Burr says he'll run on own record, not Bush's, in N.C. Senate bid
By GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer
February 10, 2004 4:04 pm
Posted on 02/13/2004 11:18:46 AM PST by Constitution Day
Burr says he'll run on own record, not Bush's, in N.C. Senate bid
By GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer
February 10, 2004 4:04 pm
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- U.S. Rep. Richard Burr said Tuesday he will run his statewide Senate campaign on his congressional record and not by defending President Bush's policies on the economy or the war on terror.
Burr, the 5th District congressman from Winston-Salem, is the only major Republican seeking the seat being vacated by John Edwards.
"I'm 100 percent confident in the decisions that I've made as I've represented the 5th District," the congressman said while officially opening his campaign headquarters in Winston-Salem.
That doesn't mean Burr wants to avoid President Bush. The White House urged Burr, known as one of the president's leading supporters, to run for the Senate.
"I will not run from this president. I will campaign beside him," he said.
Burr said the president told him in December not to spend all of his time on the campaign trail trying to defend Bush's policies on the war in Iraq and the economy.
"The president is going to be judged by the decisions that he made as he runs through this campaign," Burr said while standing beside his wife, Brooke and his parents at the ribbon-cutting. "And I'm also going to be judged by the way that I've represented the 5th District of North Carolina."
But Burr's current campaign themes sound similar to the president's, pushing economic and physical security.
"I think the state's issues are pretty much mirrored in every congressional district, it's jobs, jobs, jobs," he said. Picking a senator for North Carolina, he said, "deals with security with the large military presence that we have in our state."
Burr will begin his campaign in full force Friday in Marion, the first of nearly 40 towns and cities he'll visit over the next two weeks. The tour was supposed to be capped off by filing his candidacy with the state Board of Elections, but that's been delayed because the primary was pushed backed Monday from May 4 to July 20.
With no major opposition right now for the nomination and flush campaign coffers, Burr doesn't think the delay will be a problem. Erskine Bowles, the leading Democratic candidate for the Edwards' seat, is already well known to North Carolina voters following his loss to Elizabeth Dole for the Senate in 2002.
"It's going to be a long campaign season," he said. "The challenge for me is to get around the state and raise my name recognition."
Burr said he looks forward to discussing issues with the Democratic candidate, whoever it may ultimately be.
"I would welcome as many debates as can be planned," he said.
Democrats have criticized Burr in recent days because he stepped down as vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, following the resignation of the panel's chairman.
They said Burr misled tobacco farmers when he told a growers' meeting he was leaving the post to end perceptions he may block a tobacco buyout through Congress if it included cigarette regulations for the Food and Drug Administration.
"His resignation as vice chairman shows he can't get a buyout done for North Carolina, and is quitting on serving his constituents," state Democratic Party chairwoman Barbara Allen said in a news release.
Burr brushed aside the criticism, saying his departure was for both the buyout and congressional decorum.
"The reality is when the chairman of your committee steps down ... I think the right thing to do is for the vice chairman to step down and allow the new chairman to pick his vice chairman, Burr said. "I find it difficult to catch the stretch that Democrats have made in criticizing doing what I thought was right."
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/state/6-445832.html
Now, you know that was NOT even the point of the article.
Right . . . so where are you getting that?
"I will not run from this president. I will campaign beside him," he said.
I disagree with the "coattails" thing anyway...
- Consistent cosponsor and supporter of legislation to permanently repeal the estate tax and the marriage penalty.- Supporter of legislation that would provide a "date certain" for repeal of the Tax Code and provide for a blue-ribbon commission that would propose alternatives for Congress to consider.
- Supporter of legislation that would require 2/3 votes in the House and Senate to raise taxes.
I sure do like the sound of those items.
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