U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has a long resume.

As a former debutante who grew up in 1950s North Carolina, she broke with tradition to become a two-time Cabinet secretary, head of the American Red Cross, wife of a presidential candidate then candidate herself and U.S. senator.

Even in the current anti-Washington climate, Dole thinks her experience running major organizations will resonate with voters. (N&O)

Still, she's remained a back-bencher in her first term, a senator more likely to co-sponsor major legislation than author it, more likely to join a group of negotiators than lead it. She's now being criticized for her effectiveness in Washington.

Dole has blocked some international trade deals until they included provisions to shield local textile companies from overseas competition. She led an effort to protect military families from predatory lending and she forced the Navy to provide information on toxic water at Camp Lejeune.

But her star turn at the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee ended miserably and she's been frustrated at efforts to get the Lumbee tribe recognized. (N&O)

N.C. Rep. Russell Tucker said he has some magic words that allowed him to pull off an unusual feat: getting money slipped into the state budget bill that had not appeared in either the House or Senate spending plans.

Tucker, a Duplin County Democrat, persuaded House legislative leaders to include $500,000 for a proposed Museum of the Marine in Jacksonville, which is home to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Tucker's district includes a small portion of Onslow County, Dan Kane reports.

The money is to help the nonprofit seeking to build the museum complete an architectural plan.Tucker said the museum has a $35 million price tag. He said the state put in roughly $1 million in planning money about two years ago.

This year, Tucker filed a bill seeking $5 million from the state for the museum. The bill went nowhere. So, he embarked on a lobbying campaign that went all the way up to House Speaker Joe Hackney.

"I think I spoke to them all," Tucker said. "I left no stone unturned."

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How bipartisan has U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole been?

From 2003 to 2008, the Salisbury Republican was the primary sponsor of 140 bills. Of them, 80 had no cosponsors, 27 had only Republican cosponsors and 33 had Democratic cosponsors.

Overall, her 264 cosponsors included 164 Republicans and 100 Democrats, or about three-to-two ratio. A bill to give British Prime Minister Tony Blair the Congressional Medal of Honor was the most bipartisan measure, with 30 Democratic cosponsors.

Another bipartisan bill would have phased out reduced-price lunches at public schools by increasing eligibility for free lunches. Six Republican and eight Democrats signed on.

The most frequent Democratic cosponsor was Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who signed on to seven bills, including ones to investigate Camp Lejeune's drinking water and recognize the Lumbee tribe as well as several amendments to bills.

Sen. Joe Lieberman signed onto six bills, including ones to set aside a portion of the gross domestic product for defense spending and provide job training in college. Sens. Ted Kennedy, Tom Harkin, Richard Durbin, Frank Lautenberg and Bill Nelson each signed onto five bills.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards signed onto four Dole bills, including recognizing the Lumbees and honoring Blair.

Previously: Dole's cosponsors in 2003-04, 2005-06, 2007-08.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole was very bipartisan in the 2005-06 session.

With the candidates for Senate touting their records of bipartisanship, Dome has been taking a closer look at the number of Democrats who signed on to legislation Dole sponsored.

In the 2005-06 session, the Salisbury Republican was the primary sponsor of 49 bills. Of them, 30 had no cosponsor, nine had only Republican cosponsors and nine had Democratic cosponsors.

Overall, her 63 cosponsors included 29 Democrats and 34 Republicans, or about a one-to-one ratio. (Dome is counting Sen. Jim Jeffords, an Independent, as a Democrat since he caucused with them.)

The most frequent Democratic cosponsor was Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who signed on to four Dole amendments, including a measure to require the National Academy of Sciences study drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune.

Dole also had Democratic cosponsors on bills requiring a report on predatory lending to military families, assist worker retraining programs, encourage collectively bargained retiree health benefits, honoring a black Marine and giving a tax credit for hunger relief efforts.

Previously: Dole's Democratic cosponsors in 2007-08 session.

JACKSONVILLE – Sen. Hillary Clinton portrayed herself today as the only presidential hopeful who could "responsibly" end the war in Iraq.

Clinton sought to thread a needle between Republican Sen. John McCain's support for continuing U.S. presence and her Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama's more adamant opposition to the war, reports Rob Christensen.

Clinton said that if she is elected president, she would meet with military leaders to devise a withdrawal plan. She said the U.S. had already provided the Iraqis “the gift of freedom.”

“They will no longer have a blank check from the president of the United States,” Clinton told about 2,000 people who gathered this morning in front of a fire house in this military town near the Camp Lejeune Marine base.

Clinton also promised that her administration would provide more attention to the needs of veterans, and would work to make sure that troops are not overstretched.

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The U.S. Senate has approved a measure that would require the Marines to notify thousands of former workers at Camp Lejeune Marine Base about toxins in its drinking water.

Sen. Elizabeth Dole, a Salisbury Republican, sponsored the amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill. It would require the Secretary of the Navy to notify all Marines, dependents and civilian employees assigned to the base between 1958 and 1987 about contaminated drinking wells, Barb Barrett reports.

Recipients would be told they were exposed to toxic drinking water, and asked to fill out a voluntary health survey, the amendment says.

The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has found that babies exposed in utero to the drinking water developed leukemia and other cancers, as well as birth defects, such as spina bifida and cleft palate.

Government estimates show that over three decades, as many as one million people living and working at Camp Lejeune may have been exposed to drinking water contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE), dichloroethylene (DCE) tetrachloroethylence (PCE), and in their degraded forms, benzene, methyl chloride and vinyl chloride, according to Dole's office.

These chemicals are found primarily in industrial degreasing solvents, dry cleaning solvents and fuels.

The amendment was co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican. The Senate version of the defense authorization bill must be reconciled with the House version.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, a Salisbury Republican, co-sponsored Democratic legislation this week that would require the federal government to limit levels of a harmful chemical sometimes found in drinking water – including in the wells of Camp Lejeune.

The bill, introduced Wednesday by Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, aims to protect residents from trichloroethylene, commonly known as TCE, reports Barb Barrett. The chemical is found in paint, adhesives, spot removers and solvents used to clean metal parts.

The chemical was present in drinking water at Camp Lejeune wells from the 1950s until the 1980s. The problems of Camp Lejeune’s water have been known, but Congress has been re-visiting the issue in hearings this summer.

Other senators co-sponsoring the bill include Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.

Correction: An earlier post listed the wrong state for Kerry.

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U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is trying to force military officials to inform hundreds of thousands of Marine families and workers that they drank and washed in toxin-contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, The Associated Press is reporting.

Dole wants to force the secretary of the Navy to locate and notify Marines and civilians who were exposed to the water up until the mid-1980s when the base shut down contaminated wells.

The notification requirement was in an amendment she offered Wednesday to a broad military money bill before the legislation was pulled from the floor in a showdown over Iraq. The larger bill may be back as soon as September.

Government health officials have estimated as many as 1 million people may have been exposed during three decades of water contamination going back to 1957, a situation that was examined in a recent Associated Press investigation. The numbers include Marines in barracks and military families living on the sprawling Atlantic training and deployment base, as well as civilians who worked there.

The Marines would get more recognition, if U.S. Rep. Walter Jones gets his way. 

Language in the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill, which recently passed the House of Representatives, would change the name of the Department of Navy to the Department of Navy and Marine Corps, at the recommendation of the Farmville Republican.

Jones has been pushing for the name change for six years. One of the Marines' largest bases, Camp Lejeune, is in his congressional district.

The Marine Corps operates under the Department of the Navy, but Jones has argued that the service deserves equal billing.

"It is time that the Marine Corps be recognized as one of the strongest fighting teams in this country," Jones said in a House speech in support of the language.

The bill must still be considered by the Senate, which could remove the name change.