I am writing about all the competitive senate races. These diaries will be updated on Yahoo! as I hear about new material. I have articles about:
AK-Sen
AR-Sen
CO-Sen
GA-Sen
IA-Sen
KY-Sen
LA-Sen
MI-Sen
MT-Sen
NH-Sen
NC-Sen
SD-Sen
For what I have on North Carolina, as of April 12, follow me below.
North Carolina politics
In elections for President, North Carolina has been a swing state. In 2012, Romney beat Obama 50-48, but in 2008, Obama beat McCain in a very close race.
Statewide, Hagan beat Elizabeth Dole 53-44 in 2008. North Carolina's other senator is Republican Richard Burr. Its governor, Pat McCrory, is a Republican, as are 9 of its 13 representatives in the House.
The Senate race
The Democratic Primary
There will be a Democratic primary on May 6, but Kay Hagan is virtually certain to win. On the Issues calls her a "moderate liberal populist". She is pro-choice, is a fiscal moderate, is strong against discrimination, is moderately pro-labor, moderately pro-environment, against gun control measures, favors ObamaCare but wants to fix it, favors the Patriot Act.
The Republican primary
On the Republican side, no less than 8 candidates are contesting the primary. The leader in polls is Thom Tillis, with Greg Bannon and Heather Grant his closest competitors. Tillis is the speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Bannon is a Tea Party activist, Grant is a nurse.
A new poll from PPP finds Tillis with a small lead in the primary, which will likely head for a runoff. (18% for Tillis, 15% for Brannon, 11% for Harris, others trailing)
The polls:
Recent polls show a very close race between Hagan and any of the top Republican challengers.
April 3 - A Survey USA poll shows Hagan trailing the top Republican challengers by 1 or 2 points each
April 8 - A PPP poll found Hagan trailing most challengers by 1 to 4 points, but leading by 1 against Tillis
Fundraising
According to the FEC, at the end of 2013 Hagan had raised $7.6 million and had $6.8 million cash on hand; Bannon had not filed, Grant had raised very little and Tillis had raised $1.8 million and had $1.3 million cash on hand
April 8 - in the 1st quarter, Hagan raised $2.8 million and has $7.5 million on hand, Tills raised $1.3 million and had $1 million on hand.
My take
Hagan has a huge fundraising edge; the race seems to be more about her than her opponent, given that the polls show almost identical results against different Republicans. The race may depend on whether the Republicans damage each other in the primary.