Burr is not as easy a target as Democrats think

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper will not run against Sen. Richard Burr next year, leaving Democrats without a high-profile candidate to complete the sweep of prime state elective offices. Cooper made the announcement last week, disappointing Democrats, including (apparently) President Obama. Former Gov. Mike Easley, who is under investigation by state and federal authorities, is not likely to recover in time to challenge Burr, if he wanted to.

The assumption among Democrats is that Burr is highly vulnerable. Knocking off Burr could ensure Democrats a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and Burr's approval ratings are lower than Elizabeth Dole's were at this stage of the campaign. But Burr is a deceptive and easily underestimated politician. Few people gave him much chance in 2004 against the better-known Erskine Bowles, but he won handily.

Burr is unusual among politicians in that he is incredibly unassuming. Most politicians travel with an entourage of handlers and hangers-on. I met Burr in 2004 when he was traveling alone from town to town, driving his own aging personal car and chatting with reporters and editors in an unassuming and modest way. He was well-versed on issues without being confrontational or doctrinaire. Since his election to the Senate, Burr has followed the same strategy. He spends congressional recesses traveling the state (unlike Elizabeth Dole, who seldom worked the state during her six years in office) and meeting with the small groups that he is so comfortable with and that invariably find him so appealing and impressive.

Given that methodology, it is surprising that Burr's name recognition and approval ratings are so low. Some would claim that Burr's retail politicking is an anachronism in an age of wholesale political strategies -- television commercials, direct mail and digital networking. If the Democrats can come up with a viable candidate, 2010 could be a showdown between Burr's old-style, personal and county courthouse campaigning and the wholesale campaigning used by the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, which early on tarred Dole as an aging, disconnected, out-of-touch and aristocratic politician.

But Democrats would be mistaken to underestimate Burr. He will not go down as easily as Dole.