An article by the Winston-Salem Journal yesterday exposed what many knew to be true:

Elizabeth Dole spends next to no time in the state she was elected to represent in the U.S. Senate. Utilizing government documents, press releases and news clips from North Carolina newspapers, the Journal counted only 13 days Dole spent in North Carolina in 2006, and just 20 days in 2005. In total, Dole spent approximately 13% of her time as a U.S. senator in North Carolina. The rest of Dole’s record? A look by the numbers:

97 – Days Dole has spent in North Carolina in her election year, 2008.
93 – Dole’s ranking out of all her colleagues in the U.S. Senate in terms of effectiveness.
92 – Percentage of the time Dole voted with George Bush, rubber-stamping his failed economic policies.
61 – Number of Senate Banking Committee hearings in which Dole failed to ask a single question or make a single statement.
55 – Days Dole spent in North Carolina in 2003, her first year in office.
50 – Days Dole spent in North Carolina in 2007, gearing up for her reelection.
43 – Years Dole has been a Washington insider, not a North Carolinian, advocating for the special interests and their lobbyists.
34 – Days Dole spent in North Carolina in 2004, the year she spent campaigning for George Bush in eight other states.
25 – Years Dole was registered as a Kansas voter, even running for President as a Jayhawk before she thought to run for Senate in NC.
20 – Days Dole spent in North Carolina in 2005, her first year as NRSC chair.
19 – The number of dollars, in millions, Dole spent running attack ads to elect Republicans while she was the chair of the NRSC.
13 – Days Dole spent in North Carolina in 2006, choosing instead to help elect fellow Republicans from other states to the U.S. Senate.
She failed.
8 ½ – The size of Dole’s Ruby Red Slippers, confirmed by Dole to Kay when they met on Memorial Day.
3 – The number of political parties Dole has belonged to, changing party ID like some people change their shoes.
2 – The number of days it took for Dole to register as a North Carolina voter after Jesse Helms announced his retirement.
1 – Number of terms Elizabeth Dole will serve in the U.S. Senate.

“Elizabeth Dole essentially spent her spring break – less than two weeks – in North Carolina in 2006,” Hagan Communications Director Colleen Flanagan said. “Throughout her tenure in the U.S. Senate she spent less than 13% of her time in the state she was elected to represent. No wonder North Carolinians don’t feel as though they have an advocate in Elizabeth Dole. When she’s spending the majority of her time politicking with the special interests and their lobbyists in Washington, of course they’re going to come first. If she has not been in North Carolina, what has she been doing with her time? She clearly hasn’t amassed a legislative record worth writing home about, and the North Carolinians we talk to don’t feel as though they’re better off than they were six years ago.

“In 36 days North Carolinians will head to the polls and decide if they want a proven leader with a track record to boot who actually lives in North Carolina, or someone who’s played the game so long in Washington she forgot where North Carolina is.”