As gap closes, Dole returns fire at Hagan

GREENSBORO -- The famous "Dole Stroll" took a decidedly different turn last week.

Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is known for her Oprah-like strolls during speeches to past Republican National Conventions. But Dole skipped last week's GOP convention in Minnesota, opting instead for a stroll around the shop floor of Advanced Direct, a small Greensboro direct-mail firm where she picked up the endorsement of a small-business group. The clickety-clack of mailing machines replaced the cheering throngs of delegates.

That's because this summer has been a wake-up call for Dole.

One of the best-known women in American politics, Dole is in an unexpectedly competitive race with Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan.

Dole was in North Carolina last week to campaign, and she began some counterpunching with TV ads and mailings attacking Hagan's record. Dole is trying to change the chemistry of the race.

"It's been a lot of cutesy stuff up to now," said former Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer, a Dole strategist. "But on Labor Day, the bell rings."

A year ago, few people thought Dole would be fighting for her political life. In 2002, she easily defeated a strong Democrat foe, Erskine Bowles, who is now president of the 16-campus University of North Carolina system.

This year, most of the big names in the Democratic Party, including Gov. Mike Easley, passed on challenging Dole's bid for a second term. Democrats finally recruited Hagan, a veteran state senator and former corporate lawyer.

Suddenly sinking

Dole has been hammered in recent weeks by a series of ads from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, an offshoot of the national Democratic Party trying to elect Democrats to the Senate. The most talked-about ad features two old codgers in rocking chairs, portraying Dole as old, ineffective and closely tied to an unpopular President Bush.

Since then, Dole's numbers in the polls have been sinking, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has indicated it plans to spend millions more on behalf of Hagan. That has some Republicans worried.

"Any time you are even and the other guy is about to spend (millions) on ads, you have a world of trouble," said Carter Wrenn, a veteran Republican strategist.

"She has to define Hagan and attack Hagan before the race gets out of control," Wrenn said. "Nobody knows anything about Hagan or her voting record. If Hagan is a liberal Democrat, Elizabeth Dole has got to get that out there pretty quick."

Last week, Dole and her allies began doing just that.

Dole sets the dog loose

The Dole campaign began running a TV ad featuring a yapping dog and references to "Fibber Kay Hagan." The state Republican Party stuck with the animal theme with a new mailer featuring a sheep that says "Kay Hagan is Trying to Pull the Wool Over our Eyes." It says that although Hagan decries high gas prices, she and her husband benefit from the prices because they own stock in oil wells in Oklahoma, Indiana, West Virginia and Ohio. The National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee ran a TV ad awarding Hagan a gold medal for running up the state's debt, for government waste and for raising taxes.

Hagan said the new round of attacks indicates that things are not going well for Dole.

"I've never been called a liar before," Hagan said. "She has panicked, and she is scared."

Dole's situation this year is different from 2002, when she was elected as part of a Republican tide as the nation rallied around President Bush after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Bush campaigned for Dole more than any other candidate in 2002 except for his brother, then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.