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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A recent poll shows a tight race for Senate in 2010.

The survey by Research 2000 for the liberal Web site Daily Kos shows Republican Sen. Richard Burr with 45 percent support and Attorney General Roy Cooper with 43 percent. Twelve percent were undecided.

Cooper, a Democrat, is considered a front runner for the Democratic nomination for Senate.

The pollsters also found that Burr had 46 percent support when matched with former state Treasurer Richard Moore, another potential candidate, who had 40 percent.

"Unsurprisingly, Moore's numbers aren't quite as strong as Cooper's — while Cooper was handily reelected as Attorney General in 2008, Moore suffered a loss in a rather acrimonious primary for Governor," writes a Daily Kos blogger.

Neither Moore nor Cooper have said whether they would run. Another potential candidate, Democratic Congressman Heath Shuler, was not included in the poll.

The survey of 600 likely voters was taken from Jan. 5-7. The margin of error is plus or minus four percentage points.

The Senate race may be tightening.

According to a recent survey by Research 2000 for the liberal Web site the Daily Kos, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole had 50 percent support, while Democratic rival Kay Hagan had 42 percent.

Eight percent were undecided. 

Blogger Markos Moulitsas Zûniga writes that Dole is right at the 50 percent mark "considered 'safe,'" though he doubts she can "just slack off."

The results are a little closer than other recent polls, which have generally shown Dole with a double-digit lead.

The survey of 600 likely voters was taken July 28-30. It has a margin of error of four percentage points.  

Public Policy Polling had the best numbers on the presidential race.

According to a "pollster report card" by rival SurveyUSA, the Raleigh-based Democratic firm came the closest to the actual 56-42 win by Barack Obama.

Public Policy Polling had predicted a 53-43 win, the closest any pollster came to Obama's percentage, though several other companies came closer on the margin of victory. (Civitas predicted an 18-point margin, but its numbers were much older.)

Under SurveyUSA's ranking system, which eludes our complete understanding, Public Policy Polling came out on top among 10 pollsters working on the North Carolina primary.

It beat out Zogby International, Rasmussen Reports and Research 2000 for the honor. 

Barack Obama has just a 7-point lead in North Carolina.

In a recent poll, the Democratic presidential candidate had 51 percent of the vote, followed by Hillary Clinton at 44 percent, 2 percent another candidate and 3 percent were undecided.

Among black voters, 88 percent supported Obama; 5 percent, Clinton; 3 percent, another candidate; and 4 percent undecided.

Among white voters, 66 percent supported Clinton; 30 percent, Obama; 2 percent, another candidate; and 2 percent were undecided.

The statewide poll of 500 likely Democratic voters was conducted April 29-30 in North Carolina by Research 2000 for McClatchy Newspapers and MSNBC.

The margin of error is 4.5 percentage points.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has a 7-point lead over state Sen. Kay Hagan.

That's according to a poll by Maryland-based Research 2000 for the Daily Kos, a liberal Web site. The poll of 600 likely voters was conducted from Dec. 16-18.

It showed Dole winning 46 percent to Hagan's 39 percent if the election were held today.

In a separate question, Dole beat Chapel Hill investment banker Jim Neal 47 to 37 percent.

Blogger Markos Moulitsas Zúniga writes that Dole's showing against two Democrats with low name recognition shows North Carolinians "aren't sold on a second term."

"No matter who emerges from the Democratic primary, this is going to be a real race," he writes. 

The margin of error was 4 percentage points.