Huge Cash Differential in Race for U.S. House District 9 | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: The author of this fine report, Dan Way, is an associate editor of the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Republican Pittenger boasts $3 million war chest; Democrat Roberts says she can compete

    RALEIGH     While Republican Robert Pittenger invokes a need to return to the principles of Ronald Reagan, and Democrat Jennifer Roberts implores voters to remember she works in a bipartisan manner, the campaign cash gap between them grows.

    The Charlotte residents are running for the 9th U.S. Congressional District seat being vacated by nine-term GOP Rep. Sue Myrick. It is a Republican-leaning district running north to south in Iredell, Mecklenburg, and Union counties.

    The three-way race -- Libertarian Curtis Campbell is waging a low-visibility campaign and failed to return voice messages and emails seeking comment -- has drawn national interest because of the amount of money being raised.

    Pittenger, a real estate investment company owner and state senator from 2002-08, has amassed $3.05 million, a sum seldom seen nationally for a congressional bid and possibly the highest ever in North Carolina. Roberts, a four-term member of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, has raised almost $450,000.

    Both candidates cite voter polls for feeling confident about a victory in the Nov. 6 general election.

    "We're 10 points up" according to McLaughlin & Associates, a national polling firm, Pittenger said. "We need to finish well, and we'll do that."

    But Lake Research Partners did a survey of likely voters that showed the race a statistical dead heat, with Pittenger at 38 percent, Roberts at 37 percent, and 22 percent undecided.

    "That's an internal poll. She's just trying to stir something up to raise money," Pittenger said of Roberts. "She's having trouble raising money. Nobody's paying any attention to that."

    On paper, it would seem Pittenger has reason to be sanguine. The district is 39 percent Republican, 30.9 percent Democrat, and 29.6 percent unaffiliated. It is 81.6 percent white, 11.9 percent black, and 6.5 percent "other."

    He also believes he'll get tailwinds from the top of the ballot, predicting a trifecta with GOP wins by him, presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory, who was mayor of Charlotte and is well-known in the district.

    Even if Romney and McCrory stumble, Pittenger cites his unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor in 2008 as a positive. President Obama beat Republican presidential candidate John McCain by 5 points in District 9, while Pittenger outpolled Democrat Walter Dalton by a 58-39 margin. Dalton is running against McCrory this year.

    And the mood is different this year, he said.

    "I think obviously the conservative Republicans are fired up. I think the broad base of the conservative party recognizes the deficiencies of Obama's policies and they want to throw the rascal out," Pittenger said.

    An undaunted Roberts said it would be a mistake to equate Pittenger's cash on hand with his popularity.

    "It's not that he's raised that much more, he's put more of his own money in it," $2.2 million in all, she said. Of that, $1.9 million was raised during the GOP primary.

    "I've raised almost half a million dollars. If you take out his own money and his PAC money, I think he hasn't raised as much as I have. I think it's much more competitive if you look at it from that aspect," Roberts said.

    She has more than 1,300 individual donors, she said, noting that a congressman should be "there for the people" and not corporate and lobbyist interests. "I have hardly any PAC money at all."

    Roberts said one of her strengths is her willingness to work to avoid the sort of gridlock gripping Washington.

    "I have a proven record of reaching across the aisle, of sitting down with Republicans and Democrats to get things done," Roberts said. "Neither of my opponents has done that."

    She said that sort of independent, competent approach is what voters want and what she has accomplished on the county commission in getting such things as unanimous budgets passed.

    "What they don't want is someone who is an ideologue ... unyielding, and not be willing to make concessions or some compromises" for bipartisan solutions, she said.

    Roberts cites endorsements from some Republicans, such as Stallings Mayor Lynda Paxton, as an example of her broad appeal. She has won endorsements from the state's largest newspaper, The Charlotte Observer, and former Bank of America chairman Hugh McColl.

    Pittenger said Paxton's endorsement means little.

    "She changed her registration. She's a Democrat now. There's no defections. That's just nonsense," he said.

    "I think clearly the elephant in the room is the national debt and the annual deficits are crippling our economy," he said. He would like to see creation of a commission to downsize federal government similar to one he helped to launch to examine state government while he was a senator.

    "So I will bring the same emphasis to federal government that I did to state government, and that will be to be a strong advocate for conservative fiscal policies," Pittenger said. He would work to reduce a heavy tax burden on small businesses, individuals and families based on a "premise of free market, low tax, low regulation."

    Upon return to free market principles, "we will see an expansion of our economy, no different than what Ronald Reagan saw in the 1980s," Pittenger said.

    He said aggressive production of traditional fossil fuels is needed to make America energy independent. Alternative fuels should be explored, but he called the Obama administration's $90 billion in wind and solar subsidies "nonsense."

    Roberts said her rich and diverse background as a U.S. Foreign Service diplomat, banker, adjunct professor at UNC Charlotte, and Spanish speaker prepare her well for a congressional role.

    The main issue of her campaign is creating jobs in a sour economy. She has written a three-point jobs plan and conducted a statewide jobs tour.

    Her plan involves creating a certified apprenticeship program while partnering with businesses and community colleges for skills training and education. There might be federal tax credits available for companies to offset the training, she said.

    The second part is to build on an existing clean energy environment in the Charlotte area, and do that through the tax code as well. She envisions expansion of wind, solar, biofuels, and energy-efficiency programs.

    The third leg of her economic stool is to help companies export, especially the small and medium size businesses that don't have the resources or connections. There are existing coalitions to tap into for "leveraging the resources we already have in the community. It's all about connecting people in the right way," Roberts said.

    Having worked in business, Roberts said she recognizes there are outdated or overreaching regulations that should be updated or eliminated.

    Pittenger would vote to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and replace it with a plan that keeps health decisions among patients, insurers and medical providers. Roberts has been somewhat lukewarm to Obamacare but prefers to fine tune rather than scrap it.

    Both candidates would like to see a rewrite of the Dodd-Frank bill, which places a time-sucking, costly, regulatory paperwork burden on the financial services industry that is integral to the District 9 economy.

    And both say the problem of illegal immigration is thorny, but requires securing the border, ensuring ease of entry for those who have high-skill abilities being sought by U.S. firms, and setting up a temporary work permit program to provide workers for farms and other labor-intensive industries.

    Illegal immigrants should not be allowed to become citizens without starting the process from scratch, Pittenger said. They should be required to go to courthouses to register so the government knows where they are.

    "The problem with immigration is you can't get anyone to agree on what to do with the people who are already here illegally," Roberts said.