By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
ELON ó A pumped-up and feisty Sen. Elizabeth Dole says her “rowdy friends” in North Carolina won’t settle down until she wins re-election Nov. 4.
Dole, locked in a tight race against Democrat state Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro, fed off a rousing welcome she received Thursday from the crowd waiting at Elon University’s Latham Park for Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate.
Dole and country music guest Hank Williams Jr., whose hit songs include “All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down),” provided the afternoon’s bridge to Palin, the governor of Alaska.
Dole took the podium about 45 minutes before Palin’s arrival and made her case against Hagan and what she claims is a $10 million effort by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to unseat her.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., “recruited my opponent” and has spent $10 million in running mean, negative and untrue television ads against her, Dole said. “We’re not going to let him buy North Carolina, right?” Dole shouted to the thousands on the ball field and in the stands behind her.
The Hagan camp says Dole’s protests about negative spots are disingenuous and charges that Dole started the negative dialogue with the yapping dog, “Fibber Kay” ads.
Colleen Flanagan, communications director for Hagan, says Dole has received millions of dollars to run negative ads from “outside groups” such as the Freedom’s Watch, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Susan B. Anthony List, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others.
More than 70 percent of Hagan’s individual donations have come from inside the state, Flanagan says.
At Elon College, Dole said if she wins re-election, she and other members of the lame duck Congress will push through a comprehensive energy plan and a $50 billion bond program for improving the transportation infrastructure.
Drilling for new domestic sources of oil and having a plan for alternative energy from wind, sun, coal, nuclear power and biofuels will create jobs and lead to weaning the country off its dependence on foreign oil, Dole said.
Dole is part of the “Gang of 20,” a bipartisan group of 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats who have pushed for the energy policy.
Likewise, Dole said, a $50 billion bond package for infrastructure repairs also will create jobs in a tough economy.
While Hagan has repeatedly painted Dole as a rubber stamp for the Bush administration during her first term in office, Dole said Hagan voted 99 percent of the time with the Democratic leadership in Raleigh.
If elected to the U.S. Senate, Hagan “will fit right in the pocket of (Majority Leader) Harry Reid,” Dole said.
As for Palin, Dole reviewed some of the firsts for women sprinkled through her own resumé in U.S. cabinet positions and as president of the American Red Cross.
“I hear another glass ceiling breaking and crashing,” Dole said. “Sarah Palin is going to be our first female vice president, without a doubt.”
Dole credited Palin for taking on big oil and the establishment as Alaskan governor. Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s selection of Palin as his running mate “was a brilliant choice in my view,” Dole said.
Dole serves on the Armed Services Committee with McCain. She said McCain’s 26 years of experience in the Senate and his own military background are needed to protect the country’s safety and security.
Chants of “Re-elect Dole” followed her as she left the stage to shake hands and pose for photographs with people in the crowd.
Before leaving, Dole said all her rowdy friends in North Carolina have not and will not settle down until “the original mavericks” ó McCain and Palin ó are elected as president and vice president and she is re-elected to the Senate.
With 18 days left to the election, Dole has been trailing Hagan in recent polls.
Dole and Palin did not appear together. U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., walked onto the stage with Palin and introduced her to the crowd.