Two North Carolinas

Shades of John Edwards and “Two Americas!” The state Senate seemed to channel the former Senator in the debate over how to help the state’s stagnating rural areas keep up with booming urban areas.   One Senator said we need to “level the playing field.”   There is a political angle to this, of course.…

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A Friend in Need…

A suspicious-minded sort at breakfast wondered if there was more than coincidence behind these two stories running the same day: “N.C. voters want stronger actions from lawmakers on coal” (Weekly Independent) and “Duke deal could lower power bills in eastern NC towns” (WRAL-TV).   No doubt the ElectriCities deal has been in the works for…

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BOMs Away!

Democrats and progressives routinely decry Big Outside Money (BOM). Maybe they should recalculate. BOM has fundamentally reshaped the U.S. Senate race – in favor of Senator Hagan and against Speaker Tillis.   A flood of ads sponsored by pro-Hagan groups like the Senate Majority PAC have painted Tillis as the friend of CEOs, yacht-owners and…

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Peace and Quiet?

After President Obama bombed Libya into submission I wouldn’t have expected to hear anyone calling him an isolationist but according to Dick Cheney that’s exactly what he is.  John McCain’s not exactly happy with the President either; he’s upset with Obama for not doing more in the Ukraine. But the isolationist who’s done the most…

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GOP Lite or Real Dems?

It’s an argument I’ve heard for 40 years: “Southern Democrats, meet your future: No more Republican lite.”   That’s the headline on a recent article by Bob Moser, Senior Editor at the National Journal. He wrote, “Candidates like (Kay) Hagan are stuck between the past, when Southern Democrats’ recipe for victory involved courting white moderates…

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Is the Bear Bored?

President Obama has taken to slipping the surly bonds of office, going out to Starbucks for a coffee, asking friends to set up late dinners with interesting, intellectually stimulating people (as opposed to the people he deals with in Washington, presumably). When he escapes, he jokes that “The bear is loose.”   Surely, Presidents deserve…

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What Do You Read?

Here’s another example of how two different journals this week reported on the same political story:   “Goodbye to the GOP wave?” The New York Times.   “Odds of a GOP Wave Are Increasing” The National Journal.

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Modern Political Debate

It sure looks, Richard said politely, like John Boehner could have found something else to sue President Obama over.   Fifty-four times John Boehner and the Republicans have voted to repeal Obamacare so it seemed odd to Richard, a retired businessman, that Boehner was about to sue Obama for not enforcing the Obamacare Employer Mandate.…

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If Dan Blue…

As soon as Conor the Jessecrat sat down at our regular political dinner he unfolded a newspaper, pointed, and said, There’s a headline to strike terror in every Congressman’s heart. I read ‘Judge Orders Districts Redrawn’ and thought about the half-a-dozen lawsuits in North Carolina about redistricting but it turned out this lawsuit was in…

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State for Sale. Cheap!

Art Pope’s critics often accuse him of “buying the State of North Carolina.” If he did, he got it cheap.   The Washington Post this weekend published its obligatory profile about the mild-mannered retail magnate who became the Superman ruling over North Carolina’s budget, politics and university system.   Two numbers catch your eye.  …

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