North Carolina race gets personal

We talked briefly about the North Carolina race in class this week between Elizabeth Dole and Kay Hagan, and I remembered seeing this article about her campaigning strategy. It is several months old, but thought it was interesting.

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20080619/NEWS/760425484

The AP reports that Hagan was throwing campaign parties around North Carolina for her supporters in which they decorated red ruby slippers in an attempt to give a message to Dole to go back to Kansas.

Do you think this is effective? Of course a lot of campaigns involve ridiculing of opponents, but do they usually do this so blatantly? One of my professors at Emporia State constantly repeated to us that if a company produces a commercial focused negatively on a competing product, the consumers will almost always think of the competitor over the product advertised. Perhaps this does not same affect on a campaign, but do you think it is the most effective way to advertise?

Perhaps I am wrong seeing that the latest polls have Hagan neck in neck with Dole, if not slightly above.

Also, here is a link to the list of vulnerable Senate seats that we were talking about for anyone who hasn't seen it. It's from the Cook Political Report, which I am not very familiar with, but was referenced on the official Kay Hagan web site.

http://www.cookpolitical.com/charts/senate/raceratings.php

That's all for now. Happy reading!