Charlotte minister Mark Harris, who’s running for Senate, hit a rough patch when he released a poll showing him trailing Thom Tillis by 11 points – an inconvenient fact his political aide, Tom Perdue, brushed aside by saying, “The fact that we are down actually means we are way up.” Saying down is up…
Read MoreYou couldn’t design a more perfect Democratic candidate for Wake County in 2014 than Sarah Crawford. Proven success in a professional career and in community service – check. Attended public schools and college here – check. Young mother with children in public schools – check. Energy, smarts, savvy and a fiendishly hard worker – check,…
Read MoreDuke Energy and Duke basketball had a bad March. Duke basketball probably will come back sooner than Duke Energy. Duke Energy knows it has a problem. The utility took out full-page newspaper ads Sunday – the classic corporate PR response. It was a waste of money. A paid ad persuades no one…
Read MoreA federal criminal investigation. A massive, destructive spill. Deliberate pumping of bad stuff into water that people drink. Is this a description of the current Duke Energy debacle? Or a preview of hydraulic fracking for natural gas in North Carolina? The Duke mess is a huge – and perhaps fatal – problem for…
Read MoreMaybe it’ll be Charles Meeker. Or Nancy McFarlane. Or one of their successors. Whoever, a mayor of Raleigh will be Governor. And soon. The Raleigh media market is huge, reaching maybe as much as 40 percent of the Democratic primary vote and close to a third of the general election vote. A mayor who…
Read MoreDuke Energy badly fumbled the political/PR ball on the coal-ash spill. Duke should have quickly rolled out a clear plan to clean up the Dan River and to deal with long-term management of ash ponds. All we heard was the CEO saying ratepayers would pay. Politicians filled the void with preaching, posturing and their…
Read MoreWithout Duke Energy, Pat McCrory wouldn’t be Governor. Now, with Duke’s coal-ash spill, he may very well be a one-term Governor. Get some popcorn and get a comfortable chair, because this movie is going to run for a long time. At least through the 2016 election. And it will dominate the rest of McCrory’s…
Read MoreA TAPster reports seeing a State Capitol Police car equipped with a radar gun – miles away from any state government building. Inquiring minds want to know: Why does the State Capitol Police need a radar gun in one of their cruisers? What possible explanation can there be? Are school children running too fast…
Read MoreGovernor McCrory may have coal ash on his hands, but I bet most voters have education on their minds. So, does focusing on the Dan River disaster distract Democrats from a stronger issue? The spill is a tempting target. There’s the McCrory-Duke tie. You can tell the Governor is sensitive about it. When he…
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