TV SURROGATES CLEARLY IN THE DARK ABOUT DALTON'S RECORD
Dalton Campaign Press Release Also Misleads

(4/4/08) Walter Dalton's first television ad features unidentified people talking about his record.  Whoever they are, it is clear they are not aware of the facts related to the claims they make. Fortunately, it is not too late for voters to learn the truth about Mr. Dalton's record.

The Claim: "Walter Dalton made prescription drugs more affordable."

The Facts:  Mr. Dalton sought to take away Medicaid coverage for 65,000 elderly or disabled people.  Had Mr. Dalton gotten his way during the 2005 budget negotiations, 8,000 North Carolinians would have been left with no health coverage, including prescription drug coverage, and another 57,000 would have seen their coverage reduced.  (News & Observer, "State will forgo Medicaid cuts," 7/27/05)

The claim in the ad also vastly overstates Mr. Dalton's role in the increases in prescription drug benefits. To the extent that benefits have been expanded, those benefits came primarily as a result of money from the Health and Wellness Trust Fund which, in turn, was endowed by the nationwide tobacco settlement that Hampton Dellinger helped negotiate while serving as a top official in the Attorney General's office.

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The Claim: "Walter Dalton raised the minimum wage."

The Facts: Adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage today ($6.15) is almost 10% lower than it was at the end of Mr. Dalton's first year in the Senate ($5.15). And Mr. Dalton failed to co-sponsor legislation to increase the minimum wage introduced in 1997 and 2003, as well as 2007 legislation to make up for the failure to pay school employees a minimum wage.

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The Claim: "Walter Dalton raised teacher pay."

The Facts: In 2002, the initial Senate budget Mr. Dalton supported froze teacher salaries, failed to provide money to reduce class sizes in early grades, and failed to finance the Governor's proposed expansion of More at Four. The News & Observer called the budget Mr. Dalton supported "a dismal document." (News & Observer, "Coming up short..." 6/21/02).  In fact, Mr. Dalton's pattern is to support an inadequate education budget when the state faces fiscal adversity, as has been demonstrated.

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The Claim: In the press release Mr. Dalton sent out unveiling the ad, Mr. Dalton claims that "an independent polling firm said that if the election was held today, we would win by a comfortable margin of 10 points…"

The Facts: Mr. Dalton appears to be talking about this blog post, in which Tom Jensen, the Communications Director for Public Policy Polling, discusses the chances of a statewide runoff this year. The 10-point margin comes only after Mr. Jensen distributes the more than 60% of undecided voters according to the proportions shown in the polling of those voters expressing a preference (just 10% of those polled said that would vote for Mr. Dalton, and his lead among those expressing a preference was within the poll's margin of error). In the same post, Mr. Jensen said that he expected the results to change as candidates start spending their money.  Only two of the Democratic candidates -- Mr. Dalton and Hampton Dellinger -- have raised sufficient funds to advertise statewide.  Of the two, Dellinger has received endorsements from the 120,000 member NC AFL-CIO, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Black Political Caucus, NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina, and other statewide groups.  These groups are just beginning communications with their members statewide.

Even more misleading is the fact that Mr. Dalton claims the post said he "would win" at all. Even splitting the undecided voters gave Mr. Dalton just 33% of the vote, which would lead to a runoff. In fact, Mr. Jensen said in the same post that the race "is probably headed for a runoff," and he has previously said that "If this race gets to a runoff I think Walter Dalton loses" (emphasis added).

Only one person in the ad, which is actually not scheduled to run for several weeks according to reports publicly available at t.v. stations, appears to know the truth about Mr. Dalton's record -- Walter Dalton.  Not surprisingly, Mr. Dalton remains silent throughout.

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Authorized and Paid for by the Dellinger Committee * PO Box 27374 * Raleigh, NC 27611