Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan's criticized Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole's support for privatizing Social Security today, saying the current market crisis would have placed the program in jeopardy.

"I'm absolutely opposed to privatization," Hagan said at a news conference at state Democratic headquarters Wednesday. "Elizabeth Dole campaigned on privatization of Social Security in 2002. George Bush took her on the road with him in 2005 to show that you can campaign for privatization of Social Security and actually win."

Hagan raised the issue at a time when the stock market has been in free fall and people are worried about the declining value of their retirement savings.  There are 1.6 million Social Security recipients in North Carolina, a powerful voting bloc, Rob Christensen reports.

"Where would we be in the last two weeks if Social Security had been privatized?" said Jerry Cooper, executive director of the N.C. Assisted Living Association, who appeared with Hagan.

The Dole campaign Wednesday accused Hagan of "lying to scare seniors" and said it was a campaign tactic that Democrats used nearly every election.

More after the jump.

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U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole criticized Democratic rival Kay Hagan's record on illegal immigration at an N.C. Bar Association debate in Atlantic Beach on June 21, 2008.

What she said: "My opponent has voted to make it easier for illegal immigrants to get North Carolina driver's licenses."

The background: In an effort to encourage illegal immigrants to get car insurance, the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles decided in 1998 that applicants establishing residency for a driver's license could submit a broad range of forms of identification, including papers issued by the Mexican government.

The looser standards led to reports that immigrants from other states were getting North Carolina IDs, then using those to get licenses back home.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, concerns about fraud and national security led state lawmakers to toughen standards for driver's licenses. Republican legislators sponsored bills that would have required a Social Security number, making getting a license impossible for illegal immigrants.

But Democratic leaders in the state Senate sent those bills to die in committee, so neither Hagan nor any other senator voted on them. Instead, they opted to require applicants provide either a Social Security number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which is given to all U.S. workers regardless of immigration status.

The measure, which Hagan supported, did not make it impossible for illegal immigrants to get a license, though it did make it more difficult. Over the following four years, the number of licenses issued without proof of citizenship dropped by roughly half.

Measures to toughen standards further also died in committee over the next several years. Then, in 2006, the legislature ordered the DMV to stop accepting taxpayer ID numbers, essentially making it impossible for illegal immigrants to get a license. Hagan supported that measure as well.

A Dole spokesman, Hogan Gidley, argued that the state Senate should have adopted the tougher standards earlier, and said it was still easier to get a driver's license in North Carolina than in other states after the 2001 vote.

"Social Security numbers should be the standard, and anything less than that is making it easier," he said.

Is the claim true? No. In 2001, Hagan voted to make it harder for illegal immigrants to get licenses, and in 2006 she voted to make it impossible. It's fair to say that Senate Democrats — Hagan included — could have backed stronger standards, but that's not the same thing as voting to "make it easier."

As many as 221,000 illegal immigrants got driver's licenses between 2002 and 2006.

Between Jan. 1, 2002, and Aug. 23, 2006, the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles required either a Social Security number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which is issued to all U.S. workers regardless of immigration status.

Not all residents applying with taxpayer ID numbers were illegal immigrants, but the number of taxpayer ID-backed licenses is the best approximation since the DMV does not track immigration status.

Here are the numbers of licenses issued with taxpayer IDs:

2002: 41,881
2003: 73,926
2004: 50,555
2005: 34,888
2006: 19,732

The number of licenses issued under the 2002-2006 standards is thus a little more than half the number issued under the looser standards in place from 1997 to 2001, but substantially more than it would have been if the stricter standards had been adopted sooner.

Before 2007, North Carolina licenses were valid for five years, so the 2002 licenses have already expired. Since the legislature did not recall old licenses when it got rid of the taxpayer ID number, there are roughly 140,000 licenses issued under the old standards still in use.

The last of those licenses will expire in August of 2011.

Previously: What did Kay Hagan's 2001 vote do?

Did Kay Hagan's vote in 2001 hurt or help illegal immigrants applying for driver's licenses?

That depends on who you ask. The U.S. Senate candidate has been attacked by groups that oppose illegal immigration for her vote on the provision, but supporters say it actually made it tougher for immigrants to get a license.

The debate began in the late 1990s, when state officials relaxed the standards for driver's licenses in an effort to encourage illegal immigrants to get licenses and car insurance.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, Republican legislators called for the state to stop giving licenses to illegal immigrants. The Democratic leadership responded by tightening requirements, but they stopped short of making it impossible for immigrants to get a license or recalling old licenses.

Activists argue that Hagan's vote for the budget bill — and therefore the measure — helped illegal immigrants get licenses. But former state Sen. Wib Gulley, who helped author the provision, says that's incorrect and unfair.

"It actually tightened the requirements for a license," he told Dome.

More after the jump.

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A brief timeline of N.C. driver's license ID requirements:

Oct. 1, 1997: The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles begins asking applicants for a Social Security number under a law aimed at cracking down on deadbeat parents. Applicants without an SSN, including illegal immigrants, are not turned away, however.

August 1998: Under an internal policy, the DMV begins accepting the matricula consular, the servicio militar nacional and the credencial para votar, three forms of identification issued by the Mexican government.

Jan. 1, 2002: The DMV begins accepting the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, a federal ID number issued to all workers in the U.S. regardless of immigration status, as a form of identification under a provision in the state budget.

Feb. 2, 2004: Under an internal policy change pushed by Operation Stop Fraud, the DMV stops accepting the matricula consular and other foreign-issued papers as a form of identification. The matricula consular is still accepted as proof of residency, however.

Aug. 23, 2006: The DMV stops accepting taxpayer ID numbers under a provision in an omnibus technical corrections bill.

SOURCE: Division of Motor Vehicles

Mort Kondracke thinks there is a political opening in the Washington, D.C., right now.

Speaking at a North Carolina Chamber luncheon today, the longtime political reporter and editor of the Roll Call newspaper said that "poisonous partisanship" has rendered the federal government incapable of solving problems with Social Security and Medicare entitlements and the education system.

He said that there is a chance if the nominees are John McCain and Barack Obama — and to a lesser degree Hillary Clinton — to have a "high-level policy debate from the left and the right" in the election.

But he warned that there is a lot of "institutional resistance" to this happening.

"One group that's institutionally opposed to that is the whole industry of politics and political consultants and pollsters and ad people who exist to demonize the opposition," he said. "Negative ads are their stock in trade."

He also said there will be resistance from the media, which he said profits "as much from peddling conflict and scandal as it does just reporting the news."

The N.C. Association of Educators and the National Education Association have sent a mailer attacking Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Moore, Ben Niolet reports.

What the mailer says: "Important message for NCAE retirees. Just the facts: Has Richard Moore really managed our pension fund responsibly? Here are the facts. Fact: Hardworking teachers and state employees regularly contribute money to the pension fund creating a large surplus that Richard Moore inherited when he became State Treasurer. However, in the last four years, Moore has lagged behind his peers in pension management performance. Fact: Richard Moore has not provided the General Assembly with state-mandated reports detailing the performance of the money managers he hires. When asked for the reports, Moore said they were unavailable. Fact: Richard Moore supported cuts to federal entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and military retirement."

The background: Teachers and other state and local employees contribute 6 percent of their paychecks to the state pension fund, a $77 billion fund that Moore oversees. In 2006, employee contributions were $745 million, according to the Treasurer's Office.

The pension fund earned $5.7 billion that year on its investments and had to pay $2.7 billion in benefits. So the employees' contributions would not have even covered the amount the fund owed retirees that year.

The claim that Moore has lagged behind in pension management is based on information compiled by Wilshire Associates, an investment firm. The state's pension fund has not always done as well as others. For example, in 2007, the fund had an 8.3 percent return rate, which was lower than the median rate of 8.7 percent for funds of similar size. Moore has said his goal as treasurer is steady income and not home-run investments.

The fund is required by law to invest 37 percent of its assets in fixed-income investments, which offer slow but steady growth, a Moore spokeswoman said. The chart included on the mailer shows that in one of the four years, the state pension fund performed the same as other state pension systems.

The claim that Moore has not provided reports to the legislature was based on a line from a March article in Forbes magazine that was harshly critical of Moore. According to Moore's office and the legislature's Fiscal Research Division, Moore's office has been in compliance with its reporting requirements. The division was able to provide copies of some of those reports Wednesday. A year's worth of those reports are available on the treasurer's Web site.

The claim about Moore supporting cuts to entitlement programs is based on a response by Moore to a News & Observer questionnaire when Moore ran for Congress in 1994. The newspaper asked, "The 10 largest entitlement programs are Social Security, Medicare, deposit insurance, Medicaid, federal civilian retirement, unemployment compensation, federal military retirement, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income and Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Which, if any, of those programs, would you support cutting to help reduce the federal budget deficit?"

He answered: "I think that I would support on a case by case basis cuts in any and all of those programs. If the way those programs were implemented does not make common sense and are not achieving the goals that they were specifically set up for, they should be changed. As an example, food stamps do not seem to be achieving — at least to a certain percentage of our population — the goals they were set up for. As a former federal prosecutor, I know there is a tremendous amount of fraud. In today's computerization, the concept of a coupon or a stamp may be obsolete and could result in tremendous cost savings."

Is the ad accurate? Not entirely. Employee contributions are a relatively small fraction of what the pension fund earns and did not create a surplus in the fund. In three of the past four years, the pension fund has not performed as well as other similarly sized funds. The claim that Moore has not provided state-mandated reports is false. And in 1994, he did say he supported cuts to entitlement programs if those programs were not working.

U.S. Rep. David Price says earmarks have gotten a bad rap.

In a speech before the Cary Chamber of Commerce this morning, the Chapel Hill Democrat said the recent debate over Congressional earmarks has blown them out of proportion.

Price said the total amount of money spent on earmarked projects is about 1 percent of the federal budget. The bigger problems with spending are the Iraq war, Medicare and Social Security, he said.

A professor of political science, Price argued that the U.S. Constitution clearly gives Congress "the power of the purse," including the right to direct spending. He cited several local projects, including a town water reclamation facility, that were needed.

The issue with earmarks is not spending, since most of the money would be appropriated anyway, he said. Instead, he said, it has been a lack of transparency and "road to nowhere" projects that were not worthy.

Still, he said, there is "a fair amount of exaggeration" about earmarks.

"This earmark process has become kind of a bugaboo and it's going to figure in some of the campaigns," he said. "Everybody should take a deep breath."

Richard Moore proposed an economic stimulus package.

At a press conference this morning, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate called for property tax relief for senior citizens, reducing the waiting list for day care subsidies, cutting small business taxes and tying the minimum wage to inflation.

He noted that pension plans and Social Security already provide cost of living adjustments based on inflation. He estimated that the minimum wage would go up a dollar during the next governor's four years in office.

"All you've got to do is go to projected four-dollar a gallon gas to understand why," he said.

He also pledged that the state would pay for two years of community college for all high school graduates, though not for students who drop out and get a general equivalency diploma, or G.E.D.

"I shudder to think that any high school student in North Carolina does not take the next step to continue their education," he said.

He said that the proposal would cost around $50 million and would be paid for using interest earnings from Golden LEAF Foundation.

Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue each took a quick jab.

At the UNC-TV debate tonight, Moore argued that the Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission has a spotty record, especially on teen smoking.

"It's been a hit and miss on a lot of different small programs," he said. "It's kind of hard to say that we really have made any substantive improvement."

That echoes Moore's recent attacks on government commissions, which he says are wasteful. 

Perdue serves on the commission and chaired a task force on health run in part by it.

Later, Perdue turned the tables, noting that Moore said during his unsuccessful 1994 Congressional run that he would consider cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid funding to balance the budget.

"If you do that, then the seniors who are moving into this state, certainly have many more challenges than they would otherwise have," she said.

After the jump, what Moore said in 1994.

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