Richard Burr in good position for future wins, experts say

Voters often stick with candidates they get used to

(By Richard Craver) - Now that Richard Burr has become only the second North Carolina Republican ever to win re-election to the U.S. Senate, he could be in the seat for a while.

Analysts said yesterday that it is not an exercise in hyperbole to consider Burr’s 55 percent to 43 percent win over Democrat Elaine Marshall as historic.

“As recent history has shown, the hardest re-election to win in this state is the first one,” said Francis De Luca, the president of the Civitas Institute, a conservative research center in Raleigh. “Once voters get accustomed to your record, they tend to stick with what they believe works.”