Staff reports
Rasmussen Reports’ latest survey of N.C. voters shows Democrat Kay Hagan widening her lead over Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race.
The Oct. 8 telephone survey of 700 likely voters showed Hagan with a 49 percent to 45 percent lead over Dole. That’s slightly up from Hagan’s 48 percent to 45 percent advantage Sept. 23.
The Rasmussen Reports’ Web site shows Dole, who led in polling over most of the year, fell behind since Lehman Brothers collapsed to begin the weeks of economic unrest on Wall Street.
“This is the third Rasmussen Reports poll conducted since Lehman crashed, and all three show Dole trailing Hagan,” the Web site said. “Among voters who view the economy as the top issue of Election 2008, Hagan leads by a two-to-one margin.”
Libertarian Christopher Cole was supported by 2 percent of the voters polled in the U.S. Senate race, according to Rasmussen.
For the first time, the conservative Civitas Institute poll also showed Hagan leading Dole, who is a Salisbury native. According to its telephone survey of 600 likely voters Oct. 6-8, Hagan led Dole by 43-38 percent.When undecided voters are asked toward which candidate they lean, Hagan’s lead is 45 percent to 42 percent over Dole, according to Civitas.
Cole receives 3 percent of the vote, and 10 percent of those surveyed said they were undecided.
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The latest Fox News/Rasmussen Reports telephone survey for North Carolina shows Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain dead even in the U.S. presidential race.
Each candidate had 48 percent support in the poll of 1,000 likely voters Oct. 12. Obama has led by as much as 3 points in previous polls.
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Politico.com reports that Rowan County native Linda Ketner is posing a strong challenge for Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Henry Brown Jr.’s seat in South Carolina.
A Democrat and long-time activist in Charleston, S.C., Ketner is the daughter of Food Lion co-founder Ralph Ketner, who lives in Salisbury.
Politico.com recently described Linda Ketner as ‘the free-spending heiress to the Food Lion fortune.”
“So far Ketner has outspent Brown, and even Republican operatives acknowledge the race is competitive in the coastal district in which President Bush garnered 61 percent of the vote in 2004,” Politico.com said.
Jay Ragley, executive director of the S.C. Republican Party, added, “With her buying a lot of TV ads, it raises the specter that she can run a competitive race.”
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A North Carolina LED light maker is fighting back after a Seattle newspaper suggested U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., helped “earmark” funds from the Department of Defense to the Research Triangle Park company.
Cyberlux Corp. responded after the Seattle Times published an article insinuating the company illegally raised funds for Dole and U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C.
Mark D. Schmidt, Cyberlux president and chief executive officer, said the company has contracts with the U.S. Air Force. He said fundraising events held at the company’s headquarters after business hours were open to the public and “were very much like a church potluck supper, despite the implication of the Seattle Times article.””Given that Cyberlux is a public company, the company determined that it should fully disclose this event to all shareholders. The company never engaged in any fundraising,” Schmidt said.