Mark Johnson of the Charlotte Observer is one of the best political reporters I know, but I don’t think his story about Zach Ambrose was quite fair about the campaign that Perdue’s transition chief ran. Johnson wrote: Ambrose comes into the job with some obvious challenges….(S)ome observers will be watching to see if he’s got…
Read MoreOnce upon a time not so long ago Wachovia Bank, a hundred-year-old bank, was as solid as the rock of Gibraltar. What went wrong? It’s a tale of miscalculations and mistakes – by its own managers. As a result investors have seen their shares plummet and the bank put on the auction block not once,…
Read MoreThe fight over the future of the Republican Party has spilled over into the state chairman’s race. Linda Daves has the job. Fred Smith, apparently, wants it. And there’s a third, lesser known, candidate. Daves’ critics say the last two elections prove she knows little about politics. Smith’s critics say he spent $2.5 million of…
Read MoreBarack Obama is being hailed as a combination of Lincoln and FDR. The economic crisis is likened to secession and Depression. There seems to be a consensus on what he should do – among Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, Washington and Wall Street: Spend money! Spend billions of dollars! Trillions, even! Damn the deficit!…
Read MoreWhen the heads of the Big Three went to Washington to ask Congress for $25 billion to save their companies, one congressman asked, What will you do, personally, to make a bailout a success? The president of Chrysler said he would work for a dollar a year. The congressman looked at the presidents of GM…
Read MoreTalk about Old White Guys (OWGs) – when I read Gary’s blog yesterday I had to look up what a Prius was, which I guess is emblematic of a problem for a lot of us OWGs – the rules have changed and we can’t learn the new language. Here’s an example: The other night driving…
Read MoreI was on a panel last week for the Women’s Networking Forum sponsored by Hunton & Williams law firm. The subject was “Lipstick, Pantsuits and Politics.” When I told my wife I would be talking about women and politics, she shot back: “Two of your favorite subjects.” And I actually know something about one of…
Read MoreWell, now, I’ve taken to reading the Life section of the newspaper to continue to monitor the pulse beat of culture. Thursday there was an Ann Landers-type self-help column about religion written by a Methodist minister. The question she was asked by one of her readers was: “What’s the difference between a cult and a…
Read MoreTwo pairs of stories in today’s N&O capture the shifting state of politics nationally and in North Carolina. First, North Carolina. The front page spotlights $270 million going to the highway loop in Fayetteville, home of Secretary Lyndo Tippett and Senator Tony Rand. Then Under the Dome says Marc Basnight wants Governor-elect Perdue to name…
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