National
Journal Group
Learn more about our publications and sign up for a free trial.
E-Mail Alerts
Get notified the moment your favorite features are updated.
Need A Reprint?
Click here for details on reprints, permissions and back issues.
Advertise With Us
Details on advertising with National Journal Group -- both online and in print -- can be found in our online media kit.
Go Wireless
Get daily political updates on your handheld computer.
|
Last Updated June 22, 2005
North Carolina's junior senator is Richard Burr, first elected to the House in 1994 and to the Senate in 2004. Burr grew up in Winston-Salem, was a star football player at Reynolds High and Wake Forest, then worked in sales for a wholesaling firm. In 1992 Burr ran against Congressman Steve Neal, a Democrat first elected in 1974; Burr was outspent 3-1 and lost 53%-46%. Neal retired in 1994 and Burr ran again. His Democrat opponent was state Senator Sandy Sands, a rural trial lawyer who attacked Burr for using Jerry Falwell's Liberty University studio to produce his 1992 ads. Burr supported the Contract with America, promised to make defense of tobacco his number one issue and worked hard to tie Sands to the Clinton administration. Burr won a solid 57% of the vote and did not have a serious challenge in the next four House elections. In the House Burr had a mostly conservative voting record, though far from the most conservative in the North Carolina delegation. On the Commerce committee, his early cause became streamlining the FDA drug and medical device approval process, which he claimed kept life-saving products from patients. At first Burr took a radical approach that aroused much opposition, but then for over two years worked with the agency, doctors, patients, consumer groups and the pharmaceutical industry to come up with a consensus. With broad bipartisan support his FDA Modernization Act became law in 1997. He helped to set up the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering in NIH. After September 11 he sponsored amendments incorporated into law to improve defenses against bioterrorism and to compensate people injured by smallpox vaccination. He inserted into the 2003 energy bill a provision allowing two firms that supply 60% of the world's isotopes for medical diagnoses to continue receiving U.S. bomb grade uranium. He strongly opposed FDA regulation of tobacco and when Bill Clinton called for the Justice Department to sue the tobacco companies, Burr said, "This is an administration whose policy is to drive the industry out." With others from North Carolina, he later called for an optional buyout of tobacco quotas. He sought a crackdown on illegal textile imports, routed by China through other countries to evade quotas, and he opposed normal trade relations with China. But he backed George W. Bush's call for trade promotion authority after securing what he said were promises that the local textile industry would have a seat at the table; this was not an easy vote, he said, but it gave U.S. textile companies an opportunity to become more competitive internationally. To help furniture manufacturers threatened by imports, he called for accelerated depreciation of their equipment. By 1999 Burr made no secret of his interest in running for the Senate. He had promised to serve only five terms in the House, and it looked like there would be opportunities in 2002, when Jesse Helms would turn 80, and in 2004, when Democrat John Edwards's seat would come up. In 1999 he passed on invitations to run for governor because he didn't have "the fire in my belly." He was interested in running for Helms's seat in 2002, but deferred to Elizabeth Dole when it became apparent that the Bush White House was pushing her and that her standing with voters was very high. In early 2003, he moved toward running for Edwards's seat even before Edwards, running for president, made it clear in September 2003 that he wouldn't run for reelection; he had $2 million in his campaign account and got encouragement from White House political strategist Karl Rove. Unlike the 2002 Senate race, there were no seriously contested primaries: Burr won 88% of the Republican vote and Erskine Bowles, the 2002 nominee, was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Bowles was an investment banker from a prominent family. His father, Hargrove "Skipper" Bowles was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1972 who lost in a Republican year; his wife, Crandall Close, was CEO of Springs Industries, a large textile firm started by her family. Bowles, as Bill Clinton's chief of staff, negotiated the 1997 budget package that led to a balanced budget; he had been trusted by Republican leaders when they seethed with mistrust of Clinton. Bowles, well known from the 2002 campaign, led by about 10% in most polls up through September. He started running ads six months before the election and had the resources to continue doing so; in 2002 he had spent $6.5 million of his own money, more than half of it in October on a late burst of ads. Burr decided to hold back on spending and didn't run ads until September, presumably hoping to match whatever Bowles could spend in the last week. In the end they both spent about the same, Burr $12.7 million and Bowles $13.2 million; this was the third-most expensive Senate campaign in 2004. But Burr's spending was concentrated in the last eight weeks. Bowles presented a 10-point economic program and, pointing to recent losses of furniture and textile jobs, said he was "the only candidate with a real jobs plan." He called for expanding health insurance for children and providing tax credits for health insurance for small businesses. He said that he had shown the ability when in government to work with both parties. He depicted Burr as a fighter for special interests, especially pharmaceutical and tobacco companies; one ad called Burr the king of the special interests, and indeed Burr raised $2.8 million from corporate PACs, more than any other Senate candidate in 2004. One major issue was the tobacco buyout. The issue was before Congress, and the entire North Carolina delegation favored ending the tobacco quota system in place since 1938; tobacco quotas had been cut back in recent years and seemed likely to be again. At issue was whether the buyout should be coupled with FDA regulation of tobacco. The Senate passed its corporate tax bill--must-pass legislation, because it was needed to avoid European trade sanctions--with both the buyout and FDA regulation. In the House Burr voted for the buyout without FDA regulation. "I'm not opposed to new regulation for the industry. But the FDA's the wrong agency, if you truly want to do it right," he said. He argued that the toxicity of cigarettes should be regulated by the CDC and packages and labeling by the FTC. Bowles charged that Burr had voted against a $13 billion buyout with FDA regulation and for only a $10 billion buyout without because Winston-Salem-based R.J. Reynolds opposed FDA regulation; Altria, the biggest cigarette manufacturer, favored it. In the fall he interrupted his campaign to fly to Washington and lobby for the buyout; he claimed he persuaded Senate Democrats not to filibuster. Bowles may have been lobbying, but Burr was appointed by House Republican leaders to the conference committee on the corporate tax bill. The House side held out for the buyout without FDA regulation, and the Senate yielded. The bill passed the Senate nonetheless on October 11. Republicans made much of Burr's role. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (a past advocate of FDA regulation) came to North Carolina and proclaimed, "It took monumental leadership, and without Richard Burr providing that monumental leadership, this bill would not have occurred." This may have been the turning point of the campaign. Burr had pulled even with Bowles in polls by late September, and Burr's ads were running in volume. They linked Bowles to Bill Clinton and to his policies on tax increases, welfare for immigrants, trade with China and trade policy generally; one, dubiously, called Bowles Clinton's "chief negotiator" on NAFTA. Both candidates skittered back from previous free trade positions; the vote on NAFTA was in 1993, before Burr was in Congress. A Burr ad said Bowles "doesn't have the courage to stand up for traditional marriage"; Bowles called that a "last resort." George W. Bush carried North Carolina 56%-44%; Burr beat Bowles 52%-47%. Burr ran 4% behind Bush in the state's three big metropolitan areas, which cast just over half the votes; he ran 5% behind Bush in the rest of the state. The support for each candidate followed the contours in other recent federal elections. Bowles won big majorities in rural black-majority counties and in the counties containing Durham and Chapel Hill. Bowles carried the largest metropolitan counties, but Burr carried almost every rural county in the Piedmont and the mountains. In the Senate, Burr got seats on the Energy, Health, Veterans Affairs and Indian Affairs committees. At the top of his agenda, he said, was changing NIH as he had worked to change the FDA in the 1990s. "Given the sheer volume of research money we're running through NIH, I think it makes sense to look at NIH from top to bottom to see if it's structured right. You've had a ramp-up of 100% in research dollars. Given that that's supposed to be chasing the best potential research items, is the NIH structured in a way to do that?" Unlike George W. Bush, he supported using frozen embryos in fertility clinics in stem-cell research. Burr does not come up for reelection until 2010, and is a Republican in a Republican-leaning state. But there seems to be a jinx on this seat: since Sam Ervin retired in 1974, none of its holders has won a second term: Democrat Robert Morgan lost in 1980, Republican James Broyhill lost in 1986, Democrat Terry Sanford lost in 1992, Republican Lauch Faircloth lost in 1998 and Democrat John Edwards, running for president, did not seek reelection in 2004.
Committees
National Journal Group offers both print and electronic reprint services, as well as permissions for academic use, photocopying and republication. Click here to order, or call us at 877-394-7350. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NEW FEATURE
[ Site Index | Staff | Privacy Policy | E-Mail Alerts ]
[ Reprints And Back Issues | Content Licensing ]
[ Make NationalJournal.com Your Homepage ]
[ About National Journal Group Inc. ]
[ Employment Opportunities ]
Copyright 2012 by National Journal Group Inc.
The Watergate · 600 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20037
202-739-8400 · fax 202-833-8069
NationalJournal.com is an Atlantic Media publication.
