Out-of-touch Dole or union-obligated Hagan?

I've read two newspaper endorsements of Democrat Kay Hagan for U.S. Senate, and I'm still unconvinced. It's not that incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole has left me in a swoon, far from it. Dole, who seemed so overconfident that she made herself as rare as the dodo bird in North Carolina, was vulnerable from the start, especially in an election year that was already running against the GOP. She had incumbency and a big campaign treasury, but in 2008, that might not be enough.

Hagan, a state senator who was an insider with the secretive Democratic power structure in Raleigh, has not impressed me. She was picked for the campaign by New York Sen. Charles Schumer after the only Democrat willing to take on Dole turned out to be Jim Neal, an openly gay Chapel Hill resident with no electoral experience. The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee has poured millions into Hagan's campaign, and she has toed the party line. Beholden to the party's commitment to labor unions, Hagan has openly said she favors elimination of the secret ballot in union elections (a top union priority) and the right to strike by North Carolina's public employees, including teachers. As a state senator, Hagan was a member of the cabal that tried to disqualify White's Tire of Wilson from bidding on retread contracts. Oddly, Dole has done little to point out Hagan's kowtowing to union preferences.

Dole has run an ineffective campaign and has done little to counter Hagan's portrayal of the senator as too old and out of touch. Dole might be getting what she deserves, but North Carolina voters might get buyer's remorse when they discover their new senator is under the control of a New York senator and national labor unions.