Sen. Richard Burr is the target of a new Internet ad campaign that seeks to tie his political contributions from the defense industry and the Chamber of Commerce to his vote on a bill involving how overseas American contractors handle allegations of rape.

"Did Sen. Burr Put Campaign Cash Above Victims of Gang Rape?" says the online ad that is scheduled to begin running today by Change Congress, a Washington-based group that pushes campaign finance reform.

The group is currently running ads on other issues targeting Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, all Democrats.

"We've had a series of campaigns that have tried to point out cases where members have voted consistent with contributors but inconsistent with their constitutuents," Larry Sessig, the co-founder of Change Congress said in an interview.

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Durham attorney Kenneth Lewis announced that he had raised $109,513 for a U.S. Senate bid next year.

Lewis has hired Joe Trippi, a veteran national media consultant who most recently had run the presidential campaigns of John Edwards in 2008 and Howard Dean in 2004, reports Rob Christensen. Trippi will be overseeing the launch of Lewis’ online fund raising, Lewis said.

Trippi, in a statement, said Lewis had the life story, and the vision to raise money nationally on line.

Also helping Lewis is Joyce Fitzpatrick, a Raleigh public relations executive and a member of Lewis finance committee.

Lewis began to become known in political circles last year as a fund raiser for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

Lewis, 47, has worked 20 years as a corporate attorney. The grandson of sharecroppers, Lewis graduated from Duke University and Harvard law school. He and his wife and three children live in Chapel Hill.

He is one of a number of Democrats who are looking at challenging Republican Sen. Richard Burr next year. Other include former state Sen. Cal Cunningham and Congressmen Mike McIntyre and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall.

Joe Trippi says North Carolina could be the decider.

In an article in USA Today, the Democratic political consultant says that he believes the state's May 6 primary could be the end of the presidential race.

"I really believe May 6 has the potential to be everything," says Joe Trippi, a strategist for the presidential bids of former North Carolina senator John Edwards this year and Howard Dean in 2004. "Every day you see increased pressure on Hillary Clinton about why she's staying in, and if she could win in North Carolina it would shut down that kind of talk and open up the possibility she could get there" to the nomination.

"But if he wins in North Carolina," Trippi says of Obama, "I think you're going to see things close up very quickly. You'll see a lot of superdelegates line up behind him."

North Carolinians will not get a chance to vote for John Edwards.

State Democratic chairman Jerry Meek excluded the name of Edwards from a list of candidates he submitted Tuesday to the State Board of Elections for the May 6 primary. Democrats included on the ballot are Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former Sen. Mike Gravel, Rob Christensen reports.

Meek, who has discretion on who to include on the ballot, said Monday he would decide whether to include Edwards’ name after conferring with the Edwards campaign.

Edwards, an Orange County resident, suspended his campaign for president last week, after losing the first four contests. Some of his supporters, however, have been urging his backers to vote for Edwards anyway in the remaining primaries.

The absence of Edwards name is another indication that Edwards has given up his campaign. It may also suggest that Edwards did not want to be embarrassed in his home state, which carried in a caucus in 2004.

Joe Trippi, who is Edwards key strategist, said Edwards contemplated dropping out of the presidential race before South Carolina primary, to avoid another embarrassing defeat like he suffered in Nevada, when he won only 4 percent, according to The New Republic magazine.

But Edwards decided to stay in after doing well in the Myrtle Beach debate. Edwards won 18 percent in South Carolina, finishing third.

One of John Edwards' top advisers says his rivals are now seeking an endorsement.

Joe Trippi told a reporter for the Talking Points Memo that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are already trying to get him to endorse them.

"They're banging down the doors," he said.

Trippi also said that he does not expect Edwards to endorse today. 

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards will focus his campaign dollars, staffers and personal visits on 10 of the 22 states coming up in next week’s Super Tuesday primary.

A few other states will see resources in key congressional districts, but overall, Edwards’ campaign strategists want to continue the delegate-gathering journey that they see as their best hope for winning the Democratic presidential nomination, reports Barb Barrett.

“If we can compete (in the 10 focus states) and be viable in the remaining 12 states, than we’re going to have a very good day on Feb. 5,” said David Bonior, Edwards’ campaign manager.

Read more after the jump.

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The John Edwards campaign is asking its supporters to raise $1.8 million between now and the South Carolina primary on January 26th.

"John Edwards is taking his campaign to South Carolina, Nevada—and on to the Democratic Convention, the nomination and the White House," writes Joe Trippi, the chief strategist for the Edwards campaign in an e-mail solicitation on Thursday. "It's a fight we’re going to win—and I'm asking you to help."

MANCHESTER, N.H.—John Edwards campaign strategist Joe Trippi doesn’t see an Edwards-is-out storyline in tonight’s third-place finish.

"Honest to goodness, there are three people in this race, just as there was in Iowa," Trippi told reporters.
"We're now in the process where we’re going to South Carolina," he said. "The local media are going to see the campaign is three people."

Trippi doesn't think money will be an issue for Edwards, saying he was outspent four-to-one in New Hampshire, six-to-one in Iowa. "Look, that’s the whole point: We didn't have money in Iowa, and we beat (Clinton)," he said. "It's about message. If you have the message you can beat these people."

The real story in New Hampshire, he said, is simple: Is Clinton dead or not?

"Y'know, here we find out, (she's) still alive," Trippi said. "But that's about all you find out. Then you go on to the next page."

Edwards lands in South Carolina next. He has a rally in Clemson scheduled for noon Wednesday.

The Edwards campaign has been saying they’re on a marathon—not a sprint—to round up delegates. Senior strategist Joe Trippi predicts the numbers will fall out this way after tonight in New Hampshire:

Barack Obama, 22 delegates
Hillary Clinton, 21 delegates
John Edwards, 17 delegates

The conventional wisdom may be that John Edwards didn't get the results he needed in Iowa.

But the Edwards folks say their fundraising doesn't reflect that.

The campaign says that contributions over the Internet have been pouring in since Edwards' second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses yesterday.

The campaign did not provide specific figures, but Joe Trippi, Edwards' senior strategist, said in a statement that the campaign was on track to its "best online fundraising day ever."

The campaign said that half of those who have contributed are first-time donors and that more than 92 percent of the online contributions are for amounts less than $100.