'Whining coming from losers'

Concern about North Carolina's dismal teacher pay, low per-pupil spending and the lack of Medicaid expansion? "Whining coming from losers," says House Speaker Thom Tillis.

Politico today runs a 2,200-word assessment of North Carolina's upcoming U.S. Senate race. Sen. Kay Hagan, a first-term Democrat, faces the winner from a field of at least five Republicans next November.

Tillis is considered the establishment favorite. And he's unapologetic about his record leading the state House.

"I think for the most part, what I see from the folks who are opposing our agenda is whining coming from losers," Tillis told Politico. "They lost, they don't like it, and they are going to try to do everything they can to, I think, cast doubt on things that I think are wise and that the average citizen when they know what we're doing, I think, like it."

Politico's Manu Raju correctly portrays the race as one that will pit frustration with President Obama and especially Obamacare's shortcomings against anger at the very conservative path the legislature has followed over the past two years. It's a theme I've written about a couple of times this year, most recently in this column from November. Hagan voted for Obamacare and says she would again, even as she has been delivering rhetoric about fixing it lately.

Polls show that Hagan's once-comfortable lead over the Republican field has vanished and the race is now dead even. Hagan's seat is one of the most competitive in the nation in 2014, and it's one of several in which Democrats in red or purple states are trying to distance themselves from Obama.

Hagan, though, hopes that any stain from Obama is outweighed by the unpopularity of the Tea Party and the policies of North Carolina's Republican legislature.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Pat McCrory have indicated that they will try to address teacher pay in the short legislative session that begins in May, in the middle of election season. That may be just one area where Republicans try to soften their image with middle-of-the-road voters. "I think we've learned from some of the policy decisions, and we'll make adjustments," Tillis told Politico.

Two new Gallup polls out today demonstrate why Hagan and her Republican challenger each have hope. On the Republicans' side: Congress's approval is an at all-time low. It hit 9 percent in November and averaged 14 percent for the full year. That's the lowest annual average in Gallup's history and doesn't help Hagan. On Hagan's side? Gallup finds that a majority of Americans now disapprove of the Tea Party. The all-important moderate voters disapprove 54-34. More than a third of conservatives, even, say they disapprove. That will help Hagan if a Tea Party candidate wins the primary, or if she successfully portrays Tillis as one.

-- Taylor Batten