Burr told family to withdraw everything from bank

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Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) says when the financial crisis began he encouraged his wife to withdraw all the cash she possibly could from their local bank.

During a speech on the economy last night, Burr related his immediate reaction the week the crisis began.

“On Friday night, I called my wife and I said, ‘Brooke, I am not coming home this weekend. I will call you on Monday. Tonight, I want you to go to the ATM machine, and I want you to draw out everything it will let you take," Burr said, according to the Hendersonville Times-News. "And I want you to tomorrow, and I want you to go Sunday.’ I was convinced on Friday night that if you put a plastic card in an ATM machine the last thing you were going to get was cash.”

Burr also gave a gloomy forecast for economic recovery.

“I would tell you it’s not a recession," Burr said. "I would define this as a depression. A recession by definition is when you raise interest rates to slow growth. We are at a zero-interest-rate policy and have been. The world is at a zero-interest-rate policy, yet we continue to see the economy slide. We continue to see unemployment grow. We continue to see confidence wane not just here but around the world.”

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/04/14/burr-told-family-to-withdraw-everything-from-bank/

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper (R) says he will decide "very soon" whether to challenge Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.)

Cooper told the Greensboro News-Record that "a lot of people are talking to me," and he would make a decision in the near future,

Cooper is Democrats' favored candidate to take on the freshman Burr, who beat Democrat Erskine Bowles in 2004 by a 52%-47% margin.

Since then, North Carolina has seen an influx of northeast transplants and a growing Latino population, making the state friendlier territory for Democrats. President Obama was the first Democrat to win the state in a presidential election since 1976.

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/04/14/cooper-to-decide-very-soon-whether-to-challenge-burr/