Sen. Richard Burr is going on the attack against a North Carolina-based polling firm that has been instrumental in creating the impression that Burr is one of the senators most vulnerable to defeat in 2010, Politico reports.

PPP looked at seven potential challengers to Richard Burr last week and found the incumbent leading them all by varying degrees:

-He has an 11 point advantage over Elizabeth Edwards (46-35) and Dan Blue (44-33)

-He has a 13 point lead over Richard Moore (47-34)

-He has a 16 point edge on Bob Etheridge (47-31) and Heath Shuler (44-28)

-He has a 19 point margin over Walter Dalton (48-29)

We also tested Cal Cunningham, providing a two sentence biography of him as part of the question to compensate for his low name recognition, and found him trailing by just eight points (42-34). That’s an important reminder that having a good story to tell is more important for potential challengers to Burr than initial name id, a lesson that was learned well in the laborious Democratic recruitment saga of 2008 that ended up with a winner in Kay Hagan.

This is also an appropriate spot for a reminder that when we tested Mike McIntyre against Burr last month he trailed by just five points.

All of these potential candidates hold Burr under the 50% mark generally considered safe for an incumbent.

There is some good news for Burr in the numbers. He holds at least a double digit lead among independents in every one of the potential match ups, continuing a trend PPP is finding with those voters across the country that may indicate some folks will be voting for divided government next year to keep Democrats from consolidating too much power.

Pulling together all the information we have, here’s the state of the race: when Roy Cooper decided not to run Democrats lost the only candidate who would have made this an instant tossup. But Richard Burr is still in a vulnerable position pretty comparable to where Elizabeth Dole found herself at this time two years ago. But whoever the Democratic standard bearer ends up being will have to be molded into a formidable candidate, as Hagan was, rather than just inherently starting out as one. Now Democrats are going to have to make a choice- do they get a Shuler or McIntyre who have big bank accounts and a good position from which to raise more or do they go more towards a Cunningham who might need more help raising money but can run as an outsider in an election cycle where not having any Washington taint could be a very good thing? It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr and other Republican leaders are offering a health care plan as an alternative to the one being pursued by President Barack Obama.

Burr will speak Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill about their new legislation. He’ll hold a news conference with Republican Sen. Tom Coburn and Republican Reps. Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes.

Their plan would raise money by taxing health benefits and use the revenue to give people tax credits to buy their own care. The GOP lawmakers are offering the proposal as an alternative to Democratic efforts to cover millions of uninsured Americans by increasing the role of government.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) and Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-Oklahoma) and U.S. Representatives Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Devin Nunes (R-California), will hold a press conference Wednesday, May 20, at 11:00 a.m. in the Senate Radio-Television Gallery to discuss health care reform and their new legislation, “The Patients’ Choice Act of 2009.”

WHAT:          Press Conference with Senators Richard Burr, Tom Coburn and Representatives Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes
WHEN:          Wednesday, May 20, at 11:00 a.m.
WHERE:        Senate Radio-Television Gallery, U.S. Capitol

When he runs for re-election next year, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is almost sure to face a strong, well-financed Democratic opponent determined to duplicate Democrats’ success in 2008.

Burr just doesn’t know who it will be.

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, the top choice of many Democratic leaders, told supporters yesterday that he will not run for Senate because he wants to remain in North Carolina. Cooper’s decision clears the path for a wide-open field of Democrats who are considering a run against Burr, a one-term senator whom many see as vulnerable.

“North Carolina is a swing state. It’s going to be competitive. You can expect millions of dollars in special-interest money to be spent,” said Paul Shumaker, a political strategist for Burr. “The Democrats did it effectively in 2008, and they’ll try to do it in 2010.”

Indeed, Democrats are feeling invigorated by last year’s success, in which Kay Hagan pulled off an upset of former Sen. Elizabeth Dole. They believe that Burr is just as vulnerable as Dole was, and they hope to unseat him with the same flood of new voters that came out in support of Barack Obama last year.

Burr’s approval rating is just 36 percent, according to a poll taken this month by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm. That’s a dangerously low number for an incumbent, and it’s nine points lower than Dole’s approval rating at the same point in the cycle two years ago. The poll, which surveyed 755 North Carolina voters, was taken from May 8 to May 10 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percent.

“I will tell you that this is a very winnable race,” Morgan Jackson, a strategist for Cooper, said yesterday after Cooper ruled himself out of the race. “It’s not all that different from two years ago.”

The election is still 20 months away, but both sides are laying the groundwork for a tough campaign. In the Dole-Hagan race, the combined spending by both candidates and outside groups was nearly $50 million.

The 2010 race is likely to be in line with that.

Burr, who is from Winston-Salem, has already started mailing cards to Republicans and unaffiliated voters, and he has set up a Web site targeting new voters. Those are clear signs that Burr wants to avoid the mistakes of the Dole campaign, which failed to attract many newly registered voters and got trounced by the Democratic Party’s early-voting drive.

“In 2008, the turnout program for Republicans was a 72-hour turnout program,” Shumaker said. He promised that the Burr campaign “will be doing a lot of things differently.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have already published a Web ad attacking Burr. Their most important task now is to find a candidate to run against him.

Cooper, a likable, politically moderate candidate with strong crime-fighting credentials, was aggressively recruited by party leaders. But he said in an e-mail to supporters that he wants to continue his public service
in North Carolina rather than move to Washington.

Another heavily recruited candidate, U.S. Congressman Heath Shuler, D-11th, also said recently that he will not run for Burr’s seat – though he may reconsider now that Cooper has dropped out.

If Cooper and Shuler both stay out of the race, a Democratic primary is likely.

The only person who has publicly expressed interest so far is Kenneth Lewis, a lawyer who lives in Chapel Hill and was a fundraiser for Obama last year.

Cal Cunningham, a former state senator from Lexington, is also seriously considering a run. He is an Army reservist who recently returned from Iraq, and he has been making the rounds at various Democratic functions across the state. He works as a lawyer in Winston-Salem for the law firm Kilpatrick Stockton.

“I’m getting a lot of encouragement,” Cunningham said yesterday.

Behind the scenes, the list of other names being floated as potential candidates is long. It includes other North Carolina congressmen, current and former state legislators, elected officials in the state’s executive branch – and even Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former senator and presidential candidate John Edwards.

The situation is reminiscent of the prelude to the Dole race, when many high-profile Democrats, including then-Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue, were urged to run against Dole but declined.

Finally, an initially reluctant Kay Hagan, who had little statewide name recognition, was persuaded to enter the race.

She ended up beating Dole by nine points.

“The lesson from Kay Hagan is: Step up to bat,” said Gary Pearce, a veteran Democratic consultant. “Kay Hagan stepped up to what people thought was an unlikely race. And she’s a U.S. senator.”

The Breakdown: Who might run against Burr?
Attorney General Roy Cooper’s decision not to challenge U.S. Sen. Richard Burr clears the way for a long list of other Democrats who are rumored to have some interest in running. Here are 10 of the top names being mentioned:
• Cal Cunningham, former state senator. Cunningham, a captain in the Army reserves who recently returned from Iraq, is young (just 35) but politically connected. He has been increasing his visibility lately by traveling the state and speaking at Democratic functions. He lives in Lexington and works as a lawyer in Winston-Salem.
• Walter Dalton, lieutenant governor. Dalton is a moderate Democrat and a good campaigner. After serving in the N.C. Senate, he was elected last year to be lieutenant governor, a job with high visibility but little real power.
• Bob Etheridge, U.S. congressman for the 2nd District. Etheridge is a popular congressman and former state schools superintendent. But he may be unwilling to give up his influential new assignment on the House Ways and Means Committee.
• Kenneth Lewis, a lawyer and Democratic fundraiser. Lewis publicly expressed interest earlier this year in running against Burr. He has worked on previous Senate campaigns and Barack Obama’s campaign in North Carolina.
• Elaine Marshall, North Carolina’s secretary of state. Marshall ran for U.S. Senate in 2002, losing in a Democratic primary. She is popular among women voters, a group in which Burr has polled well.
• Grier Martin, state representative from Wake County. Martin was recruited in 2008 to run against Elizabeth Dole, but he declined. Like Cunningham, he is an Army reservist, and some Democrats believe his military credentials would make him a strong candidate.
• Charles Meeker, mayor of Raleigh. Meeker is said to have ambitions for higher office, and he is popular in Raleigh, the state’s second-largest city.
• Brad Miller, U.S. congressman for the 13th District. Miller, like Martin, was heavily courted in 2008 to run against Dole. Like Martin, he declined to run and may be kicking himself.
• Richard Moore, former state treasurer. Moore lost the Democratic nomination for governor last year in a tough primary against Bev Perdue. He may not want to risk another loss, but he is ambitious and charismatic.
• Heath Shuler, U.S. congressman for the 11th District. Along with Cooper, Shuler was considered a top choice among party leaders to challenge Burr, but Shuler said recently he is not planning on running. With Cooper out, Shuler could reconsider.

Richard Burr’s approval rating in PPP’s newest survey continues to lag in the mid-30s. 36% of voters like the job he’s doing with 32% disapproving and 32% ambivalent.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Republican Sen. Richard Burr is reaching out to new North Carolina voters as he tries to build a base for re-election.

Burr’s campaign has started mailing cards to 45,000 newly registered voters in North Carolina, encouraging them to stay informed. He’s targeted both Republicans and those who are unaffiliated, trying to establish an early relationship with voters who could play a key role in whether Burr stays in office.

Democratic critics in Washington said Burr has stood in the way of the change that new voters want.

The number of registered voters in North Carolina grew by 12 percent in 2008. That’s nearly 700,000 voters. Many of those signed up as Democrats, rushing to support now-President Barack Obama.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Voters are still exhaling from the last election and balloons haven’t yet dropped to mark the beginning of the next.

But the 2010 Senate race in North Carolina has already launched in earnest.

North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr has been plotting his political strategy and quietly fundraising, expanding on $1.6 million in campaign cash that he had stocked at the end of March. Meanwhile, Democrats have already started targeting Burr. On Thursday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee posted a Web ad criticizing Burr for telling his wife to withdraw as much money as she could from an ATM machine in the midst of the economic crisis.

Burr’s longtime political strategist, Paul Shumaker, said he expects a tough campaign that could cost upward of $60 million.

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) gave the following statement on the nomination of Governor Kathleen Sebelius to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services:

“Governor Sebelius testified before the HELP Committee in March regarding her nomination to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.  At that time, even considering her tax problems and other concerns I had, these issues were not necessarily disqualifying.  However, I am troubled by her decision late last week to veto a Kansas bill that would have tightened restrictions on late term abortions, and I intend to vote against her confirmation.”