• The latest Gallup Poll of North Carolina attitudes shows Democrats and Republicans in a near dead-heat in the “generic” vote, with Democrats holding a 42-41 lead. Democrats had a 10-point advantage as recently as 2008. North Carolinians’ confidence in both the state and national economies trail the national average.
• It didn’t take long for the national media to pick up on an apparent contradiction surrounding President Obama’s Tuesday visit to Charlotte to address the American Legion convention: Incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan had no problem openly slamming the president’s policies … until he reached the tarmac, where the two embraced. Plan to see images of the encounter repeatedly during the campaign.
• Hagan’s Republican rival Thom Tillis will speak Friday at an Asheville breakfast sponsored by a local business group. Incumbent GOP Reps. Tim Moffitt and Nathan Ramsey also will debate their Democratic challengers, Brian Turner and John Ager, respectively.
• A San Francisco Chronicle blogger gushes over a Bay Area fundraising appearance by 2nd Congressional District Democratic nominee Clay Aiken, calling incumbent Renee Ellmers “a Tea Party-backed Republican, endorsed by a collection of horrible people. …”
