A promising choice

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.

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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.