U.S. News & World Report profiles Sen. Kay Hagan, focusing on the tough choices she’s met as a “Tobacco State Deomocrat”:

Hagan wanted a smaller increase in the cigarette tax, but, after an amendment she cosponsored was withdrawn, she voted for children’s health insurance, explaining that the needs of disadvantaged children trumped tobacco. The measure passed in the Senate 66 to 32, with nary a Democratic “no.”

Ahead: A renewed push in Congress to have tobacco regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Critics call it a death knell for cigarettes. Supporters of regulation include Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Hagan says she plans to give the effort a thumbs down, saying the FDA has enough on its plate and too small a staff as it is.

Update: Hagan spends some time in-state; promises ‘savvy negotiations’ with the Navy over a planned airfield up east.