First on CNN: NRSC starts showcasing Tillis narrative
Washington (CNN) - The National Republican Senatorial Campaign is making an online push starting Thursday to familiarize voters in North Carolina and donors across the county with Thom Tillis, the GOP's new Senate nominee in the Tar Heel state.
The NRSC is blasting a biographical video of the North Carolina House speaker, using YouTube as platform for distribution across blogs and social networks.
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In the video, Tillis discusses his humble childhood, growing up in a working class family.
"When times were good we lived in houses. Sometimes they were owned, sometimes they were rented. And when times were bad, we lived in trailer parks," Tillis says in the video.
Tills and his wife, who also appears in the video also discuss his path to public service – graduating high school and going straight into the workforce and working his way up from a stock boy, and going back to school while working in the private sector. And Tillis talks about his move from the private sector to public service.
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The NRSC, which assists Republican senators running for re-election and GOP candidates running for the Senate, says the video is a continuation of their "Six in 14" series, which introduces their candidates to voters, donors, and other supporters.
Tillis topped 40% of the vote Tuesday in the Republican Senate primary in North Carolina, avoiding a runoff in July.
Tillis beat a bunch of more conservative candidates for the chance to face off this November against first-term Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, who is considered very vulnerable in the general election. Flipping her seat and five others held by Democrats would give Republicans control of the Senate.
Tillis enjoyed the support of many establishment Republicans. He won last minute endorsements from two high-profile Republicans: 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a potential 2016 White House hopeful.
More importantly, while none of the candidates in the GOP primary, including Tillis, raised or spent a lot of money in the campaign, the state House speaker won the backing of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Crossroads, two outside groups that combined spent $2.6 million to run ads in favor of the candidate. That spending dwarfed the money shelled out by outside conservative groups that backed Greg Brannon, a first time candidate endorsed by Sen. Rand Paul, who finished second in the Senate primary.
National Democrat argue that the competitive primary pushed Tillis too far to the right for the more mainstream electorate in November.
"Thom Tillis spent this primary moving far to the right, embracing positions that, paired with his record, make him a deeply flawed candidate," said Democratic National Committee press secretary Mike Czin.
And Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee deputy executive director Matt Canter wrote a memo that says "Rather than taking the fight to the Tea Party with moderate, mainstream candidates that can appeal to general election voters, the GOP establishment has embraced the Tea Party's candidates and policies in order to beat them – a recipe for defeat in November."
Oh, I don't know. Thom Tillis the new GOPerville flavor of the month and a Monica Lewinski retread story?
GOPerville is certainly pulling out all the stops.
Ben Ghazi / Aqua Buddha 2016
--enough of these thugs, NC has become Third world. Drive these animals away.
Tillis is your typical RWNJ. Anyone who is for restricting voting rights does not belong in the U.S. Senate.
Tillis will beat Hagan by a decent margin. NC has gone back to red since the ACA went into effect.
Tillis has a good shot, in large part because he's a Mecklenburg County guy. For those of you who don't know NC geography, Mecklenburg is where Charlotte is located. Obama won the county 61% to 38% over Romney.
While he's from a conservative part of the county, he has at least some ability to pull from the center a bit... otherwise he'd never have been elected from Mecklenburg. The more conservative counties will still turn out to vote against Hagan. She would have much prefered a tea-party opponent that would have left the center to her.
smith
Tillis will beat Hagan by a decent margin. NC has gone back to red since the ACA went into effect.
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The latest poll has it a statistical tie of 43%-43%. Quit dreaming. The voter surpression efforts by the NC legislature is going to do nothing but force democrats to come out in full force and vote.
See ya, Hagan. It's been real, it's been nice. But it hasn't been real nice.
Dutch/Bad Newz, VA – Take Back the House
smith
Tillis will beat Hagan by a decent margin. NC has gone back to red since the ACA went into effect.
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The latest poll has it a statistical tie of 43%-43%. Quit dreaming. The voter surpression efforts by the NC legislature is going to do nothing but force democrats to come out in full force and vote.
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An incumbent polling at 43% is a disaster. She's toast.
@Dutch-Liberal voters have a record of poor turn out for mid-term elections. Your dreaming if you think they are going to come out in droves to support Hagan. Btw, I see you already have a cover story prepared for Hagan`s defeat (voter suppression).