One moment Barack Obama sounds like a wild-eyed liberal who’s out to “save the planet” from the icecaps melting – the next he’s turning around and coming out for offshore drilling. One moment John McCain sounds like a two-fisted independent and maverick – but at the same time down in the bowels of McCain Central…
Read MoreIt does my heart good to see Republicans fuming because North Carolina Democrats are playing hardball. First there was the ad raising questions about Pat McCrory – before McCrory could introduce himself to voters across the state. Now there is a new ad from the DSCC with this tagline about Elizabeth Dole: “Not as effective…
Read MoreThe low road is the only road to the White House for John McCain. So he’s riding it hard. Mr. Straight-Talk-Let’s-Clean-Up-Politics has shed the last shred of his old skin. He’s turned his campaign over to the Karl Rove snakes who slimed George W. Bush’s old enemies – John Kerry and, oh yes, John McCain…
Read MoreThe low-road strategy beat Michael Dukakis, Al Gore and John Kerry. But not Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton. And maybe not Barack Obama. Here’s why. Dukakis, Gore and Kerry reinforced – with their own performances – the portrait that Republican slime-masters drew of them. Lee Atwater painted Dukakis as a wuss. And Dukakis wussed out…
Read MoreWhen the national Democratic Party poured a whopping $6.5 million into her campaign, Kay Hagan was shocked. Just shocked. She knew nothing about it. The millions of dollars that fell from the sky like manna from heaven were a complete surprise. But, now, Beverly Perdue has done her one better. After raising hundreds of thousands…
Read MoreJohn Edwards’ political career began after the death of his first child. Will it end after the birth of another child? A once-strong Edwards supporter posed that question the other day. She, like other supporters, is nervous about the “love child” story. Edwards said it’s “tabloid trash.” That’s not enough. If the story is not…
Read MoreThe Ruby Slippers have been Kay Hagan’s gimmick – a way to say Elizabeth Dole is really from Kansas, not North Carolina. Memo to Kay: Put the slippers back in the closet. Negative attacks don’t work when they appear personal or irrelevant. The slippers are both. And negative attacks backfire if the shoe fits you…
Read MoreImagine this: A pollster-guru-political whiz sitting in McCain’s headquarters turning pages, staring at statistics, searching to find someone in America who is less popular than George Bush stops, looks up and says two words: “Paris Hilton.” The young Republican males sitting across the table — who have cut their teeth in the ‘voters are idiots’…
Read MoreAn older Democrat asked me how to get younger votes who are excited about Barack Obama to vote a straight Democratic ticket. Thanks to past Democratic legislatures, the ballot makes this hard. You have to vote for Obama, then go to a separate place to vote a straight ticket. That was a good idea when…
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