Republican wins Edwards' N.C. Senate seat

Associated Press

Nov 2, 2004 | Republican Rep. Richard Burr, long an underdog in his race against Clinton aide Erskine Bowles, rode a late torrent of political commercials Tuesday to win the North Carolina Senate seat vacated by John Edwards.

The victory gave the Republicans a Senate sweep in the Carolinas. GOP Rep. Jim DeMint won in South Carolina on Tuesday to capture Democrat-held seat there.

Burr, 48-year-old five-term congressman, trailed Bowles by up to 10 points for several months, but the congressman made a comeback by repeatedly touting his role in negotiating a $10 billion payout from the federal government to tobacco growers. He also ran a flood of ads linking his opponent to former President Clinton, who is not well-liked in North Carolina.

Burr's conservative values have made him a key ally of the Bush administration, which encouraged him to run for Senate and rewarded him with visits by the president, his father, and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Meanwhile, Bowles had to distance himself from national Democrats in this right-leaning state. He shunned Kerry-Edwards rallies in his home state and did not attend the party's national convention in Boston.

Bowles, 59, was soundly defeated by Elizabeth Dole in his first run for the Senate two years ago, but he returned after Edwards launched his White House bid.

Bowles ran a centrist campaign against Burr, supporting such GOP issues as the war in Iraq and making Bush's tax cuts permanent. He also took credit for the tobacco buyout's passage, citing a recent trip to Washington to lobby two dozen Democratic senators to vote for it. The buyout is hugely important in rural eastern North Carolina.

The race was likely to exceed more than $20 million in spending by both candidates, with millions more spent by third-party groups.

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