Archive for September 2012
This Just In…
A TAPster takes an admitted “cheap shot” at the N&O: “In the middle of a game-changing election season, the newspaper’s Sunday edition underscored its irrelevance by living in the past. “It ran an exhausting front-page rehash of a 40-year-old murder mystery and dragged former columnist Dennis Rogers from retirement to add his dusty…
Read MoreOwning Obamacare
A TAPster writes: “Ironically, or maybe not, the talking heads at Fox News who created the term ‘Obamacare’ as a derisive term for the Healthcare Reform Act have actually done the opposite. They defined the debate in Obama’s terms and not their own. How stupid! “Think if you are Ford Motors and BMW…
Read MoreHolden On
My fellow Wolfpackers will howl, but I feel for Holden Thorp. It’s no fun being pummeled in The News & Observer day after day. Thorp must ask himself every morning: How do I get ahead of this? A TAPster whose judgment I respect – and is a UNC alum – wrote: “Thorp’s professional…
Read MoreThe Unexpected Happens
Almost every day, sometimes a couple of times a day, someone will ask, Well, who’s going to win this election? It’s human nature: We want bedrock beneath our feet. But there is no answer to the question. Not even the handful of undecided voters have a clue how they’ll vote at the end of the…
Read MoreDalton on the Job
Walter Dalton put out a strong, thoughtful and comprehensive jobs plan this week. It was long on good ideas, but – unfortunately – short on political punch. It illustrates the challenge Democrats face in a short-attention span age. Republicans have the virtue of brevity and simplicity, if not quality. Pat McCrory has a bumper-sticker…
Read MoreX Factors
Every time I’ve handicapped the presidential race, I’ve warned about X Factors – big events out of anybody’s control that can sway elections. A big one exploded in the Middle East last night. A foreign policy crisis in September is a huge X Factor. It dominates the news. It challenges the incumbent. And it…
Read MoreSilent Running
The convention gave President Obama a surge (possibly short-lived) in polls and fundraising. But he’s got another edge that won’t be short-lived: a “fired up and ready to go” ground game and the technology to make it go. The Obama campaign has spent years and millions upon millions of dollars building it. They have…
Read MoreSilent Running
The convention gave President Obama a surge (possibly short-lived) in polls and fundraising. But he’s got another edge that won’t be short-lived: a “fired up and ready to go” ground game and the technology to make it go. The Obama campaign has spent years and millions upon millions of dollars building it. They have…
Read MoreMitt’s Anchors
Mitt Romney must think his campaign is in serious trouble. Why else would he promise to keep some of Obamacare and not cut taxes for the wealthy? Two 180s in one 30-minute talk show! How long will it take before the Tea Party forces him to re-retreat? There is a great irony at…
Read MoreTerry
After Governor Hunt’s speech to the Democratic convention Wednesday night, a Facebook friend said it was “classy” for him to start by talking about Terry Sanford. I’m glad Hunt did it. What a shame it would have been if Terry Sanford hadn’t been honored at a Democratic convention in North Carolina. So pardon…
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