Dispatches from the campaign trail, March 10, 2014

• The independent expenditure group American Action Network has launched a new ad targeting Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and other red-state Democrats on a provision of Obamacare. The Hagan campaign calls the ad misleading.

• The N.C. Democratic Party is facing a financial crunch, as chairman Randy Voller told the state executive committee that the party has only $60,000 in the bank and may have to abandon its downtown Raleigh headquarters in the historic Goodwin House. The Hagan campaign has chosen to run its coordinated campaign (allowing the Hagan team to expand its fundraising operations) through the Wake County Democratic Party, rather than its state partners.

• House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, is running for the GOP nomination to face Hagan in November, and three Republicans have come forward to succeed Tillis in state House District 98. The Charlotte Observer publishes a brief profile of the three contenders.

• Four Democratic judges on the November ballot — Supreme Court justices Cheri Beasley and Robin Hudson and Court of Appeals Judge Mark Davis, who are seeking new terms, and Appeals Court Judge Jimmy Ervin, who’s after a seat on the Supreme Court — will appear in Charlotte Wednesday at the Uptown Democratic Forum.