Raleigh political consultant Mark Stephens is stepping down from his role at the Republican National Committee's chief fundraiser.

Stephens was on RNC chairman Michael Steele's transition team and then headed fund raising from February through May. Steele announced this morning that Rob Bickhart would being as the party's finance chair, Rob Christensen reports.

"I want to thank Mark for coming to Washington and working hard to help put the RNC on a strong financial foundation — raising $23 million during the transition," Steele said in a statement. "He also led our search team to find the RNC a first-class finance director."

Stephens, who learned his politics as part of the late Sen. Jesse Helms' political organization, has been involved in GOP politics for decades.

He played major roles in former Sen. Elizabeth Dole's campaigns and Dole brought him in to serve as executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2006 election cycle.

Tom Fetzer is running for chairman of the North Carolina GOP.

The former Raleigh mayor and longtime political consultant told Dome that he decided to run after learning that former state Sen. Woody White, whom he supported, was dropping out.

"I thought that created a void that needed to be filled, and here I am," he said.

Fetzer has been calling and e-mailing Republican activists today and plans to attend the Nash County Republican convention tonight. He'll be hitting other events between now and the statewide convention in May.

He said that he would help the party focus on its values while bringing new energy to fundraising and party building efforts.

"I think the party needs to return to its roots," he said. "Limited government. Personal responsibilty. Conservative values."

Late last year, Fetzer and longtime business partner Mark Stephens closed their political consulting firm. Since then, Fetzer has done private consulting for several businesses and educational institutions, he said.

A new Republican consulting group is setting up shop.

Chris Sinclair of Public Solutions and Alastair Macaulay of Cornerstone Strategy and Communications announced that they will merge.

The new firm, called Cornerstone Solutions, will be a full-service political consulting, strategic communications and issue management firm in North Carolina.

Sinclair said in an e-mail to Dome that they plan to fill the void left by the retirement of Tom Fetzer and Mark Stephens after the November elections.

"We're the new (Republican) kids on the block," he said.

The two consultants have a lot of experience on the hot-button issue of real estate. Both have helped the N.C. Association of Realtors successfully fend off land transfer taxes nearly two dozen times and another campaign against allowing counties to have the tax.

Alastair is the former political director for the N.C. Home Builders Association.

The firm will have an office in West Palm Beach, Fla., headed by Rick Asnani, and in Raleigh and Washington, D.C.

Ed Rollins says Sen. Elizabeth Dole should be "ashamed" of a new ad.

Speaking on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight," the noted Republican strategist said that a recent ad criticizing Kay Hagan for a fundraiser hosted by an atheist is "desperate." 

"There has been a long history of despicable ads run by Republicans, led by Jesse Helms and his old Congressional Club, which I'm sure is now running Elizabeth Dole's campaign," he told Dobbs.

That's not entirely accurate. Two Helms alumni, Mark Stephens and Tom Fetzer, played a role earlier in the Dole campaign but are now in more minor positions. 

Rollins then speculated that the ad was the handiwork of Charlie Black, a North Carolina native who was also part of the Helms campaign and is now heavily involved in John McCain's presidential campaign.

"My sense is she got desperate, they came down and they did something desperate, which is so despicable and so unlike Elizabeth Dole that she should be ashamed of herself," he said.

There is no evidence that Black was involved in the Godless ad.

One of Raleigh's best known political consulting teams is bailing out of politics.

Former Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer and fellow Republican strategist Mark Stephens plan to seek new ventures after the November election, Fetzer said Tuesday.

"We don't want to do campaigns anymore," said Fetzer. "We're old men and this is a young man's game."

Both men are 53 years old. Fetzer and Stephens are both veterans of a host of Republican campaigns in North Carolina and are currently consultants to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole re-election effort. Fetzer served three terms as Raleigh's mayor in the 1990s.

Stephens was executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which helps orchestrate Republican senate races across the country, during the 2005-2006 election cycle, when Dole was the committee's chair. Republicans lost their majority in the Senate in 2006.

Fetzer and Stephens were consultants to Bill Graham's campaign for governor during the Republican primary, but Graham and the consultants parted ways four months before Graham finished a distant third in the primary.

The two men have not decided whether they will work as a team or go their own ways on future endeavors, Fetzer said.

One of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's top campaign advisors says he has asked the state and national Republican parties, as well as the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to steer clear of advertising in North Carolina's U.S. Senate race.

And he's calling on Jerry Meek, chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party, to do likewise with his Democratic counterparts.

"You can agree to not run advertising targeting Senator Dole during the 2008 election cycle as well as encourage your Senate nominee and national parties to abstain from third party advertisements," Mark Stephens, Dole's chief campaign strategist, said in a letter today to Meek.

Stephens said his letter was a response to a request by Meek that Dole disavow the recent ad by the N.C. Republican Party that links Democratic gubernatorial candidates Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

"Obviously this advertisement was run by a third party organization and has nothing to do with Senator Dole's campaign," Dole's campaign said in a release with Stephens' letter. "However, Senator Dole does want to avoid issues like this from occurring in the U.S. Senate race."

State Democratic Party officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Update: The N.C. Democratic Party released a statement saying that Dole "should stop trying to change the subject and start telling the truth."

The release said that if Dole has the clout to pull together such an agreement within GOP ranks, she "should use that influence to stop the dishonest ad the NCGOP plans to run."
 

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole says she raised $1.1 million in the last quarter of 2007.

The Salisbury Republican announced today that she received contributions from more than 16,000 people in the last three months of 2007, with some giving more than once.

That brings her total fundraising for that year to more than $4.8 million.

"Receiving over 19,000 donations in just 90 days is evidence of the broad based, grass-roots support enjoyed by Elizabeth Dole," said campaign consultant Mark Stephens in a statement.

The final campaign finance reports have not been filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Earlier: State Sen. Kay Hagan says she raised $560,000.

Bill Graham has parted ways with a campaign consultant.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate's new campaign manager, Marty Ryall, issued a statement today saying he would no longer be working with a firm run by former Raleigh mayor Tom Fetzer and Mark Stephens.

"Through a cordial and mutual agreement we are no longer working with Fetzer Stephens," he said in a statement. "We appreciate the work Tom and Mark have done for the campaign and we wish them all the best in the future."

Fetzer Stephens has worked with Graham since 2005, including managing his campaign to cap the state gas tax. Graham paid the firm more than $2.3 million to buy air time, produce ads and give consulting services on that issue before starting his gubernatorial bid.

The firm managed his campaign until mid-December, when he officially hired Ryall, a former adviser to Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

After searching for a challenger to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, Democrats now have two.

State Sen. Kay Hagan is a political veteran who touts her experience and has lined up support among the party's establishment with endorsements from Govs. Mike Easley and Jim Hunt.

Chapel Hill investment banker Jim Neal is a newcomer who has support from party liberals and left-wing blogs in part because of his willingness to discuss his homosexuality.

Some say the primary fight may help raise interest in the Democratic challenger to Dole.

"People in North Carolina already recognize her name," Hagan said. "By being in a primary, it will help me with name recognition across the state. It'll work right into my 11-month plan."

Dole reported having $2.3 million on hand at the end of September. Her consultant, Mark Stephens, said she could raise between $15 and $20 million. (AP)

Bill Graham's Republican rivals disagree with his campaign consultant.

Consultant Mark Stephens was quoted by CQPolitics.com as saying that he's the only "outsider" in the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

But the chief of staff for state Sen. Fred Smith noted that he has had a long career as an Army lawyer, a developer and a businessman.

"Fred Smith went into politics after he worked for years as a successful businessman," said Jonathan Hill.

And former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr said that Graham's campaign was trying to turn attention away from his lack of political experience and his career as a trial lawyer.

"Since Bill has not held any public office or ever run for public office, and thus has no experience in government service, it's not surprising that they would try and turn that into a positive," Orr said.