Run, Kay, run

Fabulous not-quite-national news out of North Carolina last night: state senator Kay Hagan trounced four opponents in a once-competitive primary to take on Senator Elizabeth Dole in November.

Coming out of my field research on Liddy Dole's campaign a couple summers ago, I found myself begrudgingly admiring her biography and campaign style, but her politics and record of representing North Carolina have been disastrous. (although, to be fair, her also-disastrous leadership of the NRSC in 2006 was a huge boon to Dems).

It's excellent to see Hagan emerge as her challenger. She'll be a strong competitor- a Daily Kos poll has her within striking distance of Dole after a bruising primary and with seven months still to go ; her exceptional website indicates that she "gets" the technological element, no doubt the critical piece of the 2008 puzzle ; and my anecdotal evidence of conversations in her home base of Greensboro this past weekend suggests that she'll have a powerful grassroots operation.

And, personally, I'm delighted by the thought that Dole can be shown the door out of the Senate without diminishing the numbers of my favorite caucus in that body: the Southern women.