N&R continues its not-so-veiled support for Sen. Kay Hagan by trotting out the old ‘money is evil in politics’ theme in today’s editorial:
The reality is that the American people are fed up with the tens of millions of dollars poured into a single race, such as North Carolina’s U.S. Senate contest between Kay Hagan and Thom Tillis. Television viewers are inundated by ads that promote one candidate or attack the other. People have little or no idea of who’s responsible for these ads, where the money comes from or what the sponsors want and expect from the candidate once he or she is elected.
….There was little chance it would ever pass since it eventually would need two-thirds support in the Senate and House and then ratification by three-fourths of the states. Republicans called it a political gesture by Democrats. Maybe it was, like proposed “personhood” or “balanced budget” amendments regularly introduced by Republicans.
Yes the vote to block the constitutional amendment was along party lines, which means Hagan made the appropriate political gesture while continuing to play by the rules as they’re written, as I’m sure the N&R would rationalize.
Meanwhile, former American Idol star and 2nd District Congressional candidate Clay Aiken only wishes he could get holda him some Hollywood money:
Though he has picked up the pace in the fundraising battle against two-term incumbent and former nurse Renee L. Ellmers, reporting in July had Aiken with about $209,000 cash on hand to Ellmers’s $405,000. One of Aiken’s consultants put it this way: “It’s tough because the people in the district all assume he has these big Hollywood connections so they don’t want to donate. But the truth is he isn’t that big a deal in Hollywood, so he can’t raise that much there.”
Ouch.
