Durham Herald Sun: Hagan Praises N.C. Democrats at Dinner

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Hagan Praises N.C. Democrats at Dinner

Durham Herald Sun

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Matthew E. Milliken

Two factors helped Democrats dominate the polls in 2008, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said Saturday evening.

"One, they turned out to vote," Hagan said shortly before speaking before 640 attendees at the state Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. "But two, they wanted effective leadership."

Barack Obama was the change people wanted after President George W. Bush, Hagan said. "In my case, they wanted somebody to advocate for North Carolinians."

During her speech, the freshman senator took several shots at the incumbent she defeated last year, Elizabeth Dole, whom Democrats criticized as a North Carolinian in little more than name.

At the podium Saturday, Hagan recalled her Jefferson-Jackson Dinner remarks of last year, when she was challenging Dole. "I had at least two things going for me," Hagan said Saturday. "One, I lived in North Carolina. And the second, my husband could vote for me. And well, it's obvious that I had all of you going for me as well."

Hagan acknowledged concern over job losses but said she believed the stimulus package was starting to work. She estimated it would save or create 105,000 jobs in North Carolina.

Hagan serves on the Senate's Armed Forces Committee. She noted that she had two nephews serving in the Middle East -- she declined to be more specific about where they were stationed. The Guilford County Democrat believes North Carolina can continue to be the nation's most military-friendly state and grow its defense sector.

The five-term state senator is vying to win a golden gavel, which she'll get after presiding over the U.S. Senate for 100 hours. She said she did not know until arriving in Washington that freshmen senators in the majority party run the body and call speakers to the floor.

"It's a great way to immediately get to know all 99, 98 other senators," Hagan said in an interview.

Having recently moved out of basement quarters -- Hagan is 93rd in seniority in the Senate; everyone ahead of her got to choose office space before she did -- the Shelby native is instituting a weekly "Carolina Coffee" event in her fifth-floor offices at the Dirksen Building in Washington, D.C. The hourlong event will be held Wednesdays at 9 a.m. and will be open to all North Carolinians. Hagan and her staff will attend.

The first coffee is this week.

Hagan will appear in Durham on Monday at a roundtable discussion on how minority- and female-owned businesses, small businesses and nonprofits can take advantage of federal stimulus funding. The event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at N.C. Central University in Room 1221 of the Mary Townes Science Complex on Concord Street.

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