Raleigh News and Observer Editorial Endorsement: A promising choice

Raleigh News and Observer
October 22, 2008

Kay Hagan has moved through the good old boy network that rules the N.C. General Assembly on the strength of her grit, her intelligence and her imagination. In 10 years in the state Senate, the Greensboro Democrat has become an effective legislator with a broad vision of statewide issues. Now, she seeks to oust incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, elected in 2002, and to be a change agent in Washington.

The News & Observer is giving Hagan its editorial endorsement in this campaign.

Hagan, 55, an attorney who has worked in the banking field, is at ease with a variety of individuals and groups that represent the diversity of North Carolina. She has traveled nonstop in the state since deciding to seek the Senate seat. She has made this a competitive race — something other potential candidates in the Democratic Party, including ones who were better known, didn’t think was possible, which is why none of those big names decided to challenge Dole.

But even if she began the campaign not well known, Hagan has proved herself a worthy candidate. She has come up with some progressive ideas she hopes to advance in the Senate — solid, detailed ideas that would bolster the hopes of the middle class, improve public education, give some hope to those who fear what the economic decline will do to their savings and their ability to stay in their homes.

Elizabeth Dole, 72, is a powerful political force in North Carolina, and no wonder. She overcame charges when she first sought a Senate seat six years ago that she had been absent from the state (she’s from Salisbury) for decades as a Washington insider and could not possibly be in touch with the folks back home. In fact, in a rigorous campaign against former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles (now president of the University of North Carolina system), Dole connected well with North Carolinians thanks to her personal charisma and her intelligence.

And make no mistake. Dole has toughness within her. Many women of her generation were understandably frustrated by the discrimination, both blatant and subtle, that faced those trying to carve out careers. But Dole graduated from Duke University, studied at Oxford and attained a law degree from Harvard.

She then embarked on a career as adviser to presidents that included stints as secretary of transportation and secretary of labor. She also served as president of the American Red Cross. And she ran for president, hoping to become the first female nominee of a major party. That GOP nomination in 2000 went to George W. Bush.

Eight years later, the Bush administration counts her as an asset, which is where her problem lies in this re-election campaign. Such campaigns, when the incumbent is a member of the president’s party and a consistent ally of that president, are in part a referendum on the president and that incumbent.

Dole has voted with the president in most cases when the White House has taken a position on a bill. She has followed the White House credo with regard to foreign policy and Iraq and on most domestic issues, where the administration’s record is undistinguished. She has not shown much imagination when it comes to energy policy.

On those occasions when Dole has veered from the Bush path, her own routes haven’t always been right: The president did try to formulate a policy on immigration that would have been less punitive and more realistic with regard to the acceptance of illegal immigrants now in the country. He was brushed back by Congress (Democrats and Republicans), and Dole pandered to the right wing of her party in a hard-line stance.

The same was true with the financial bailout, which Dole voted against, even though she represents Charlotte, one of the nation’s banking centers, and that industry was headed for disaster without the admittedly imperfect Bush administration solution. Her North Carolina colleague, Republican Sen. Richard Burr, voted in favor of the bailout. (Hagan said after the fact that she was against it.)

Dole touts her record in support of the national tobacco buyout, and her protection of the state’s textile industry. Points taken. And she says charges that she has not been in North Carolina — part of Hagan’s negative ads in a campaign dominated by such ads on both sides — are exaggerated and unfair. She just pays her own way sometimes, Dole says, and thus is not on the books as having made an “official” trip.

Dole no doubt has worked hard as a senator, and her Washington experience has to count for something. Yet Hagan is the stronger candidate because she has more muscle in her ideas. She has not stepped out to help advance immigration reform, which is unfortunate, but on many other issues she is progressive and aptly reflects the overall Democratic message this year, which is that policies must change in Washington and that the middle class must have some help.

Consider a selection of specifics: expanding benefits for military veterans, preserving low-interest college loans, demanding more fuel-efficient automobiles, investing in transit options, repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while maintaining permanent cuts for people with more modest incomes.

Hagan’s priorities of course would have to be paid for, and the current severe economic downturn and expensive bailout of financial institutions, along with accumulated bills from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will make that difficult. But that doesn’t mean the sort of ideas expressed by Hagan should be abandoned. It’s worthwhile to establish priorities, and hers go in the right direction. More investment in renewable energy, lowering the costs to families and businesses of health care coverage and allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices with manufacturers (denied by the Bush administration) will bring long-term benefits.

Imagination, and a belief that change is possible — there are some cornerstones in Hagan’s campaign. She is well-informed, not just well-meaning. She is astute. Her record in Raleigh indicates she knows how to make a legislative system work. It forecasts a promising career in the U.S. Senate.

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