-and who will buy them the fishing license?

Time for an NCGOP Senate Primary Clown Car Update:

Greg Brannon, the North Carolina Republican Senate candidate endorsed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), likened being on food stamps to slavery. 

"The answer is the Department of Agriculture should go away at the federal level," Brannon said in an interview with the North Carolina Tea Party highlighted by Mother Jones on Tuesday. "And now 80% of the farm bill is food stamps. That enslaves people. What you want to do — it's crazy but it's true — is teach people to fish so they can fish. When you're at the behest of someone else, you are actually a slavery to them [sic]." 

Brannon has also argued that bipartisan compromises in Washington essentially "enslave" Americans. 

Republicans may not have to worry about Brannon's views on what is or isn't slavery much longer. A new Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday found Brannon's opponent in the GOP Senate primary, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis (R), leading the field. The poll found Tillis leading the field with 19 percent support followed by Brannon with 11 percent, Republican challenger Heather Grant with 8 percent and Reverend Mark Harris with 8 percent.

Waldo's initial appraisal of the field is here. For some of Brannnon's seccesh talk, see this item.

Strikingly, though, Brannon- given the party nod- could win:

Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan trails her potential Republican challengers as she works to retain her seat in November, according to a new poll. 

The North Carolina Democrat trailed each of the Republicans vying to challenge her in the general election by 1 or 2 points, according to a poll out Tuesday from left-leaning Public Policy Polling. 

Hagan is a top target of Republicans looking to take over control of the Senate in 2014. Tuesday’s poll is consistent with the past few months of polling, which have shown a sizable lead Hagan enjoyed in September evaporate as she runs near even with the Republicans in the field. 

A frontrunner is also emerging in the GOP primary. State House Speaker Thom Tillis leads the pack with 19 percent; physician Greg Brannon and nurse practitioner Heather Grant were at 11 percent, Pastor Mark Harris was at 8 percent and radio personality Bill Flynn was at 7 percent. 

In a hypothetical November matchup, Hagan trails Tillis 43 percent to 42 percent and Grant 42 percent to 41 percent. She trails the other candidates by 2 percentage points.