Tag Archives: Kay Hagan

North Carolina Senate Seat – Kay Hagan

Already there is talk about the 2014 elections.

Ugh.

I never really cared about politics until about 2006.  That’s when I heard a bit of trivia concerning the upcoming 2008 Presidential primaries.  For the first time in a long time there would be no sitting President or Vice-President running.  It would be a wide open primary on both sides.

Interesting.

Since then I’ve paid more attention and am just now learning that there isn’t a time when someone isn’t thinking about the next election.  With that said, North Carolina has a senate seat up for bid this time around.

And the front runner is democrat Kay Hagan:

 The Rothenberg Political Report ranks U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan’s seat “leans Democrat” in the first 2014 Senate election ratings. The report – a leading Washington handicapper – says: “Given the GOP’s recent victories in the state, Hagan is almost guaranteed a serious challenge.”

The Washington Post’s political prognosticators rank the race No. 4 on their list of most competitive Senate seats. The write-up: “A recent poll from Democratic-leaning automated pollster Public Policy Polling shows Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan’s approval rating is underwater, but she nonetheless leads potential GOP competitors. If Republicans can find the right candidate, Hagan will face a tough road to reelection.”

Ms. Hagan ran in 2008 when Barack Obama’s ticket carried many a democrat to office.  However, even without Obama carrying her, I would have voted for her except for one thing: The senate was in danger of, and then did in fact, move into democratic super-majority status.  Our sitting senator at the time was Elizabeth Dole, a rather nondescript politician without a large base.  Further, she ran an especially nasty ad featuring Hagan that sealed the deal for me – almost.

I like the idea of splitting senators.  I like that Hagan spent time in the state government of North Carolina and I thought she was moderate enough.  But I just couldn’t vote for her and let the democrats get 60 seats.  Of course, as we all know, they did.  Alaska elected a democrat after their republican was subject to scandal.  And then Minnesota allowed that dipshit Al Franken to cheat his way into office and seal the deal.

Hagan is going to vote for Harry Reid if she wins.  And she’ll support most of his legislation.  However, she is relatively moderate scoring 56,52 and 76 percent more liberal than her senate peers on issues economic, social and foreign policy.

If we have to have a democrat represent us in Washington we could do worse.  And with the recent republican domination in the state, sending a moderate liberal voice to the senate might be a good thing.  The only condition that might sway me from supporting her is the balance of the senate.  If it gets close to moving past 55-45 like it is now, I am going to pull for a Hagan loss.

She Calls Herself Fiscally Responsible

Again with politicians making up language that fits their needs.

I once had an English teacher in high school.  We were reading “The Merchant of Venice”.  In the story, Shylock loses his estate due to a quirk of law.  On one of our tests, the English teachers asks the True or False question:

Shylock lost half of his estate due to his legal dealings with Antonio.

I answered, “False”.  After all, he lost the whole of the estate.

She marked it wrong, saying that if he lost ALL of his estate, certainly he lost half of it as well.

Words have meanings.

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Congrats Kay Hagan

Kay Hagan had her first speech on the Senate floor this week.  I am sure that it was a proud moment for her and for her family.  Well done and good luck.

In part:

“When someone is discriminated against in the workplace or anywhere else, surely they feel the impact of that discrimination far longer than 180 days,” she said.

They may, in fact, feel the impact for the rest of their life.  But at some point, ya gotta bring your case or—or not.