Open the newspaper most any day and you’ll read some politician somewhere saying the government’s flat broke. Washington’s out of money. Raleigh’s destitute. Money’s tight at City Hall. The County’s cut its budget. But the other morning I opened the newspaper and one story sounded a different note: Amid all…
Read MoreFor a year Phil Berger the Leader of the State Senate’s been looking the Governor in the eye and telling her, ‘No,’ and now as if wrestling a Governor isn’t enough trouble for one man he’s told the State House ‘No’ too. Governor Perdue and the Democrats have been pummeling House Speaker Thom Tillis…
Read MoreMaybe there was energy, electricity and excitement in the air at N.C. Democrats’ Jefferson-Jackson this weekend. But, judging from outside, the optimism seemed a bit forced. (I’m happy to say I wasn’t there.) Also on the outside, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of enthusiasm among Democrats right now about the fall election.…
Read MoreOver in the State Senate the Republicans and Democrats are going at it hammer and tongs, fighting it out over their education platforms. The Democrats say, Spend more money. Now. And Republicans say, No – let’s require third graders to read. The Democrats say, Failing third graders who can’t read is terrible…
Read MoreLast year, the State Legislature passed a bill to charge people riding state ferries tolls but, then, after the legislature left town the Governor thumbed her nose at the legislators and said, Well, you can pass it but darned if I’ll collect it. So the tolls were a dead issue. Until the legislature reconvened.…
Read MoreA few blogs back, I took a swipe at video sweepstakes as a “seamy enterprise.” Brad Crone, who consults with the Internet Based Sweepstakes Organization, replies: “What’s the difference between a mid-level manager playing a round of golf for $200 in Pinehurst versus a plumbers assistant spending $20 on video sweepstakes? There isn’t…
Read MoreSelf-righteous Republican legislators seem determined to hasten the day when their days are numbered. It’s the pitfall that comes with power: You think you’re invincible, so you act like it. You drew your districts to keep you in power, so you think you’ll never lose power. So you act like the Senate Republicans…
Read MoreThe contrast between Walter Dalton’s and Pat McCrory’s messages to the NFIB this week alarmed one Democratic political veteran. Rob Christensen wrote in the N&O that the two “painted sharply different portraits of North Carolina on Tuesday, with the Democrat saying the state was emerging from difficult times and the Republican saying the state…
Read MoreIf I were a Republican (I’m struggling here now), I’d wonder why this election is even close. With the economy in the tank and Americans in a funk, why doesn’t Mitt Romney have a huge lead over President Obama? Jeb Bush has it figured out. He told reporters that his father and Ronald Reagan…
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