Analysis of Richard Burr’s campaign strategy in the
2004 North Carolina Senate Race
Richard Burr ran nothing short of an incredible Senate campaign on all levels of analysis. Burr was the presumed underdog at the beginning the campaign. Erskine Bowle’s had widespread name recognition that was built upon his father’s reputation, Erskine’s position in the Clinton White House, and his previous campaign against Elizabeth Dole. Many believed that Bowle’s name recognition, coupled with Burr’s hard line right wing record would translate into a Bowles landslide. However, a brilliant campaign strategy turned the tides for the Burr campaign.
The Burr campaign was incredibly effective at defining the election for the voters of North Carolina. The Burr team sought to morph the Senate election into a Presidential race. Burr relentlessly reminded the voters of North Carolina that Bowles had worked for Bill Clinton, who had very high negatives among the state’s voters. Burr strategists sought to turn the election into a referendum on Bill Clinton, and too some extent they were effective at turning Bowle's previous political experience into a negative among North Carolina voters.
It is clear that the overall approach of the Burr campaign was to inject national politics into their senate election. From a historical perspective it appeared that the plan would have a good chance of succeeding. North Carolina, has voted for Republicans on the Presidential level year after year. The last time North Carolina supported a Democrat was in 1976 when Jimmy Carter ran for the office (National Journal.com). Yet Democrats have proved strong on the local level (NC Library.com). I believe that this discrepancy in voting is due to the differences in local and national political issues and the strengths of each party in these areas. Burr saw President Bush running very strongly in the polls in North Carolina and decided to jump on the Bush bandwagon. The campaign framed the debate in manner in which Burr nearly always stood beside the President on important issues like national security (Burr2004.com). The Burr campaign sought to make the argument that if you plan on voting for President Bush, you must also vote for the Richard Burr because they stand for the same values and policies.
Personally, I believe this strategy was ingenious. Burr’s first step in the right direction was recognizing the historical advantage that Republicans have in North Carolina Presidential elections. They made the obvious choice of closely allying themselves with the President and his high approval ratings in the state. More brilliantly, Burr combined these positive numbers with North Carolina’s negative impression of Bill Clinton and successfully tarnished Bowles by making the names Bowles and Clinton synonymous. The Burr team created a Bush Jr. v. Clinton race in the minds of many voters. George Bush won this election, and carried Richard Burr with him to the halls of Washington.
© Davidson College, 2004, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035
Created By Jack Hubbard for a project in Political Science 318
Created: 11/15/2004. Last updated: 11/15/2004.