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 Even
without Flytrap complications, first-term Democratic incumbent Bob Etheridge
was looking at a challenging reelection campaign. Though over 71 percent
of voters in the 2nd district are registered as Democrats, the district
voted for both George Bush and Bob Dole in the last two presidential
elections, and is widely perceived to be a Republican-leaning district
which Etheridge won in 1996 only due to the public and private travails
of then-incumbent David Funderburk. Moreover, redistricting is forcing
Etheridge to introduce himself to new constituents in the city of Raleigh.
Etheridge's opponent, State Senator Dan Page, comes into the race with
political experience, and a solid reputation in the southern part of
the district. However, he is a relative unknown in Wake county, where
Raleigh is located, and counties to the north. As with most unknown
challengers, Dan Page's dilemma has been attracting attention to his
campaign. Page achieved this in mid-September by running one of the
first attack ads in the nation that explicitly tried to link a Democratic
incumbent to the Clinton scandal.
Due to a lack of funding, the advertisement itself saw only a limited
run, but Page received extensive free media coverage on local news stations,
and even national news outlets (like the NewsHour),
coverage which undoubtedly increased his name recognition within the
district and brought his campaign to the attention of potential donors
who might have overlooked this race.
The advertisement's effectiveness in leading voters to change their
views about Etheridge is unclear, but that was undoubtedly of far less
strategic concern to the campaign than these latter considerations.
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