Republican Sen. Richard Burr, his campaign flush with cash, is scheduled to begin his fall TV advertising campaign Monday.
The Burr campaign said its initial two-week buy was close to $500,000. Its purchase at one station, WRAL-TV in Raleigh, was $55,250, according to the station's public file.
Burr has also posted an online ad that will be up for the duration.
Burr has not been on the air since this spring when he ran a TV commercial talking about his record helping constituents.
Meanwhile, independent groups opposed to Burr ran ads that seek to tie him to the oil industry and to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
A Washington-based group called Americans United for Change spent $234,000 against Burr in June. A coalition of labor and environmental groups spent considerably more on an ad depicting a Burr-like figure covered with oil being fished out of the ocean. That group spent $135,468 on WRAL in June and July, according to the public file.
Political observers have been waiting to see when Burr would use his major financial advantage over his Democratic opponent, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall.
As of June 30, Burr had $6.2 million in his campaign treasury, while Marshall had $163,195, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Marshall to Simpson: Quit
Meanwhile, speaking in Charlotte on Thursday, Marshall called for the ouster of former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson as co-chairman of the president's deficit reduction commission.
In an e-mail message to a female critic, Simpson said Social Security has become "like a milk cow with 310 million tits! Call when you get honest work!"
"His remarks were disrespectful to women, they were disrespectful to Social Security recipients," Marshall told a group of Democrats on Women's Equality Day. "He should resign immediately."
Simpson, a Republican and co-leader with UNC President Erskine Bowles of the commission, has since apologized.
Marshall reserved most of her remarks for her race against Burr and Libertarian Michael Beitler, which she called "absolutely, unequivocally winnable."
Democrats ready to go
North Carolina Democrats will kick off their fall campaigning Saturday with 82 events designed to reach voters with neighborhood canvassing and telephone banks.
The events will be based in eight regional field offices as well as county party offices.
The Democrats are getting a jump on the traditional Labor Day start of the campaign, because they face a difficult political environment. Polls show that the Republicans are likely to pick up seats in Congress and in the state legislature.
You're a good man, Ross
Several political leaders congratulated Tom Ross, who was selected as the next president of the UNC system Thursday.
In a prepared statement, Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue said: "Tom Ross is a superb choice to run North Carolina's university system. He comes to the job with an unquestionable devotion to North Carolina and an extraordinary diversity and depth of experience."
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, said: "The UNC system could not have asked for a better leader than Thomas Ross. I have known Tom and his family since his time in Greensboro, and he has the work ethic, the talent and the vision to lead the UNC system through the challenges and opportunities it will face in the upcoming years."
By staff writers Rob Christensen and Jane Stancill and Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer
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