Immoderate Pat

Governor McCrory desperately wants to look moderate. He wants to distance himself from the right-wing red-hots in the legislature. If he doesn’t, he’s on the road to one term.   So he went to great lengths to soften his budget proposal.  The News & Observer editorialized:   “State employees, teachers, Democrats and others unnerved by…

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Pacification Therapy

With much fanfare just before she left office Governor Perdue announced she’d made a grand deal to lease Raleigh all of the land at Dix Hospital for 99 years. When the deal landed in the newspapers, a friend, who’s spent a good part of his life buying and selling real estate, called, laughed and said,…

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Fast Forward

Has public opinion – and politicians – ever shifted so fast on an issue as on gay marriage?   A year ago, 60 percent of North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Yesterday, a U.S. Senator in a tough reelection fight endorsed gay marriage.   Yes, Kay Hagan is one of a…

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GOP to Raleigh: Drop Dead

When President Gerald Ford nixed financial aid for New York City back in the 1970s, the front page of a brassy Big Apple tabloid blared: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”   Which brings us to the Republican bill undoing the Dix deal. Which brings us to two GOP Senators from Wake County who cut and…

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In the Crosshairs

As if Senator Kay Hagan needed Michael Bloomberg sticking his Gotham billionaire gun-control nose in her race.   Hagan already has a tough reelection fight. She’s one of the Obama Class of 2008 Senators. And a President’s second mid-term election historically is bad for his party.   (Not always, though. Republicans thought they would be…

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Wacko Birds and Old Birds

There’s nothing political folks like better than a good Civil War – whether you happen to be a Republican or a Democrat it’s hard to find a pogrom more satisfying than purging the heretics in your own party, which is not necessarily an unproductive experience: After all, Reagan’s victory in 1980 was the result of…

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The Democrats’ Leaked Plan – Summary

A pair of ‘grassroots organizers,’ Jessica Laurenz and Sean Kosofsky, took a poll, found three issues, and wrote a plan. Neither had ever run a major statewide campaign and they lacked money and a voice but they had passion and zeal and sailed into uncharted waters to breathe life back into the moribund Democratic Party…

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Politics 101

The vote is a powerful thing. In less than a year, it has taken immigrants from pariah to power in American politics.   This week, Tea Party centerfold Rand Paul softened his position on immigration. (Remember when Mitt Romney called for “self-deportation”?) Paul’s 2016 rival Marco Rubio – and other Republicans – had already beat…

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The Optimist

Bowater, as his friends call him, is a local Democrat – and an incurable optimist. While Republican preen and strut with power and Democrats wring their hands with worry, Bowater remain serenely sanguine.   One friend finally reached his limit – with the Republicans and with Bowater’s rosy view. He demanded, “What makes you so…

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The Leaked Plan – Part III

Half-way through her plan Jessica Laurenz started to make a list of the building blocks she would need to build a campaign. She ticked off, ‘A brain trust, research, relentless media, year-round voter registration, a vibrant multi-racial organizing infrastructure and statewide field organizing.’   But, then, she missed a piece: Obama.   Four years ago,…

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