Storm Warning

"Under the Dome" in the Raleigh N&O reports that despite several months' worth of positive TV ads about himself, Republican Senate candidate Dick Burr has failed to move his poll numbers against Democrat Erskine Bowles ... "a trend that has been causing some private grumbling among GOP activists." The most recent N&O/WRAL poll shows Bowles holding at 47 percent to Burr's 38 percent.

Where's the slash-and-burn negative TV spots that we've all come to know and love? Republican insiders are asking.

Republican in-fighting this year extends to Burr's political consultant Paul Shumaker, who also happens to be advising Republican co-speaker of the house (and full time pariah) Richard Morgan, whom the state Republican party threw out this year at their convention. State Rep. Art Pope questioned how GOP Senate candidate Richard Burr can continue to have Shumaker work as his consultant because of his ties with Morgan.

So I would look for the sunny, positive message in Burr's TV spots to take a decided turn toward The Dark Side of the Rovians. Erskine Bowles better get ready to see his face morphing into ... who? ah yes! Hillary Clinton!