Dispatches from the campaign trail, August 29, 2014

• Republican U.S. Senate nominee Thom Tillis fires back at incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and her supporters for claims that the General Assembly cut education spending and froze teacher pay on his watch.

http://youtu.be/PHIuN0b0QzA

• A new WRAL News Fact Check gives a “green light” to the statement in the Tillis ad (and the claim made in ads from independent expenditure groups backing Tillis) saying that Hagan has voted with President Obama 96 percent of the time.

• We have dates for three U.S. Senate debates! The N.C. Association of Broadcasters will sponsor two debates — Sept. 3 (that’s right: Wednesday) and Oct. 7, with moderators Norah O’Donnell of CBS News and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, respectively. The first two debates will feature Hagan and Tillis. The final debate, Oct. 9, will be broadcast from WECT in Wilmington, with Libertarian nominee Sean Haugh included.

• In some potential good news for Hagan, a Wall Street Journal check of population growth patterns in North Carolina finds that, from 2010 to 2014, voter registration among blacks and Hispanics has risen much more quickly than white voter registration. The analysis also points out that voter registration in counties carried by Obama in 2012 has risen by 8 percent, versus a 5 percent rise in counties carried by Mitt Romney. Libertarian registration has nearly tripled over that period, from 8,200 in 2010 to 24,000 now.

• We’ll post the next dispatch Tuesday, Sept. 2. Have a safe Labor Day weekend.