U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has a new ad attacking her Democratic rival, Kay Hagan.

What the ad says: The ad begins with images of a small dog barking and jumping at a fence. Narrator: "They call her 'Fibber Kay Hagan.' Fib after fib, she tries to turn us against Elizabeth Dole. But we know Elizabeth has been consistently voted one of the 10 most admired women in the world. Her clout works wonders for North Carolina. So bark away Fibber Kay. That dog don't hunt." Dole: "I'm Elizabeth Dole and I approve this message." Text on the screen says Dole "saved jobs," "saved bases," "saved farmers" and "helped sheriffs."

The background: The ad does not specify who "they" are who call Hagan "Fibber Kay."

The Dole campaign said they did not come up with the nickname, but they did not know who did.

"We're not sure who coined it, but we hear people call Kay Hagan 'Fibber Kay' on the campaign trail and we hear it frequently," said spokesman Hogan Gidley.

A search of North Carolina newspapers, blogs and Web sites did not return any references to "Fibber Kay" from before the ad began airing, and nearly all written since were about the ad itself.

The ad does not name any of the supposed "fibs" that Hagan has made.

MOST ADMIRED: Every year since 1948, the Gallup organization has surveyed a random group of Americans on the men and women in the world they most admire.

As secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation under President Reagan, Dole first made the top 10 in 1987, returning three years later as secretary of the Labor department.

Though she received votes in other years, she returned to the top 10 as the wife of presidential candidate Bob Dole and president of the American Red Cross. Between 1996 and 2003, she was ranked between third and tenth place.

She also landed in ninth place in 2005, but she has not been on the list in the last two years.

She was in the top 10 a total of 11 times — the same number as the poet Maya Angelou and news anchor Barbara Walters.

JOBS AND BASES: The U.S. Department of Defense announced a round of base closings and other changes in 2005 as part of a regular program begun at the end of the Cold War. The multi-year process is designed to be insulated from political pressure.

Some North Carolina leaders had feared the loss of thousands of jobs — something that never materialized. A number of politicians, including Dole and Democratic Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, have claimed credit for North Carolina's relative success, but there is no way to quantify how much each helped.

FARMERS: In 2004, Congress and President Bush approved a buyout of the Depression-era system of price supports — or quotas — for tobacco leaf. Cigarette companies financed the buyout, passing on the costs to consumers.

The buyout is designed to put $9.6 billion into the pockets of quota owners and growers over 10 years. Some farmers have used the money to reinvest in the crop, while others chose to change crops or retire.

Dole supported the buyout during her 2002 campaign and was a vocal advocate in Congress, along with other senators from tobacco-growing states.

SHERIFFS: Since 1996, the federal government has offered a test program for sheriff's deputies to investigate illegal immigration.

Though immigration enforcement is typically handled by the federal government, the goal of the 287(g) program is to start deportation proceedings on illegal immigrants who are arrested for non-immigration related crimes.

In North Carolina, a handful of sheriffs' offices, including Mecklenburg and Wake counties, have signed up for the program, which Dole has promoted.

The federal government pays for the cost of training deputies in immigration enforcement and grants sheriffs' offices access to immigration records.

Is the ad accurate? There is no way to verify the "Fibber Kay" nickname or who coined it and no evidence it has been used. Dole has been consistently ranked among the most admired women in the world. Though the ad's claims are vague, Dole did help farmers and sheriffs in Congress, but there is no way to quantify her role in saving the state's military bases.

— Ryan Teague Beckwith and David Ingram

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue is airing a new ad touting her record in office.

What it says: The ad shows images of Perdue from her early life and her political career. A narrator says, "Bev Perdue. Neither of her parents finished high school, yet she became a teacher and earned a Ph.D. She's spent a lifetime fighting for the middle class — Smart Start for our kids, cutting the sales tax on food, saving our military bases from closure. In these tough times, she'll lead the way — a higher minimum wage, property tax relief for seniors, creating the jobs of the future. Bev Perdue, a governor for us."

The background: Perdue taught in public schools in Georgia and Florida from 1970 to 1974. She received a doctorate in education administration in March 1976 from the University of Florida.

Gov. Jim Hunt and the legislature created Smart Start, a statewide pre-school program, in 1993 when Perdue was in her second term in the state Senate. That year, Hunt appointed her as one of 16 initial members of a board to oversee Smart Start.

Then-Gov. Terry Sanford helped establish a statewide sales tax on food in 1961 to pay higher teacher salaries. It was supposed to be temporary, but it lasted almost four decades. Lawmakers cut it from 4 percent to 3 percent in 1996 and eliminated it two years later.

Perdue was co-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee when lawmakers eliminated the tax. She voted in favor of doing so, but was not a champion of the cause. An unusual coalition of liberal lawmakers and anti-tax Republicans pushed for eliminating the tax, while the Senate’s leadership was less enthusiastic.

"I have long believed it is the wrong item to tax and there should be a total elimination," Perdue told The Charlotte Observer in August 1997. But, she added, "You have to look at fiscal responsibility. The priority, I believe, in addition to cutting the food tax, is to provide adequate funding for teachers and to clean up the environment."

Gov. Mike Easley appointed Perdue, as lieutenant governor, to lead the state's efforts to protect North Carolina’s military bases from closure by the U.S. Department of Defense. The multi-year process is designed to be insulated from political pressure, and it involved work from a large number of people, including the state's congressional delegation.

Perdue has called for increasing the minimum wage in North Carolina by one dollar to $8.25, from the minimum of $7.25 an hour set to take effect in July 2009.

She also says she favors expanding the state’s homestead exemption and freezing the property tax revaluations for seniors who make less than $50,000 and have lived in their homes for at least 20 years.

Is the ad accurate? Yes, though there is no way to quantify how much Perdue helped the state's military bases.

— David Ingram

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole had to change planes recently.

The first version of a recent ad for the Salisbury Republican boasts of her work helping North Carolina's military bases avoid closure during the BRAC process.

But as the liberal Senate Guru blog and D.C.-based newspaper The Hill pointed out, stock footage in the ad showed a French plane — a Dassault Super Étendard (top image).

A second version of the ad substituted an all-American F-15 (bottom image).

"Basically, our media consultant used the wrong stock footage, but it was corrected," Dole spokesman Hogan Gidley told the newspaper.

The campaign of rival Democrat Kay Hagan used the flub to argue Dole was out of touch.

"I imagine she’s celebrating Bastille Day today, as well," Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan told The Hill.

Update: Dole's campaign issued a statement:

"While Kay Hagan is focused on little gotchas, slipper parties and lurking around gas stations, Senator Dole is campaigning on her long record of delivering results for North Carolina and has an actual plan to improve the economy and bring down gas prices," Gidley said in a statement.

Beverly Perdue and Elizabeth Dole are taking credit for saving the state's military bases.

During the federal Base Realignment and Closure process, the Democratic lieutenant governor and the Republican U.S. senator both worked to promote the state's bases.

But the BRAC process was established to insulate decisions about base closings from the sort of political influence that the two claim to have exercised. Experts and community leaders say North Carolina was a logical place for expansion because of its location, the strategic emphases and the availability of land.

"Elected officials are going to take credit for events such as the BRAC decision when it comes out favorable, and place the blame elsewhere when it hurts their states," said Robin Dorff, a professor of national security at the U.S. Army War College. "That's a natural part of politics." 

The issue helps both Dole and Perdue, allowing them to cast themselves as pro-military, economic boosters and effective in a traditionally male arena. And some say that it's hard to gauge what would have happened if they hadn't been around. (N&O)

Why did Beverly Perdue beat Richard Moore?

In a primary election as unusual as this one, it's dangerous to get too confident when drawing conclusions, but here are a few educated guesses about how Perdue won the primary today.

She was the frontrunner. As a two-term lieutenant governor and longtime legislator with a bevy of endorsements from big groups, Perdue was the favorite from the start and Moore never managed to knock her down.

She had good issues. Perdue had a good portfolio on both soft issues (health care, education) and hard issues (the military). Moore's issues were more national (climate change, Wall Street reform) and wonky (the line-item veto, transportation reform).

She benefited from high turnout. Perdue had strong support among women and black voters, two groups that were energized by the unusually competitive presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

She went positive. Perdue and Moore both ran nasty campaigns through the fall, but Perdue went positive just as most voters started paying attention. That endeared her to Obama's "change" voters, won points for gutsiness and made Moore's attacks look bad.

She had fewer enemies. Moore manages the state pension fund? State employees sue him. Moore crusades on Wall Street? Forbes magazine attacks his campaign funding. Moore makes his case on education? The N.C. Association of Educators attacks him.

Moore never succeeded in opening any daylight between his campaign and Perdue's. When he endorsed Obama, she endorsed Obama. When he called for raising the minimum wage, opposed coal plants at Cliffside, etc. etc., so did she.

With the wind at her back from turnout, endorsements and expectations, Perdue managed to stay in the lead throughout the primary despite early missteps.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole took a veiled swipe at Beverly Perdue.

At the Craven County Republican Party's Reagan Day Dinner, the Salisbury Republican seemed to say that Democratic gubernatorial candidate should not take credit for the state's success during a round of military base closings in 2005, the New Bern Sun-Journal reports:

Dole said, "This is a military friendly state, there is no doubt about it. But, after hearing an ad, I'm here to set the record straight."

She took credit for work with the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission which added 9,000 military jobs to Ft. Bragg. It was done with meetings with its chairman, the defense secretary, the governor, and congressional committees to underscore the mission and N.C. advantages.

At a recent President's Day Dinner in Wake County, Dole mentioned her role in the BRAC process, but did not say anything about Perdue, who was assigned by Gov. Mike Easley to lead the state's response.

Perdue has run TV ads highlighting her role in BRAC. 

COLUMBIA, S.C.—U.S. Sen. John McCain rolled out a plan to stimulate the economy Thursday that included long-term proposals, such as a corporate tax cut.

One other idea is an independent commission to revamp the tax code. The commission, like the one that handles military base closings, would present a plan for Congress to approve or disapprove without any changes, Mark Johnson reports.

(Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue proposed a similar commission to look into the state budget last year.)

"I want to set up a commission headed by Alan Greenspan, whether he's alive or dead," McCain cracked. "It doesn't matter."

Greenspan is revered by many conservative economists. If he's dead, McCain said, he could be propped up with dark glasses as in the movie, "Weekend at Bernie's."

We're pretty sure that Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman are free to cochair as well. It's not like they're doing anything else...

North Carolina spent $1.5 million defending its military bases.

Starting in 2003, the legislature began appropriating money to lobby the federal Base Realignment and Closure commission that was looking at closing and streamlining military bases.

In the 2003-04 budget, the legislature set aside $2 million. It set aside the same amount in the 2004-05 budget, and another $1 million in 2005-06. All of the money came from the state's emergency and contingency fund and was approved by the Council of State.

In the end, however, only $1,535,800 was spent from 2003 to 2006.

Much of the money went to outside sources: $200,000 for the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice for lobbying, $120,000 to International Capital Partners to develop a strategy and $170,000 to hire Leigh Harvey McNairy as a consultant.

In addition, $150,000 each to Craven, Onslow and Wayne counties for local efforts.

Mark Binker says the claims in Beverly Perdue's ad check out.

In an ad watch on the News & Record site, he writes that her claims to have helped keep military bases open, led the fight for Smart Start, raised teacher salaries and provided health insurance for 115,000 children are mostly fair:

The claim regarding military bases is fair, although it neglects to spread credit to other players, such as U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, a Republican. Perdue led the state's efforts to make sure the so-called BRAC process did not hurt North Carolina and has been visible on the issue. Making North Carolina "the most military-friendly state in the nation" has been a mantra of her time in office.

However, he says that Smart Start "was, is and forever will be" seen as the signature policy of former Gov. Jim Hunt, though Perdue played a role as chair of the Senate Education Committee.