Young: Party is neutral in primary

David Young is staying neutral in the Senate race.

The chair of the N.C. Democratic Party relayed his concern to Dome that we were misinterpreting his recent statements that he thinks U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler "would be a fantastic candidate."

We had linked to the comments while noting that local and national Democrats were pressuring Shuler to run.

In an e-mail to Dome, Democratic staffer Jerimee Richir said that he's not taking a stance and would happily support dark-horse candidates Cal Cunningham and Kenneth Lewis.

"David Young feels that Cunningham and Lewis would be great Senators," Richir wrote. "He also reemphasized that the NCDP is neutral in primaries."