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Election 2008
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Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 10:59 AM
Handlers give spin on senatorial debate By Matt Shaw | Daily Times Staff Writer It was immediately clear who won Saturday's debate between U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and her Democratic challenger, N.C. Sen. Kay Hagan. At least, it was to their press people. "There was one senator up there today who showed how well she's represented North Carolina in the past and put forward her ideas to continue to do so in the future -- that senator was Kay Hagan," said her communications director Colleen Flanagan. Hagan's "10 years in Raleigh - advocating on behalf of middle class families, identifying problems and working to fix them instead of sitting on the sidelines, and helping to create a state where the middle class has more of a chance to succeed instead of less - have well prepared her to tackle the challenges Washington has created," Flanagan said. Not so fast, said Hogan Gidley, Dole's communication director. Not surprisingly, he said his candidate "dominated" the debate at Atlantic Beach. Gidley noted that Hagan had asked voters to consider what kind of state senator she's been. "While Kay Hagan was in the state legislature, North Carolina budgets increased by $8.1 billion, she voted for just about every tax increase imaginable, and she voted to make it easier for illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses," Gidley said. "We agree, that is the kind of U.S. senator Mrs. Hagan would be, and that is not what voters want in North Carolina." Hagan's main points during the debate, according to Flanagan, were the need to responsibly end the war in Iraq; pursue Osama bin Laden and other terrorists in Afghanistan and elsewhere; expand workforce development; and invest in the University of North Carolina system. Dole emphasized things she has done in Congress, Gidley said, including protecting and expanding the state's military bases while adding thousands of jobs; saving North Carolina hospitals from hundreds of millions in Medicaid cuts; and beginning a statewide illegal immigration enforcement plan.
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