Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan criticized Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole's support for privatizing Social Security, saying the current market crisis would have placed the program in jeopardy.

"I'm absolutely opposed to privatization," Hagan said Wednesday at a news conference at state Democratic headquarters. "Elizabeth Dole campaigned on privatization of Social Security in 2002. George Bush took her on the road with him in 2005 to show that you can campaign for privatization of Social Security and actually win."

Hagan raised the issue at a time when the stock market has been in free fall and people are worried about their retirement savings. There are 1.6 million Social Security recipients in North Carolina, a powerful voting bloc.

"Where would we be in the last two weeks if Social Security had been privatized?" said Jerry Cooper, executive director of the N.C. Assisted Living Association, who appeared with Hagan.

On Wednesday the Dole campaign accused Hagan of lying to scare seniors.

During her 2002 election campaign, Dole backed a proposal by President Bush to allow young workers to invest a portion of their Social Security contributions -- perhaps 2 percent -- in personal savings accounts. She did not call it privatization.

It is not clear what Hagan would do to make Social Security more sound, but she offered one idea -- rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

Rove rates N.C. a tossup

Karl Rove says North Carolina's electoral votes are a tossup.

In a map posted by Rove & Co. on Sunday, the former adviser to President Bush includes North Carolina among the states that are not leaning toward either Barack Obama or John McCain. He shows a zero percent difference between the two here, based on a 14-day average of public polls.

States within 3 percentage points of zero are considered toss-ups by Rove.

In May, Rove said that McCain would win North Carolina.

Obama raps McCain on radio

Obama is going after McCain on the radio in North Carolina.

Under the Dome readers report hearing Obama ads on country stations (WQDR 94.7 and The Rooster 106.1 in Raleigh,

WSOC-FM 103.7 in Charlotte, 93.1 FM

The Wolf and

104.1 WTQR

in Winston-Salem), rock stations

(Mix 101.5 in Raleigh), classic R&B stations (Foxy 104.3 in Raleigh), sports radio (850 AM The Buzz in the Triangle), conservative talk radio (WPTF 680 AM in Raleigh, 101.1 FM Talk in the Triad) and urban radio (K97.5 in Raleigh, Power 98 and 96.1 The Beat in Charlotte).

Readers reported hearing two ads in particular.

One features former Washington Redskins player Ray Schoenke, who leads the American Hunters & Shooters Association, a Democratic-leaning gun owners group.

"Barack Obama and John McCain will both make sure we keep our guns," he says in the ad. "But what about keeping our jobs?"

Another ad describes a lavish Ferris wheel being built in Baghdad.

"John McCain wants America to keep spending $10 billion a month in Iraq when we should be rebuilding America," the narrator says.

Obama debate prep

Obama will practice in Asheville for his next debate.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that the Democratic presidential candidate will spend some time in Western North Carolina before his debate Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn.

Obama will spend a couple of days in the Asheville area, Obama spokesman Paul Cox told the paper. "He needs to focus on his debate preparation, so we're not releasing the location," he said.

Dems to hear Tenn. governor

N.C. Democratic leaders pitched to get either Obama or U.S. Sen. Joe Biden to speak at their annual Vance-Aycock dinner on Saturday in Asheville but apparently gave up on snaring their party's nominee for president or vice president.

They settled on Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen. Party officials announced the speaker on Tuesday. Obama and Biden appeared together in Greensboro last weekend.

An appearance by Obama, the first black presidential nominee by a major party, would be notable at a dinner named for Gov. Charles Brantley Aycock, a leading voice for the white supremacy campaigns of 1898 and 1900.

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