• Heads up: Early voting starts today! For sites and hours, visit this portal at the State Board of Elections website.
• A new ad from the American Crossroads Super PAC supporting House Speaker Thom Tillis’ bid for the U.S. Senate, fights back at charges by incumbent Kay Hagan over Tillis’ “character.”
• A Survey USA poll commissioned by Time Warner Cable News after that outlet’s Monday debate found support rising for Dr. Greg Brannon and slipping for the Rev. Mark Harris. But the sample size of debate watchers was small and the margin of error significant. The bigger news may be that, for the first time, Tillis may be separating himself from the other candidates: 51 percent of voters who had chosen a candidate picked Tillis before the debate; 49 percent preferred him after it. Even accounting for the margin of error, that showing would give the Mecklenburg County Republican the 40 percent he needs in the May 6 primary to avoid a July 15 runoff.
• Welcome to the 2010s: A brouhaha has developed within the Catawba Valley Tea Party over who, if anyone, the group has endorsed in the GOP Senate primary.
• Weekly Standard Executive Editor (and longtime John Locke Foundation friend) Fred Barnes writes about the North Carolina Senate race.
• The six remaining Democrats seeking the 12th Congressional District nomination addressed a forum in Winston-Salem. Changes in election law passed by the General Assembly were among the topics discussed.
