Speaking of polls, a pollster with North Carolina experience – Geoff Garin – is now one of two message czars for the Clinton campaign.

Garin – with old Clinton hand Howard Wolfson – replaces the disgraced and conflicted Mark Penn

Garin knows North Carolina. He goes back to Jim Hunt’s 1984 race against Jesse Helms, when he worked with Peter Hart, also the pollster for Hunt’s 1976 and 1980 gubernatorial races.

Garin worked for Erskine Bowles in 2002 and 2004. His partner, Fred Yang, is pollster for Governor Easley and Bev Perdue.

Garin is a lunch-bucket Democrat who focuses on economic issues. He can help Clinton here.

There are other Bowles connections in the presidential primary. Bowles’ 2002 campaign manager, Craig Shirmer, is managing Obama’s campaign here. Bowles 2004 manager, Guy Cecil, is Clinton’s national political director, overseeing Ace Smith’s North Carolina campaign.

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