Schumer: Hagan's on fire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate's chief political Democrat puts the North Carolina race at a mid-tier level on his ranking of winnable seats in November.

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, called Kay Hagan a good challenger, but the race is close, he told Dome Wednesday.

Schumer put North Carolina on par with other senatorial races he called “even or close” in states such as Oregon, Minnesota, Mississippi, Kentucky and Maine, Barb Barrett reports.

That mirrors the predictions of other political punditry outfits such as the Cook Political Report, which recently shifted North Carolina into the "leans Republican" category and away from "likely Republican."

Polls in recent months showed Hagan gaining on incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole, then slipping after Dole launched a major advertising blitz, then holding steady double-digits short of the Republican.

More after the jump.

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Schumer confirmed the DSCC has committed millions of dollars to advertising for Hagan and said the organization is setting up an "extensive" on-the-ground field network of staff on Hagan's behalf.

"That shows our commitment," Schumer said. He would not go into further details.

Hagan may benefit, though, because of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, who has done well in southern states because of their large African-American populations. Schumer listed North Carolina as one of the states in which Obama helps the party’s candidate.

And he praised Hagan.

"Kay Hagan's on fire," Schumer said. "She's doing great. That's a seat we’re real strong in."

And even though North Carolina isn't a state in which Democrats are ahead, Schumer made a prediction about Hagan: "She's going to win," he said.

Clarification: An earlier version of this post left out a May shift from "solid Republican" to "likely Republican" by the Cook report. It also misstated recent polling numbers.