Senate candidate hires Foxx campaign manager

Bruce Clark, who ran the campaign that put Anthony Foxx in Charlotte's mayor's office, is hoping to repeat his success with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kenneth Lewis.

Clark had taken a job in Washington when Lewis called last month and asked him to manage his campaign.

"I've had the luxury of working for two candidates that I believed in,” said Clark, who grew up outside Chicago. "I just said to myself, 'This is the guy who’s got to be our next senator.'"

Lewis faces former state Sen. Cal Cunningham and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall in the May 4 Democratic primary. The Chapel Hill attorney led his better-known rivals in fundraising, according to new reports.

And in a primary where it takes 40 percent of the vote plus one to win, Lewis is relying on a solid base. That's because African American voters make up as much as 41 percent of the state's Democratic electorate.

Last fall, in a city where about 35 percent of registered voters are black, Foxx relied on a strong African American vote to beat Republican John Lassiter.

Ken Lewis sending down shares of -- Ken Lewis?

Chapel Hill lawyer Kenneth Lewis, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, is working hard to build name recognition. In Mecklenburg County, at least, that might be a double-edged sword.

My Raleigh colleague Ben Niolet reports that a poll this month by Public Policy Polling showed 80 percent of N.C. residents have no strong opinions about Lewis, suggesting that they've never heard of him. But in the 704 area code, people did have strong opinions. At least about "Kenneth Lewis."

In 704 land, which includes the Charlotte area, 39 percent of those surveyed had an opinion about Lewis -- and 27 percent were negative. PPP's Tom Jensen said Lewis may be a victim of his name.

A Dec. 11-13 survey of 593 likely North Carolina voters found that 80 percent of state residents are unsure of how they feel about Lewis. But PPP noted that in the Charlotte area code of 704, there are lots of strong opinions about "Kenneth Lewis."

Ken Lewis is the name of the outgoing CEO of the Bank of America. Critics blame him for many of the woes that have hit both the bank and Charlotte.