Kay Hagan in State of North Carolina secondary Archives

On Education: Repeatedly stressed support for public schools

Tillis was not available for an interview, according to his spokesman, who countered that tax cuts and regulatory changes passed by the General Assembly since Republicans gained power in 2010 have boosted middle-class families and small businesses.

On War & Peace: US should have more quickly armed the moderate Syrian rebels

Tillis, for his part, demonstrated a surprising fluency on foreign policy matters for a state lawmaker, discussing the roots of the militants fighting in Iraq and Syria and criticizing the president for failing to develop a strategy to combat them. "Kay Hagan has allowed it to happen," he added.

On Energy & Oil: Advocate for Keystone XL pipeline

On Health Care: AdWatch: Voted against consumers keeping pre-ObamaCare plans

Who is paying for those negative ads? Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group that doesn't identify the source of much of its funding, has begun airing a series of ads attacking Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Kay Hagan, D-N.C., for their support of the Affordable Care Act. The ads suggest that Landrieu and Hagan are responsible for a health care law that will increase "health spending by $6,777 for a typical family of four" and that, because of its mandate that businesses provide subsidized health coverage to workers, it is "already reducing full-time employment."

On Health Care: AdWatch: Targeted by RNC robocalls for support of ObamaCare

The targets besides Hagan are Reps. Gary Peters (MI) and Bruce Braley (IA), Sens. Mark Warner (VA), Mark Begich (AK), Dick Durbin (IL), Mary Landrieu (LA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Mark Pryor (AR), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), and Mark Udall (CO). The robocall script reads:

"President Obama and the Democrats said you could keep your healthcare plan under ObamaCare. Now we know [SENATOR] actually VOTED to make it more difficult. Call [SENATOR] at (XXX)-XXX-XXX & ask why [he/she] lied."

The robocalls are a response to Democrats launching the "GOP Shutdown Watch" campaign, highlighting Republican senate candidates who supported the partial federal government shutdown.

On Health Care: I'd vote for ObamaCare again, but do "sensible fixes"

Hagan and her party are hoping she'll be spared despite the problems with ObamaCare. Some 473,000 state residents have recently been told their health policies would be canceled after the president and Hagan pledged that people who liked their plans could keep them. "She appears to be a pawn in the hands of the Obama administration," [said one GOP opponent].

Acknowledging the problems with ObamaCare, Hagan said she's working on "sensible fixes" and insisted that the outcome of the campaign wouldn't turn exclusively on the Affordable Care Act. Instead, she pointed to her work on local issues. When pressed about whether she would back the health care law if she had another chance, Hagan said: "Yeah, I would vote for it again. People have to realize that the cost of health care was getting out of reach for everybody."

On Health Care: AdWatch: Hagan promised wrongly that all can keep insurance

The group is planning to spend $2.5 million to air the ads in major media markets in those states for three weeks. Last fall, Americans for Prosperity spent $16 million on ads attacking ObamaCare. The new ads play off Obama's vow that people who like their health insurance plans can keep them. "I was shocked when I got the notice that my health care policy was canceled," says a Chapel Hill resident, in the ad targeting Hagan. "Kay Hagan told us, if you like your insurance plan and your doctors, you can keep them. That just wasn't true."

Hagan's campaign released a statement calling the AFP ad a "new smear" and decrying the outside money being spent in North Carolina.

On Immigration: Inaction is not an option; comprehensive reform is best

On that count, Hagan agreed, saying the president "should not take" action to ease deportations. But she also defended her vote in favor of the comprehensive immigration bill that passed the Senate last June, noting its variety of Republican co-sponsors and saying it would throw considerably more resources at border security. "Inaction is not an option," she said. "Speaker Tillis has no plan to solve our immigration system."

On War & Peace: Supports Obama's anti-ISIS strategy

Hagan's camp fired back that Tillis has offered no plan on how to destroy ISIS. "Tillis is desperate to distract from the fact that while he has no position on how to eliminate ISIS and his comments have been called 'waffling' and 'vague.' Kay has been decisive and clear about what action must be taken to destroy these terrorists," said a Hagan spokesman. "Just last week Speaker Tillis admitted that he doesn't know what we should or shouldn't do to eradicate ISIS. North Carolinians--especially our servicemembers--deserve better than Speaker Tillis' spineless fence-sitting."