Sen. Elizabeth Dole's spokesman, Hogan Gidley, said she isn't calling quits anytime soon, even though several news outlets already have called the race for her opponent, Kay Hagan.

"If I believed Fox News, CBS and WRAL, we'd be talking about Al Gore as president right now," Gidley said. "We don't fall for this kind of stuff... We expect that checkmark to move over to the Dole box."

He pointed out that many of the votes have yet to be counted, Barb Barrett reports.

"Ninety-five percent of the people, their votes still haven’t been recorded yet," Gidley said. "No, we're not calling the race. The polls just close an hour ago. We've still got a long ways to go tonight."

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican nominee for governor, may have stayed out of camera range when President Bush came to Raleigh but McCrory's happy to line up a photo opportunity with their party's nominee for vice president.

McCrory said his campaign and allies are lobbying for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to visit North Carolina on McCrory's behalf.

"Many efforts are being coordinated right now," McCrory said this week. His eagerness to appear in public with Palin, who has captured much of the political news for the past two weeks, contrasts with President Bush's visit for a private fundraiser for McCrory in June. The two did not appear in public together.

Either Palin or U.S. Sen. John McCain — he's the one running for president, by the way — likely will visit the state given that McCrory's race is a priority for the Republican Governors Association and that Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama is investing heavily in North Carolina, traditionally a safe Republican state.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's campaign also would like to bring Palin in to the state, but spokesman Hogan Gidley said he was unaware of what efforts were being made to arrange an event.

McCrory lightheartedly said he was arranging a Palin visit before she ever rocketed to the national stage. Less than two weeks before McCain tapped Palin as his running mate, McCrory received a call from Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle.

"She said, 'Sarah and I want to come down and help you get elected,'" McCrory recalled, saying he readily accepted.

He called Lingle after Palin was named to the veep slot on the Republican ticket.

"She said, 'Sarah's schedule has changed,'" McCrory laughed.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's latest ad is getting some attention.

The ad's image of Democratic rival Kay Hagan as a yipping dog was analyzed on The Plank, a blog run by The New Republic magazine.

...What exactly the dog stands for is up for debate. [Hogan] Gidley, Dole's spokesperson, took a long pause when asked what the dog symbolizes, noting slowly that there isn't "a particular image we are trying to portray." Eventually, he explained that it alludes to Hagan's stump persona. "She is out on the campaign trail barking fibs at the audience and telling half-truths and being negative and attacking [Dole] at every step. It's reminiscent of a dog barking, I guess," Gidley said. "Everyone's had to live next to a dog that just barks constantly, and you've heard the phrase 'all bark and no bite,' and Kay Hagan has been barking for a while. But she offers no plans, no bite."

The New Republic asked the Dole campaign about a "less flattering" interpretation of the image of a female (?) dog. Gidley said that idea is "just silly."

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

Two labor groups recently donated to Majority Action.

The Service Employees International Union's Political Education and Action Fund gave $200,000 in May, the SEIU's NYS Political Action Fund gave $150,000 in June and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union gave $100,000 in June.

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole argued that the donations are being used by Majority Action — and by extension, the Kay Hagan campaign — to pay for issue ads attacking Dole.

"Her campaign is in the pocket of Big Labor," argued Dole spokesman Hogan Gidley.

But Bill Buck, executive director of Majority Action, said that there was no direct tie between the two unions and the Dole ads.

"They have contributed to Majority Action, but they can't make donations that are tied to an ad," he said.

The Hagan campaign said they have no connection to the Majority Action ads. 

Mark McCullough, a spokesman for the SEIU, also disputed Dole's attempt to link a visit by the Democrat to the AFL-CIO's annual executive meeting in Chicago Monday to the Majority Action ad.

He noted that the SEIU and the UFCW are members of the Change to Win Federation, which was created in 2005 as an alternative to the AFL-CIO coalition.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Democratic rival Kay Hagan both back the "Gang of 10."

The two rivals in the North Carolina Senate race both say they support a compromise energy proposal put forward on Friday by a bipartisan group of 10 senators.  

The proposal would allow for drilling off the coast of North Carolina and other states, encourage conservation and promote tax credits for alternative car fuels.

In a press release Monday, Hagan said she supports the plan.

"While the bill is not perfect, I have learned during my time in the Senate that compromise and consensus are necessary if we are to get anything done," she said in a statement.

Today, Dole's camp fired back, charging that there is no bill yet.

"She's telling us to sign onto a bill that doesn't exist," said spokesman Hogan Gidley, adding that Dole supports the idea.

Hagan's campaign noted that Sen. John Thune, among others, described the proposal as a "bill" on his Web site.

"Whether you call it a bill or a proposal or idea, it's out there," said Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan.

Previously, Hagan had opposed offshore drilling in North Carolina, while Dole changed positions to support it. 

Hours after Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was indicted today, his GOP colleague Sen. Elizabeth Dole sent his money to charity.

Dole donated $10,000 from her campaign to the Society of St. Andrew, a Christian anti-hunger organization, to equal the cash received this cycle from Stevens' political action committee, Barb Barrett reports.

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, was charged this afternoon by the U.S. Department of Justice with seven counts of failing to disclose more than $250,000 worth of gifts to businessmen currying his favor on federal projects.

Stevens is one of the Senate's most powerful members.

Dole received two $5,000 payments on a single day in March 2007, according to campaign finance reports.

Dole faces a tough re-election race against Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan. Hagan called on Dole today to return a total of $21,000 that Dole's campaign received from Stevens and his committee between 2001 to 2007.

More after the jump.

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan spent nearly an hour today listening to Charlotte-area veterans talk about their problems getting health care and other benefits.

One told her about having to get up at 3 a.m. to catch a Greyhound bus to the V.A. hospital in Salisbury. Another talked about the 14,000 pending claims by N.C. veterans backlogged at a V.A. office in Salisbury, Jim Morrill reports.

"People are frustrated because Washington is broken," Hagan said after meeting the 30 or so vets at American Legion Post 380.

Her appearance came a day after her opponent, Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole, announced her own "Veterans for Dole" steering committee. A statement that accompanied the announcement touted veterans' legislation she has supported, including a military and veteran health care bill.

Asked to describe Dole's record, Hagan said, "I don't think she's hearing the same complaints I'm hearing.

"Let me put it this way, my record will be a lot better."

Said Dole spokesman Hogan Gidley: “When it comes to providing for and supporting the military, Elizabeth Dole is second to no one ... except perhaps her own husband. Frankly, I'm embarrassed for Kay Hagan that she suggested otherwise.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has a new chief fundraiser for her re-election campaign.

J. Sam Daniels left the campaign about a month ago, Dole's campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley said Tuesday. Daniels had served as finance director for about two months and had previously been the campaign manager, David Ingram reports.

"It had gotten to the point, as campaigns do, where he was missing time with his family," Gidley said, adding that Daniels had been working seven days a week.

Gidley said the change was not related to the campaign's finances. In the second quarter of 2008, Dole raised $1.69 million while her Democratic opponent Kay Hagan raised $1.54 million.

Replacing Daniels is James Earp, who previously was the N.C. Chamber's vice president for business development. Earp also worked on Dole's 2002 campaign.

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.