Why Hagan won
Published October 2, 2014
By Gary Pearce, Talking About Politics, October 1, 2014.
Yes, there’s still five weeks to go. Yes, anything can happen. But the story of this race is likely to be that Thom Tillis lost it when he stayed Speaker in this year’s legislative session.
Apparently Tillis stayed on so he could raise money. But he didn’t, and he’s at a big financial disadvantage now. A lot of donors weren’t sure it was legal to give during the session.
The session spread more legislative poison on Tillis. The Republican War on Teachers is dragging down every one of their candidates, especially Tillis. And Senator Hagan was smart enough and aggressive enough to wrap it around his neck early.
Nobody believes there was a 7 percent pay raise, least of all teachers.
Give Hagan and her team credit. They raised a lot of money, and they painted Tillis into a corner he can’t seem to escape. And how they have hundreds of well-trained, well-organized field staffers working across the state.
Final lesson: Democrats can play the independent expenditure game just as well as Republicans. Republicans are learning that there are some rich – and angry – Democrats.
October 2, 2014 at 6:51 pm
Gray Brendle says:
I would not count my chickens yet... Tillis had done nothing right but still Hagen can not get out of the margin of error. The internals of 2 of the three most recent polls don't square with the results. I believe that Republicans will be more motivated this election than Democrats.
