• A new attack ad by the Democratic group Patriot Majority PAC, whose 527 political organization has received heavy funding from public employee unions, tries to link Republican U.S. Senate candidate Thom Tillis with the Koch brothers.

http://youtu.be/wpdmjnu4oV4

• Meantime, the campaign of incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan has set aside $4.4 million for ad purchases in the upcoming weeks.

• A new Public Policy Polling survey of the Senate race shows Hagan extending her lead to 7 points over Tillis, 41 percent to 34 percent, with Libertarian Sean Haugh still getting 8 percent. In a head-to-head match-up between Hagan and Tillis, the Democrat’s lead shrinks to 3 points. Both Hagan and Tillis have negative disapproval ratings.

• At The Weekly Standard, poll watcher Jay Cost digs deeper into the PPP results and says the news isn’t as bad for Tillis as the top-line numbers suggest.

• U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-3rd District, says Congress should stop funding the war in Afghanistan.

• Two other North Carolina representatives, Virginia Foxx, R-5th District, and Robert Pittenger, R-9th District, made recent radio appearances to criticize new history standards in standardized tests and President Obama’s response to the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, respectively.