Any politician worth his or her salt can gin up a crowd on the rubber chicken circuit. But Dole is the only North Carolina political figure who, after the dishes have been cleared, attracts a crowd of waitresses wanting her to pose with them for photographs.

That is one of the reasons most of the heavyweights of the Democratic Party -- including Gov. Mike Easley, Attorney General Roy Cooper and State Treasurer Richard Moore -- are declining to challenge Dole next year.

No candidate is unbeatable. But Dole is a formidable candidate -- a function of celebrity, a deep resume, gender appeal and a huge Rolodex. Then there are the state's Republican leanings in Senate races.

Dole may look like the candidate from Southern Living magazine, but she also has political smarts. In recent days, she has been repeatedly calling for tougher enforcement along the U.S. border, tapping into public discontent with illegal immigration.

But Dole has weaknesses. She has closely tied herself to an unpopular president. There has been grumbling that her constituent services have not matched that of her predecessor, Sen. Jesse Helms. And she has spent a lot of time away from North Carolina.

And unless things turn around in the Iraq war, 2008 could turn out to be another Democratic year.

A poll released last week by the Civitas Institute, a Raleigh-based conservative advocacy group, found Dole comfortably leading U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, 46-31, with 23 percent uncertain, in a hypothetical matchup.

Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, is being courted by the national party to run against Dole. While smart and hardworking, Miller was not the party's first choice. He has never been seen as the Democratic Party's rising star -- too shy and awkward.

But Miller, who says he plans to make a decision by July 1, hopes the conventional wisdom is wrong. He may remember 1992, when the big guns in the Democratic Party -- New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley -- bypassed the presidential race, concluding that incumbent George H.W. Bush was unbeatable. A little- known Democratic governor from Arkansas ended up in the White House.

Miller says the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democrats' national constituency groups are promising to raise a lot of money to help make him competitive with Dole, who is likely to have a huge war chest.

But the national money will flow to those races that look close in the summer and fall of 2008. Right now, neither party has targeted the Dole race.

"It's not an easy call," said Jennifer Duffy, a veteran Senate watcher with the Cook Political Report, a Washington-based newsletter. "It's going to be a tough race, and he would give up a pretty safe House seat to do it."

Maybe he should start flirting with the waitresses.