Senate Majority Project

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Home for the Holidays

Maybe Dole Thinks It’s Comfier in the Watergate?

According to government records, Sen. Elizabeth Dole may not be the biggest fan of North Carolina. Document revealed Dole made only one official trip to North Carolina this past summer. Dole’s office claimed the records were incomplete, stating that she actually has made FOUR more official trips to her home state, and that those trips weren’t processed yet.

Perhaps realizing how ridiculous it is to argue five trips to a home state as close to Washington D.C. as North Carolina is nothing short of neglect, Dole’s spokeswoman later added in the piece that the Senator has visited the state at least every month since her election. Much better spin, however let’s review some history.

During her 2002 Senate campaign, it was reported that Dole hadn’t lived in North Carolina for over 40 years, living in fact in the Washington, DC landmark, the Watergate Hotel. (Washington Post, 10/7/02). Until Jesse Helms announced he would retire from the Senate in July 2001, Dole was registered in Kansas, the state that elected her husband to the Senate.

According Rowan County records, Dole purchased her North Carolina home in 2001 the day after Christmas, perhaps realizing she needed a residence to actually run for Senate. However, a county recording from this past July still listed Dole’s residence as the Watergate.

That didn’t stop the Doles from sending out Christmas Cards in 2001 which said "From our home to yours." Dole’s spokesperson that year said that the Doles owned the Salisbury home. We now know they didn’t purchase it until after Christmas.

Wonder where the Christmas cards are coming from this year.