Another potential Dole foe says no

Hagan won't run for U.S. Senate

State Sen. Kay Hagan announced Monday she will not challenge Republican Elizabeth Dole, becoming the latest in a line of prominent Democrats to forgo next year's U.S. Senate race.

Hagan, the influential Senate budget chairwoman, had seriously considered challenging Dole. As a woman, she could have blunted Dole's gender advantage, and as a Greensboro resident, she is well-known in one of the state's major metropolitan areas.

But in announcing her decision, Hagan said that she thought she could accomplish more in the state legislature.

One Democrat already has announced: Jim Neal, an investment banker and Democratic fundraiser from Chapel Hill, who is little known in Democratic circles.

Weighing a potential Senate bid is state Rep. Grier Martin, a Raleigh lawyer, who said he hopes to make a decision shortly.

"I'd like to sort it out this week," Martin said.

Next week, Martin, who is a major in the Army Reserve, will begin a month's training at Fort Bragg. Martin served in Afghanistan in 2002-03.

"I'm convinced that the race is winnable and it's winnable by me," Martin said. "All I'm looking at now is the effect it would have on my family."

Democratic Party figures such as Gov. Mike Easley, former Gov. Jim Hunt, Attorney General Roy Cooper and Congressman Brad Miller have passed up the race.

Although only a one-term senator, Dole is one of the best-known figures in the state. She is a former president of the American Red Cross, a former U.S. Transportation and Labor Secretary and is a former presidential candidate married to a former presidential candidate.

Democrats have portrayed Dole as vulnerable because of her support for the war in Iraq, her association with President Bush and her absence from the state.

"We've been hearing all the time that Elizabeth Dole is vulnerable," said Andy Taylor, a political science professor at N.C. State University. "We think we know if there is going to be a partisan surge in 2008, it is likely to favor the Democrats. So this is a puzzle why they (the Democrats) can't recruit someone with a high profile and with experience to challenge Dole."

Taylor said he thought it was Dole's ability to court suburban, middle-of-the road voters, especially women, that has scared off Democrats.

Dole, meanwhile, continues to inch away from her staunch support of the war in Iraq.

Dole is co-sponsoring a bill that would require the Bush administration to report on the status of redeployment planning to Congress in 60 days. She is co-sponsoring the bill with several Democrats, including New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as several moderate Republicans such as Susan Collins of Maine and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

"I firmly believe that we must find common ground on a set of shared principles and work to bring our troops home as soon as possible, consistent with the security assessment of General Petraeus," Dole said in a statement.