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Trade agreement may have been good for U.S. but hasn't helped N.C., he says U.S. Rep. Richard Burr filed yesterday to run for a new office, the U.S. Senate, saying that he has changed his mind about NAFTA, a trade agreement he once supported and has criticized Democrat Erskine Bowles for supporting. "I actually wasn't in Congress when we passed NAFTA, but I said in 1994 had I been there I would have voted for it," said Burr, R-5th, who filed to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. John Edwards. Like Bowles, who lobbied for the...

U.S. Rep. Richard Burr's decision to seek the U.S. Senate seat of John Edwards may have some Piedmont Triad voters remembering the 1970s television comedy "Eight is Enough." With the primary election more than three months away and the general election seven months off, eight candidates are already in a messy tussle for the Republican nomination for Burr's 5th Congressional District seat. They include current and former state legislators and a black conservative activist. There's also a soy supplement executive and the scion of the Broyhill furniture family. Though most campaigns only heat up in the final weeks before a...

CURRITUCK — Citing jobs as the number one issue facing North Carolina, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Richard Burr told an audience of Camden and Currituck Republicans Tuesday night that the state must do a better job utilizing its assets if it's to compete for economic development. Burr, a congressman who represents North Carolina's 5th District, also briefly discussed the U.S. Navy's plans to build a practice landing field in Washington County. Burr said state officials are preparing to propose an alternative site to the Navy for the airfield, which is also known as an outlying landing field. In a meeting...

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...

Former N.C. Rep. Dan Blue, a 2002 Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, said he will meet with advisors today to decide if he should make another bid for the Senate this year. Blue, 54, who would be running against his former 2002 primary opponent Erskine Bowles, said he would make an announcement about his candidacy before the candidate filing period begins Feb. 9. Both would be vying for the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. "I have no particular date to announce, but I know time is running short," Blue said from his residence in Raleigh. Blue, an...

PINK HILL - Say hello to Erskine Bowles version 2.0. The Charlotte investment banker, former Clinton White House chief of staff and 2004 U.S. Senate candidate stopped in the Smith community in northern Duplin County on Thursday to meet and greet voters and supporters. "They're going to promise us a lot of things," said 68-year-old Doris Hatcher, a staunch Democrat from Chinquapin. "I just hope they come through on most of them." Bowles built largely on the same platform he used during his miss at the Senate in 2002 when he ran against Elizabeth Dole. A must-have federal tobacco buyout...

''I have never been so excited about a campaign.'' That was the declaration of Erskine Bowles, once again a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, before the NC Black Leadership Caucus (NCBLC) two weeks ago. Obviously buoyed by early polls that give him a double-digit lead over probable GOP opponent Congressman Richard Burr, Bowles came before NCBLC, at their invitation, with enthusiasm and promises to represent the black community's interests if elected this time. ''I do think we are going to win,'' the Charlotte investment banker and former Clinton White House chief of staff said emphatically. But to do that, Bowles admitted...

Will former NC Speaker of the House Dan Blue once again mount a vigorous campaign against Democratic rival Erskine Bowles for the U.S. Senate? After months of speculation, the answer will come the week of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, Blue told The Carolinian exclusively Tuesday night. ''I think that's an appropriate time to announce my decision,'' Blue said, noting the significance of the state and federal holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader. ''I am closer to a [final] decision.'' What that ''final decision'' is Blue won’t publicly reveal now, but there's no question the Bowles camp is...

Chinese textile imports became a larger issue in the North Carolina Senate race Wednesday, as the Bush administration nears a decision on whether to issue trade sanctions against the Chinese government. Democratic Senate candidate Erskine Bowles called on the administration to impose the "special safeguard" provision next week, and suggested that Republican Congressman Richard Burr had not been forceful in lobbying his White House ally. Burr, the GOP Senate frontrunner, flew from Washington, D.C., on Air Force One to attend a fund-raiser with the president in Winston-Salem last week. But Burr, one of more than 150 members of Congress to...

BLUE STATERDemocrats in North Carolina breathed a sigh of relief when Sen. John Edwards finally backed out of a re-election race that would have taken the back seat to his presidential (or vice presidential) aspirations. His retirement, as it were, opened the door to Erskine Bowles, the former Clinton chief of staff who has already run for the Senate once and lost once to Elizabeth Dole. Bowles was the state Democratic Party’s pick to run for the seat, in part because it believes Bowles has the personal financial wherewithal and the fundraising connections nationally to make it a competitive race...

Bowles to run for U.S. Senate To enter race to fill Edwards' seat Charlotte investment banker Erskine Bowles plans to announce his entry into the U.S. Senate race Thursday, The Observer has learned. Bowles, a former White House Chief of Staff, is poised to join the race for the seat now held by fellow Democrat John Edwards. Edwards said this month he would not seek re-election and concentrate instead on his run for the presidency. Bowles ran in 2002 but lost to Republican Elizabeth Dole. It's unclear whether he'll have a primary challenge. Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Burr of Winston-Salem...

Posted on Wed, Sep. 10, 2003 Senate hopeful has GOP support Party rallies around U.S. Rep. Richard Burr for 2004 campaign MARK JOHNSON Raleigh Bureau It was Richard Burr's turn, until the White House stepped in. U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, a Republican, was retiring. Burr, a handsome and energetic GOP congressman, had been eyeing a Senate seat, even passing on the governor's race two years earlier. Very quickly after Helms' announcement, though, political operatives at the Bush White House indicated their preferred candidate for the 2002 election was Elizabeth Dole, who went on to win in November. "It was clear,...

Tuesday, September 9, 2003 7:08AM EDT Blue-Bowles contest looms Edwards' Senate seat up for grabs By ROB CHRISTENSEN, Staff Writer With Sen. John Edwards not seeking re-election, North Carolina's Senate Democratic primary next year could, in the immortal words of Yankee great Yogi Berra, be deja vu all over again. Two big-name Democrats, who battled for 11 months during last year's Senate race -- former state House Speaker Dan Blue of Raleigh and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles of Charlotte -- are considering a rematch No other major Democratic names have surfaced as potential candidates for the...

North Carolina. Democratic Sen. John Edwards is expected to announce within two weeks that he will not run for re-election to the Senate so that he can focus on his struggling White House bid. Last week, former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt (D), a key Edwards supporter, predicted Edwards would drop out of the Senate race when he officially declares his candidacy for president Sept. 16, in his hometown of Robbins, N.C. Several Democrats may run if Edwards opts not to seek a second Senate term. They include former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, who lost to GOP...

Wednesday, July 16, 2003 12:00AM EDT UNDER THE DOME -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Burr's coffers filling By ROB CHRISTENSEN, Staff Writer While the Democrats are uncertain about who will run for the Senate next year, Republican Richard Burr is building up a fat Senate campaign fund. Burr, a five-term congressman from Winston-Salem, has amassed $3.4 million for next year's race for the Senate seat held by Democrat John Edwards. The amount is one of the largest collected by a North Carolina Senate candidate in recent years. Republican Sen. Lauch Faircloth had only $712,181 in his campaign fund during a comparable period before his...

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH -- Warren Gentry was among the dozens of beach- goers who greeted U.S. Sen. John Edwards warmly here Friday and wished him well on his White House bid. But after the North Carolina Democrat and his entourage had moved down the strand on his annual beach walk, Gentry, a film producer from Raleigh, said he hoped Edwards would soon decide what to do about his Senate seat, which is also on the ballot in 2004. "That's a very important thing for him to do," said Gentry, who voted for Edwards in 1998. "That could be the downside, if...

Burr bid receives a boost As Democrats wait to see whether U.S. Sen. John Edwards will seek his Senate seat in addition to his run for the White House, Republican Richard Burr's Senate campaign is gaining steam. In fact, two fund-raisers who helped Democrat Erskine Bowles in last year's Senate race have now agreed to aid Burr's campaign. On Monday, James Hance, Bank of America's chief financial officer, co-hosted a fund-raiser for Burr's campaign. And this weekend, R.V. Owens, a restaurant owner on the Outer Banks, will host one as well. While the two influential figures are joining forces with...

Today Charlotte banker Jim Hance co-hosts an uptown fund-raiser for Republican Richard Burr's U.S. Senate campaign. On Saturday, Outer Banks restaurateur R.V. Owens hosts another in Nags Head. For Burr, the two men are prize catches. For Democrats, they could be costly defections. Both raised money for last year's Democratic Senate nominee, Erskine Bowles. And both represent what some Democrats say is the risk in U.S. Sen. John Edwards' decision to keep his re-election options open even as he mounts an aggressive campaign for president. Edwards is walking a high-stakes tightrope between a presidential run still trying to get traction...

Congressman eyes seat in U.S. SenateBy NED B. HUNTER, Rocky Mount Telegram U.S. Rep. Richard Burr officially has filed as a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Burr, R-5th District, filed a statement of candidacy for the Senate on March 3 with the Secretary of the Senate in the Office of Public Information in the Senate, which forwarded the filing to the Federal Elections Commission the same day. "I have done everything short of making a formal announcement," Burr told a Telegram reporter on Tuesday. "I have even closed my House (campaign finance) account." Raymond Davis, a campaign specialist in the...

RALEIGH -- The "Edwards for President" signs and bumper stickers were a dead giveaway. Not only did Sen. John Edwards bypass the biggest hometown political gathering of the year to campaign Saturday in the early primary state of New Hampshire. But his aides distributed literature touting his presidential efforts, not his re-election campaign. In some ways, the 400 North Carolina Democrats who gathered for the annual Jefferson-Jackson Day fund-raising dinner seemed to begin moving beyond Edwards. The buzz in the hallways and ballrooms of the North Raleigh Hilton was more focused on Democratic Gov. Mike Easley's re-election chances and which...