In this piece, Politico includes Sen. Kay Hagan as one of three vulnerable Democratic incumbents who face the problem of whether to embrace President Obama’s policies — particularly ObamaCare — as they seek re-election.
North Carolina, where one-quarter of registered voters are black, might also be the only one of the three states where Obama could help the incumbent. He won in 2008 and lost narrowly there in 2012. An active Democratic effort last year to sign up new voters, especially blacks, helped give Democrats a 782,000-voter registration advantage over Republicans.
Hagan advisers said the senator is trying neither to cozy up nor distance herself from Obama.
“She’s a strong moderate,” said Hagan campaign manager Preston Elliott. “It’s really not a balancing act. It’s a matter of her doing what she needs to do for North Carolina.”
Now that Hagan’s camp has publicly identified her philosophy as that of a “strong moderate,” potential GOP challengers with conservative credentials can – and no doubt will – begin to stake out the center/right position and point out the differences in policy views with Hagan. Stay tuned.
