Settling the great yard sign debate

If you’ve ever worked in a campaign, you’ve been part of the debate over yard signs. Pros pooh-pooh them as a waste of money. Volunteers clamor for them. The candidate’s brother calls in every day to tell you how many signs the opponent has up. Supporters claim your opponents are stealing yours. And a smart…

Read More

Hell, yes! Let’s vote on HB2!

Democrats in the legislature should immediately embrace a statewide referendum on HB2. This issue is killing Republicans. A referendum will keep it alive all year. A cascade of national money will flow in to help Roy Cooper, Deborah Ross and Josh Stein. Pat McCrory’s “Carolina Comeback” will drown in a tide of ongoing news  about…

Read More

Fear and loathing, ’16

After Tuesday’s primaries, we face the likelihood of a mean, ugly campaign between two of the most polarizing people in American politics today. Where is Hunter Thompson when we need him? Only the good doctor, who wrote Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, could do justice to what’s coming. Donald Trump’s negatives trump…

Read More

Grading teacher pay

Here’s another way the crowd in Raleigh today is hurting North Carolina. WRAL will broadcast a documentary at 7 pm tonight, “Grading Teacher Pay.” The station’s overview: “During the 1990’s Governor Jim Hunt worked with Republicans and Democrats in the legislature to raise the average salary for public school teachers to the national average in…

Read More

The great GOP crack-up

Like all Gaul, the Republican Party is divided into three parts, and all three seem to be at war with each, in North Carolina and nationally. In North Carolina, the Cultural Conservatives (Part I) who run the legislature have made HB2 – and the consequent economic damage – the big issue for 2016. That has…

Read More

Civil War

North Carolina politics used to divide regionally: East vs. West. For much of the 20th Century, there was a tradition that a Governor from the West was succeeded by a Governor from the East. And each region had one U.S. Senator. Today, the civil war is City vs. Country. The ever-wise Ferrel Guillory, director of…

Read More

Phil flushes Pat

As Governor McCrory paddles furiously to stay afloat, it becomes clear that Senator Berger sold him down the HB2 river. This is a three-fer for Berger: (1) He makes his base happy; (2) he screws his enemies in the cities and (3) he punches a hole in McCrory’s reelection boat. Why does Berger want McCrory…

Read More

McCrory: “Oops”

After weeks of staunchly defending HB2 and slamming opponents as a “politically correct” mob of perverts, left-wingers, their allies in the media and their corporate lackeys, Governor McCrory rose from his sickbed – at least, via video and one careful interview – to waffle, wiggle and waver. As one wit said of McCrory’s executive order,…

Read More

Does McCrory have HB2-flu?

His staff says he has a “viral contagion.” Like the viral contagion of jobs, visitors, entertainers and businesses avoiding North Carolina like the plague. The Governor cancelled all his public appearances – and avoided all HB2 questions – this weekend. Monday, he summoned up the strength to announce his proposed health budget. But he still wasn’t up to…

Read More

Job killers

With the PayPal pullout, HB2 has now officially killed more jobs than Obamacare. Maybe that’s the plan. See, Republicans are strong in rural areas, which are losing jobs and population. They’ve tried to reverse that since 2010, with no success. So now they figure it’s easier to stop the explosive growth in strong Democratic urban…

Read More