Everybody on social media is all atwitter about Kay Hagan “skipping” the last debate. Tillis supporters can’t stop tweeting “Hagan is hiding” and other such nonsense. Even Rachel Maddow blasted Hagan for missing the debate.
First, let’s clarify. Hagan didn’t skip the debate. She turned down the invitation last July after agreeing to participate in three debates. That’s the number Richard Burr accepted in 2010. As Elaine Marshall’s lead consultant, I can assure you, we were pushing for more. When Senator Burr refused, we criticized him but we weren’t willing to argue with a chair.
That said, Hagan’s move and the Tillis campaign’s reaction verifies that what we’ve seen in the last two public polls is what the campaigns are seeing in their internal polls. If Hagan were suddenly trailing Tillis, she would almost certainly have shown up. If Tillis were leading Hagan, he probably wouldn’t have gone. Debating a chair is a big gamble that a frontrunner wouldn’t take.
Finally, the headlines this morning illustrate the risk of debating, either with an opponent or with a chair. Nothing made the front page but the headline on the second page of the News & Observer read, “Tillis says state should consider Medicaid expansion,” not “Hagan skips debate.” After denying Medicaid to 500,000 North Carolinians when he was speaker, Tillis is now a flip-flopper and a hypocrite. He’s trying to moderate himself too late in the game and is more likely just further alienating his conservative base.
In the end, nobody paid enough attention to change the dynamic of the race. The Medicaid flip-flop is just another arrow in Hagan’s quiver if she needs it. The episode is a barometer that tells us both campaigns know that Kay Hagan has a solid lead with less than two weeks to go.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
No Thom. No Tholls.
Tillis’ latest TV ad attack at Hagan says that the federal stimulus bill did not benefit the economy. This guy just disregards 63 months of continuous economic expansion, 54 months of job growth, unemployment cut in half since 2009, the stock market setting records, and GM and Chrysler STILL in existence and having recent record years. He will say ANYTHING, no matter how false or inaccurate, to scape another vote to his side.
Finger-in-the-wind Tillis is beyond despicable. I really hope the state is smarter than to elect him. But who knows?
I damn near spit out my morning coffee when I read about Tillis’ walkback on Medicaid expansion. Here, the callous twit has refused (along with the gov and Berger) to expand the program, at no state cost, for the last 2 years, leaving 300-500,000 needy NC’ers w/o health care. The reason given was that the Purdue admin had left NC Medicaid a mess that needed fixing first, but anyone smart enough knew that expansion was not pursued because it was part of the broader ACA (Obamacare) package—and all good NC conservatives must not be seen as partnering with/using anything that this POTUS advanced. Tillis’ changed tune can only be viewed as a desperate try for any extra votes hanging around this late in the game.
What’s the next arrow to be pulled out of Tillis’ prevaricating quiver before election day? Will be back off going to court to reverse the SSM ruling? Will he shift his position on unemployment limitations, on voter I.D., on abortion clinic regs? Anything is possible with this poor and self-centered excuse for a NC leader. Again, he has no moral anchor. It’s just “say anything” that might earn you an additional vote or two……