Questionable activity surrounding a solar panel project involving U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan’s family and federal stimulus funding has generated multiple news articles from Carolina Journal Executive Editor Don Carrington. The Drudge Report website shined a national spotlight on Carrington’s work, using the headline “NC Senator’s husband reaps windfall from ‘stimulus.'” Carrington’s investigation also has attracted attention from the Weekly Standard, Human Events, Politico.com, Washington Free Beacon (twice), Breitbart.com, PJMedia.com’s “Instapundit” (twice), TownHall.com, The Federalist website’s “Transom” email newsletter, Real Clear Politics, FreedomWorks, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review‘s Salena Zito (who discussed the story on the John Batchelor syndicated radio show), NCPoliticalNews.com, the Beaufort Observer, and N.C. Senate Republicans’ daily press email. Carrington discussed his work with Pete Kaliner on WWNC Radio.

In addition to Carrington’s reports, the Charlotte Observer and News & Observer quoted John Locke Foundation Chairman John Hood in an article about the role of environmental policies in Hagan’s election contest with Republican challenger Thom Tillis. N.C. Senate Republicans promoted Hood’s columns on the significance of the Hagan stimulus story and the likelihood that 2013 state election law changes will have a negligible impact on the outcomes of this year’s races. A Carteret County News-Times editorial on the Senate race cited Hood. (Focusing more attention on Ms. Hagan’s campaign in the Oct. 6 National Review, Mr. Hood writes that instead of running on her record Ms. Hagan is running from it. She’s devoted more of her energy “decrying the actions of the state’s Republican legislature rather than touting her own record as a freshman senator,” and she is bidding, he says, “to reframe the race as a referendum on Republican governance in Raleigh rather than on Democratic governance in Washington.”)

Director of Communications Mitch Kokai discussed the impact of the Hagan-Tillis debates during an appearance on Time Warner Cable News’ statewide “Capital Tonight” program. The Fayetteville Observer interviewed Kokai about the debates’ significance. Chapel Hill’s Daily Tar Heel interviewed Kokai for stories on campaign ad claims involving student loans and national security issues. NCPoliticalNews.com picked up Carolina Journal Managing Editor Rick Henderson‘s column suggesting questions for both Hagan and Tillis during the U.S. Senate debate.