EDITORIAL: Sen. Dole's fight

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Sen. Elizabeth Dole is currently in the fight of her career to keep her U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina. A number of factors have made the seat, formerly held by Sen. Jesse Helms, harder to hold onto during this election cycle. Mrs. Dole easily won her first term by nine points in 2002. Since then, the Republican Party has taken a hit. Now, Kay Hagan, a Democrat and former state senator has overtaken Mrs. Dole in the polls by 2 points, according to Real Clear Politics.

As of Oct. 21, Mrs. Hagan led Mrs. Dole 46 percent to 44 percent (within the margin of error). Yet, Mrs. Dole's war chest is bigger: $12.9 million in contrast to Mrs. Hagan's $4.8 million. In fact, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which is low on funds, still spent $1.7 million in the state for Mrs. Dole.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) spending in North Carolina is part of an aggressive national Democratic strategy to gain a 60-seat majority in the Senate. The DSCC has poured more than $6 million into advertising to North Carolina to help Mrs. Hagan, and Moveon.Org has spent half-a-million dollars to oppose Mrs. Dole's re-election bid.

While North Carolina has been a Republican-leaning state for the last 35 years, current polls favor Democrat Barack Obama in the presidential race, which could be a drag on Mrs. Dole. At the same time, registered Democrats have increased in the state by 9.7 percent and Republicans by only 2.7 percent.

Mrs. Dole's opponent has labeled her an "insider" for her 40 years of experience in Washington. Mrs. Hagan has derided Mrs. Dole for being "absent" in the state for most of her term. The senator has also been criticized for the current financial crisis, despite her efforts to increase regulation on Wall Street, boost federal oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for subprime loans and her opposition to the Wall Street bailout. According to media analysts, Mrs. Dole didn't take her opponents' threats seriously early on, as she was comfortably riding the wave of high poll numbers. The DSCC's pounding brought her (and her poll numbers) back to earth. Mrs. Dole also lost valuable time raising money she didn't think she had to spend on getting her message out in order to pre-empt her enemies. Now, she's in the fight of her political life.

Mrs. Dole's mantra has been that she's remained a fiscal conservative, in touch with her constituents. She has focused on tobacco buyouts, immigration, military bases, greater access to retirement accounts without penalty, tax credits for home purchases, increased transparency and improved federal oversight. Blind-sided by her own best virtues, she can only hope North Carolinians will clearly see why they should keep her seat.