Hagan for Senate

In 2002 North Carolina voters elected Elizabeth Dole to take Jesse Helms's former seat in the U.S. Senate. They believed that, given her long record in government, she would be a forceful representative of their priorities in Congress.

Six years later, citizens of this state are disappointed and disillusioned. Dole has failed to advocate for the causes that matter most-or, for that matter, many causes at all.

This immense dissatisfaction is the primary reason why voters should elect Democrat Kay Hagan, a veteran state Senator.

Dole's tenure in Congress has ranged from unproductive to disastrous. As an inert member of the Senate Banking Committee, she sat on the sidelines as Wall Street irresponsibility plunged the economy into crisis.

She has staked herself out as a lockstep Republican insider, voting with President Bush on 88 percent of her votes. The pro-life, pro-war, anti-environmental regulation, anti-child healthcare policies that Dole has voted for have weakened the nation and sapped its credibility throughout the world.

As a Washington resident, she has paid almost no attention to this state in matters of policy and personal attention. For instance, when the Navy wanted to build a practice jet landing strip near a wildlife refuge in Northeastern N.C., she sat on her hands until it was too late.

The fact that her official campaign Web site does not have an "Issues" section, which would state what she thinks, is symptomatic of a senator whose judgment is poor and whose beliefs are ill-defined.

On the crucial issues, Hagan's stances are spot-on. She supports Barack Obama's tax policy and his plan for a phased withdrawal from Iraq; promises to fight for the extension of healthcare to all Americans; and, unlike Dole, pledges to bolster the civil liberties that have come under attack during the Bush Administration.