If the zingers Democrat Cal Cunnigham was directing at freshman Sen. Richard M. Burr last week are any indication, the former state senator is getting ready to take on the Republican incumbent in 2010.

In a videotaped speech to a Democratic gathering in Charlotte now making the Internet rounds, Cunningham hit Burr early and often. “In 15 years on Capitol Hill you can’t name one thing that Richard Burr has done to make your life better, and I can’t either,” he declared, referencing Burr’s time as a senator and a congressman.

Cunningham, an Iraq War vet, noted, “During the same period of time that Richard Burr was missing more than half of his Veterans Affairs Committee hearings, I was twice called to active duty for a war that he voted to authorize with no plan to keep the peace.”