Wilmington Star-News (N.C.) endorses Hagan over Dole

Owning a house in Salisbury doesn’t make one a resident of North Carolina. For all practical purposes, Republican Elizabeth Dole has not lived in her home state in several decades.

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Despite her name and her experience in government and the private sector, Dole ranks in the bottom 10 in effectiveness in the Senate. Part of that drop (from 56th in 2006) may be blamed on her fundraising role (it’s hard to attend to Senate business when you’re trying to help pad the war chests of Republican candidates).

Hagan, by contrast, has been an active state senator, although certainly not a household name, before her decision to challenge Dole. She has ample budget-writing experience and a strong record. The independent N.C. Center for Public Policy Research ranked her in the top 10 most effective senators in 2007.