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WINSTON-SALEM — Richard Burr’s campaign headquarters here in the basement of a bank building may look unassuming, but it neatly illustrates the problem for his Republican primary challengers.

Burr has space set aside for volunteers, fundraisers and strategists, all of whom are working for a candidate who has already successfully run one statewide campaign and six bids for the U.S. House before that. The campaign expects to raise $15 million by the end of the year.

Designed to fight off the Democrats’ eventual nominee, Burr’s operation is beyond anything GOP challengers Eddie Burks or Brad Jones say they have at their disposal. A third Republican challenger, Larry Linney of Charlotte, did not answer repeated calls to a phone number he listed with the State Board of Elections. A second phone number listed with the state board has been disconnected.

“I can’t imagine it,” Burks said of Burr’s fundraising goal. “There’s just no way that I can get the kind of money he has ... Everybody who’s sent me anything, I’ve known who they are.”

Burks’ campaign staff consists of a manager and a treasurer, but he has no plans to hire a fundraising consultant.

That said, Burks has already produced three television spots and hopes to have enough money to put them on in specific spots throughout the state.

Jones said he will use some radio commercials and rely on friends throughout the state to spread the word about his campaign.

“It’s just going to be a grass-roots thing,” he said.

Political observers say the lofty ideal of an everyman taking on established incumbents runs smack into the cold reality of winning over voters in a state with four major media markets — and where driving from one end to the other can take the better part of a day.

“We just don’t see any credible threat at the moment in the primary,” said Scott Rasmussen , president of the Rasmussen Reports.

His polling firm, a nationally known company seen as friendly to Republicans, has been looking at how Burr might fare against potential Democratic challengers.

So far, he has not bothered to test the incumbent against Republican rivals.

“That possibility is not on my radar,” said Joshua Putnam , a visiting lecturer at Wake Forest University, when asked about the potential for Burr to lose in the primary. “It would take a scandal for that to happen.”

It’s not that outsiders can’t catch on against a Senate incumbent. “This is a phenomenal year,” Rasmussen said. “Incumbents are very unpopular.”

Burks, Jones and Linney don’t have much time to build on whatever unrest there may be among North Carolina Republican primary voters. However, they do appear ready to give voice to grievances against what they see as an out-of-control federal government generally and Burr in particular.

“I’ve grown tired of the wasteful spending, and everything is done in crisis mode,” Jones said. “Here for the last 10 or 12 years it’s just been spend, spend, spend, and I don’t think we can sustain this any longer.”

So why challenge Burr, who in 2009 was given a 100 percent rating by The American Conservative Union?

“During the years of the Bush administration, he was a rubber stamp for every spending program,” Jones said. “They tried to outspend the Democrats and he went right along with it. And now that the executive branch is no longer held by a Republican, he’s acting conservative again.”

Jones said if he were elected he would call for an audit of all federal systems “down to the broom closets” and push Congress to adopt a balanced budget. The federal government also needs to make good on promises to those who have been forced to pay into Medicare and Social Security, he said.

Jones shares at least some policy positions with Burks and Burr. All three oppose what they characterize as a government takeover of the nation’s health care system. They all say companies should be allowed to sell health insurance across state lines and mention curbing lawsuits against doctors — generally called tort reform — as a major feature of reigning in health care costs.

Burks adds another point to his health care platform.

While he says some federal spending is wasteful, he said the government should invest in medical schools so they can produce more primary care doctors.

“If we don’t do something to address the needs of the lack of primary care physicians that we have in this country, we’re going to have rationed health care no matter what,” Burks said.

When asked why he was running against Burr, Burks said it wasn’t an easy decision for someone who has served one term as a small-town mayor and is in the third year of his first term on the Asheboro City Council.

“It came to me in church one evening,” said Burks, who describes himself as a born-again Christian. Feedback from other businessmen and local government officials helped push him fully into the race.

“I found a surprising number of people who are involved in politics … who knew nothing about Senator Burr,” Burks said.

He said other city officials described Burr as “inaccessible.”

Linney, who has been convicted of embezzlement and disbarred as a lawyer, could not be reached for this story.

For his part, Burr calls the tea party movement “the calvary” and said he empathizes with conservatives inside and outside the movement who are frustrated with the federal government.

“I think their message is quite simple: government is out of touch with the American people,” Burr said. “Government has been doing unnatural things by owning car companies and owning insurance companies. They want us to get out of the business of doing that. I do as well.”

But candidates such as his primary opponents don’t seem to be drawing distinctions between incumbents from the two parties.

“I think that shows you the degree of passion they have about making sure the current leadership is not there,” Burr said.

“The challenge is on me is to present myself to all voters … as to why not just my vision of where we want to go but my record of where we’ve been is consistent with what in fact their major issues are in this country.”

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com