing and clapping in glee...