Dispatches from the campaign trail, November 4, 2012

• Guess what day it is? The polls close at 7:30.
 
• U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan gets a last-minute endorsement from President Obama in this radio ad that’s getting limited airplay. The president, whose popularity ratings continue to dive, has not appeared at a rally for Hagan in the Tar Heel State this cycle. And the YouTube clip of this ad is being promoted on an account run by Dan Keylin, communications director for Hagan’s GOP challenger Thom Tillis.

• Local mainstream media outlets are beginning to pay a little more attention to the questions surrounding the use of stimulus and other government money by businesses owned by Hagan’s family members. Carolina Journal has been on the story since early October. The most recent issue surrounds a state-level review of potential self-dealing by the Hagan businesses (there are several involved) and the unusual way local media outlets handled the story. The senator’s response? Blame the McCrory adminstration.

• Some last-minute polling shows the Senate race remains tight. Democratic firm Public Policy Polling’s final snapshot shows Hagan with a 2-point lead over Tillis whether or not Libertarian Sean Haugh was included in the survey. Meantime, the conservative Civitqs Institute’s last poll shows the race dead even, with Hagan and Tillis tied at 40 percent and Haugh getting 5 percent.

• Roll Call notes that state lawmakers such as Tillis are easy targets for opposition researchers because they have extensive voting records, unlike many members of Congress, whose legislative efforts can be obscured by Washington’s sausage-making process.

• Yours truly will join Curtis Media’s Donna Martinez and The Carolinian’s Cash Michaels for a review of all the day’s activities from 8 p.m. ’til midnight this evening on a statewide network of radio stations. Home base will be NewsRadio 680 WPTF in Raleigh. but we also will be carried by WSJS in the Triad, WTIB and WNBU in the Greenville area, and other stations across the state. As soon as I get the list of affiliates, I’ll share them. You also can listen live on the WPTF website or via the WPTF smart phone app.