Jim Hunt’s Revenge

Back in the early 1980s, Jim Hunt chaired a commission that changed the Democratic Party’s presidential-nomination process. What he did then may matter this year. Hunt’s commission – whose staff director was David Price, then executive director of the state party – created a class of “superdelegates.” These are elected officials (Senators, Congressmen and Governors)…

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Race and Change

When Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary, he announced it was a victory for change. If so, it appears while African-Americans were overwhelmingly for change, other Democrat voters were not – because 80% of the African-Americans voted for Obama, while 75% of the white Democrats voted for Edwards or Hillary. Given the first real…

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Why did Edwards get out?

John Edwards’ withdrawal was an abrupt surprise – even to his closest supporters. Monday afternoon, his campaign was telling reporters on a conference call that he was in for the duration. Tuesday afternoon, they were sending out fundraising emails and laying on a full schedule through Super Tuesday. Clearly, this was a sudden decision. Politically,…

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South Carolina Winners and Losers

The battle is over. Let’s ride down out of the hills and shoot the wounded: Big Winner? Barack Obama. But he also faces a big racial divide. The question next Tuesday is whether he can win white and Latino votes. Big Losers. The Clintons. Hillary said she found her voice in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, Bill…

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Power of the Press

A couple of weeks ago, the Easley Administration rolled out a new approach on North Carolina’s disastrous mental-health system. Actually, it rolled out Mr. Fix-It: Dempsey Benton, the legendary master city manager from Raleigh who is now Secretary of Health and Human Services. Benton outlined a plan to fix the system. Why? Well, it turns…

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South Carolina Sliming

What is it about South Carolina primaries? Of course, this is the state that gave us Pitchfork Ben Tillman, Strom Thurmond and Lee Atwater. Not to mention secession and the Civil War. Now South Carolina has given us two of the sleaziest presidential primaries in history: the Bush mugging of John McCain in 2000 and…

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Imagine This

Imagine this. Two Democrats are arguing about John Edwards future. One says, ‘Why not? Why shouldn’t he do it? Here’s the scenario: Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid calls John Edwards, says, John, your running against Elizabeth Dole could mean Democrats keeping control of the Senate. Which could mean the end of the war in Iraq.…

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The Clintons Play for Keeps

Hillary Clinton went hard after Barack Obama in Monday’s debate. In front of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Martin Luther King Day. She even got jeered. Why? Because the Clintons’ strategy is to shake, rattle and roll Obama. Take him away from the set-piece orations where he is a master. Put him on the defensive.…

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Perdue Hits Sour Note on Parton

The worst wounds in politics are self-inflicted. Beverly Perdue was starting to draw blood by linking Richard Moore to the Randy Parton fiasco. Then The N&O got a copy of an email from one of her fundraisers soliciting $20,000 from the Parton crowd. It’s easy to say somebody should have seen this coming. As in:…

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Garage Band Equals Carlessness

During the Republican debate last week, Pat McCrory said “twenty percent of the inmates” in the Charlotte jail are illegal immigrants. He also said in a speech last week over fifty-percent of the babies born at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte are Latino. McCrory didn’t make the numbers up. But it turns out he was…

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