Candidates Woo Voters In Last Days

U.S. Senate candidates Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Elizabeth Dole will finish their tours of North Carolina this weekend.

The race, which many insiders initially assumed Dole would win because of her name recognition, is now considered a toss up, according to several polls.

With just a few days until the election, Bowles is continuing on into the final round of his statewide "Family First" tour, said Bowles spokesman Adrian Talbott.

Bowles' campaign will attempt to gain the few percentage points he trails by influencing undecided voters, he said. "This last push makes all the difference in the world."

Dole also will continue her bus tour of the state this weekend, said Dole press secretary Jerry Brown.

He added that the Dole campaign is not losing optimism because of the new statistics showing Bowles is closing in.

"Polls always tighten (the race) in the final days," he said. "We are at the point where the fence-sitters will choose a candidate."

The candidates' final pushes are focusing closely on specific issues, said Ferrel Guillory, director of UNC's Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life.

The intensity at the end of the race is directed at the 20 percent of voters registered as independent because the state is split almost equally between Democrats and Republicans, he said.

After analyzing commercials for the opposing candidates, Guillory said he found that Bowles and Dole conveyed mostly positive messages.

"There's an effort on the part of both candidates to give voters a reason to vote for them rather than a reason to vote against their opponent," he said.

Guillory said the campaigns are emphasizing each candidate's solution to the state's shaky economic situation, which has recently become the key issue of the campaign.

Officials from the state's political parties said the end of the campaign season will be busy for them, as well as individual candidates.

Barbara Allen, chairwoman of the N.C. Democratic Party, said the party is focusing on sending out people into various communities to increase voter turnout. She said that as the campaigns wind down, the most important thing is to "talk to the people, tell them where (the candidates) stand on the issues."

The N.C. Republican Party also is reaching out to voters. Party members are going door to door to talk to voters, said Community Director Jonathan Jordan.

Despite all the national media attention being paid to North Carolina's U.S. Senate seat, candidates for state offices are feeling the intensity of the final days as well.

Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, seems optimistic about her chances for re-election to the N.C. Senate -- although she says she is not content to merely sit back and relax.

Though she wields a considerable advantage as an incumbent in a heavily Democratic district, Kinnaird said she will spend the weekend going door to door in Chatham County, a precinct she says is "unpredictable."

Peter Morcombe, Kinnaird's Republican opponent, said he is taking a different approach to campaigning. "I'm relying on electronic means," he said.

Morcombe said his campaign focuses on issues rather than broad appeal. He said he has communicated his ideas to voters via his Web site and e-mails but also visited a few people door to door.

But Morcombe said his optimism about the race is reserved in the heavily Democratic Orange County. "What are the odds of ousting an incumbent?"

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.