Race Against Liddy Dole Gains Clarity

Jim Neal, a Chapel Hill investment banker, is the sole Democrat in the state of North Carolina willing to take on a weakened Elizabeth Dole in the senate race next year. At least he's the only Democrat so far.

The last hope of seeing N.C. State Representative Grier Martin in the race were ended on Friday. An Army active-duty veteran of the Afghanistan war, Martin would have made an attractive candidate for pro-military North Carolinians. Oh well. Before Martin, there were bright last hopes too in N.C. State Senator Kay Hagan, in state A.G. Roy Cooper, in U.S. House Rep. Brad Miller, even in Governor No Show ... but all of them, and a few lesser-known names to boot, have declined the race.

We all want to know more about Jim Neal, since for the moment at least he's IT. He has started a blog on his website (emphasis on started, because there's only a single post ... but hey!). At least one of his up-sides is that he can probably raise money.