A new newspaper endorsement is a good news, bad news thing for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

On the bright side, the endorsement notes that "she's remained a fiscal conservative, in touch with her constituents," and focused on tobacco buyouts, immigration, military bases and other issues.

On the downside, it's from the conservative Washington Times — as in Washington, D.C., not Washington, N.C.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee immediately pounced, noting that Democrat Kay Hagan has received the endorsement of 11 state newspapers, including ones in Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, and Wilmington.

"North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan’s unanimous streak of newspaper endorsements finally came to an end today as Elizabeth Dole’s hometown newspaper, the Washington, D.C.-based Washington Times, became the first major newspaper to endorse her re-election," noted spokesman Matthew Miller, tongue in cheek.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee says it is not playing the age card.

In an e-mail to Dome, spokesman Matthew Miller said that a new TV ad featuring two old men in rocking chairs talking about whether U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is "93" or "92" is not intended to remind voters of the Republican senator's age.

"It's not that Elizabeth Dole is too old, it's that after 40 years in Washington she's too ineffective," he writes. "Dole should remember her own words from two years ago, when she said that voters should elect a candidate with 'fresh leadership' over one who'd been in government for 40 years."

Miller was referring to Dole's Nov. 5, 2006, appearance on "Meet the Press," when she argued that Maryland voters should support Lt. Gov. Michael Steele over the Democrat, a longtime Congressman.

"You look in Maryland and you’ve got a fresh leadership here in Michael Steele in terms of wanting to really shake up Washington," she said, according to an official transcript. "And his opponent, Ben Cardin, has been in government for 40 years."

Correction: An earlier version of the post misstated the Maryland opponent's position. 

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is reserving major ad time in North Carolina.

The national group's ad buyer, Great American Media, has reserved several hundred thousand dollars of air time on behalf of Democratic candidate Kay Hagan at Raleigh TV station WRAL starting in mid-September and running through the November election.

The committee is also reportedly reserving time at stations across the state, potentially spending as much as $5 or $6 million.

DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller would neither confirm nor deny the amount, citing an official policy against discussing potential ad buys, but he said they are bullish on Hagan's chances against incumbent Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole. 

"We think Kay Hagan has run a strong campaign and is in a strong position to win," he said.

In recent weeks, the Dole campaign has called on Hagan to reject outside advertising, though Dole ran the DSCC's Republican counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, from 2005 to 2007.

The outside spending would more than offset Dole's fundraising advantage. According to recent campaign finance reports, the Dole campaign had $2.7 million in cash to spend on the fall race, while Hagan had $1.2 million.

Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said that the campaign was not aware of the potential ad buys.

What did national Democrats' polls find on Sen. Elizabeth Dole?

That question was put to Dome by some of our Republican readers, who find the three polls on her approval rating released publicly so far to be less than credible. (Democrats felt likewise about Dole's own poll.)

All right, the readers challenged. If the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sees Dole's seat as a potential pickup in 2008, then surely it has polled North Carolinians. If it found low approval ratings, it surely would have trumpeted them.

Their logic recalls the famous Sherlock Holmes' story about the dog that didn't bark.

So we put it to DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller. He wouldn't comment on whether the group has done any polling on Dole, but he said it wouldn't necessarily release it if it had.

"All of the polls I've seen put her approval rating in the 40s," he said. "They can come up with any type of explanation they want to spin it away, but the numbers are the numbers."

In other words, the dog may not bark, but he says it don't hunt either.