Secretary of State Elaine Marshall has assembled a veteran team of political consultants to help her in her bid for the U.S. Senate.

Her pollster is Celinda Lake of Washington, who has worked for candidates ranging from former President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Harvey Gantt's 1996 Senate campaign, Rob Christensen reports. Lake, who is regarded as expert in framing in issues for women, also worked for Marshall's unsuccessful 2002 Senate campaign.

Her media consultant is Doc Sweitzer of Philadelphia, whose clients have included Al Gore' 1988 presidential campaign and New Jersey Governor Jim Florio's race. He has extensive experience in working for North Carolina Democrats including state Treasurer Richard Moore and Congressmen Robin Britt, Bill Hefner, Martin Lancaster, Brad Miller and Steve Neal.

Marshall's general consultant is Thomas Mills of Chapel Hill, who has worked for the Kerry-Edwards campaign, for Congressman Larry Kissell and Eva Clayton and Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy among other candidates.

Marshall is one of two Democrats who have announced for the seat held by Republican Sen. Richard Burr. Lawyer Kenneth Lewis has also announced his candidacy.

In politics, there are an infinate number of stops before you reach a "yes" or "no."

How else to interpret the words of a campaign strategist about Secretary of State Elaine Marshall's current stance on running for U.S. Senate next year against Sen. Richard Burr?

Marshall is "pretty seriously leaning towards" running, strategist Thomas Mills told CQ Politics.

That's an absolute possibly.

"She's gotten very strong feedback both in state and in Washington," Mills told CQ Politics.

The squishy certainty comes as U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, a potential brand name candidate, decided not to run against Burr. And CQ is at least the second Washington-based publication that has carried gelatinously concrete thinking about running from Marshall.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, are you getting all this?

* Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin is urging legislators to reject bills that would shelve increases in homeowners insurance premiums.

* North Carolina native Brad Woodhouse will leave a labor-backed group to head communications and research for the Democratic National Committee.

* Democratic pollster finds 69 percent support, 13 percent oppose two-track sex education bill in survey of 1,020 voters from Feb. 13-15.

* Political consultant Thomas Mills reveals how an independent expenditure campaign for the SEIU helped Beverly Perdue win in the mountains.

Thomas Mills points out the dog that didn't bark.

In a guest editorial in the N&O today, the Democratic political consultant notes labor's big stories in North Carolina this year: the State Employees Association of N.C. joining SEIU, workers at a Tar Heel hog processor voting to unionize and ads attacking Sen.-elect Kay Hagan for supporting card check.

The response was as remarkable as the victories themselves. The news media basically shrugged. Both events got ample and fair coverage, but there was little editorializing and no big stories. The general public took little notice. Even Smithfield executives struck a conciliatory tone, calling the election in Tar Heel fair and saying they look forward to working together.

During the race between Hagan and Dole, anti-union groups barraged voters with phone calls and mailings warning them that Hagan's election would usher in a new age of unionism that would threaten the economy and workers' independence. Hagan beat Dole by over 8 percentage points, indicating that voters either didn't believe it or, more significantly, didn't care.

Mills, whose firm has represented SEIU, said that the lack of a strong reaction against unions is a sign that public opinion is shifting here.