Dole Attempts the "Straight Talk Express" Route

October 24, 2008

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Trying the “Straight Talk Express” route, Elizabeth Dole released a new ad featuring her direct into the camera talking about the reasons why she deserves to be re-elected. Dole says she believes elected officials should “be straight” with voters despite the fact that she has dodged every single televised debate with Kay, spent just 13 days in North Carolina in 2006 and has run quite possibly the least-accessible campaign in North Carolina this election cycle.

In the ad, Dole claims that “nothing good comes from raising taxes.” But Dole herself has supported raising taxes since 1982 when she was a member of President Reagan’s cabinet. Furthermore, Dole voted against middle class tax cuts three times since June 2008. Those tax breaks included extending the tuition deduction, extending the deduction for state and local sales tax, expanding the child tax credit, extending the teacher expense deduction, extending the research and development tax credit, and patching the alternative minimum tax for one year. Instead of extending these reliefs to middle class families, Dole voted to keep open the tax loopholes used by hedge fund managers and corporations.

Dole claims that she thinks government should spend less, but under the Bush-Dole team, spending and the national debt have reached record levels. The national debt currently stands at nearly $10.5 trillion, which is a 64 percent increase since the beginning of 2003 when Elizabeth Dole took office. Dole has displayed fiscal irresponsibility by voting against pay-as-you-go rules six times while simultaneously voting five times to increase our debt limit to $9 trillion.

On illegal immigration, Dole says she is opposed to amnesty. Kay has also consistently opposed amnesty, and will work towards making real progress on immigration reform. In contrast, Dole thwarted progress on reform and even described herself as having “fought tooth and nail” against the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. However, she had no alternative plan to present for consideration by the Senate. The Greensboro News and Record even referred to Dole as being a “deal breaker when she should have been a deal maker.”

“This ad is Elizabeth Dole’s eleventh hour attempt to pretend she’s actually attentive to the needs of North Carolinians,” said Hagan Campaign Communications Director Colleen Flanagan. “While she appears to be talking to voters in the ad, people here know better; she’s tried to do as little of that as possible over the last six years. Less than two weeks away from this historic election, Dole is trying to rewrite history in her favor in the hopes that North Carolinians will fall for it. But she has clearly not spent enough time in the state if she thinks voters are satisfied with the last six years of her ‘leadership,’ which means nothing more than blind loyalty to Bush’s failed policies.”

Since the beginning of October, Kay has been endorsed by every major newspaper in the state. Those endorsements have praised Kay as “an independent voice, “ “a promising choice,” and “a bundle of brains and energy.” They have highlighted her record of producing responsible budgets while maintaining a business-friendly reputation and investing in the right priorities for North Carolina.

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