Tom Ellis, the Raleigh attorney-mastermind who figured out how Jesse Helms could defeat Jim Hunt had an unusual virtue. The way a lot of folks saw it Mr. Ellis ran Jesse’s campaigns like a dictator. But nothing was further from the truth – Tom Ellis was a ‘listener.’ He’d listen to anybody and everybody. Once…
Read MoreIt’s tempting to dismiss Governor Easley’s proposed “sin tax” increases: Spoken like a man who’s not up for reelection. But give the Governor credit here. He pushed for higher taxes his first term, and he survived the predictable Republican challenge that resulted. Besides, he needs a good word. He had a tough spring, with the…
Read MoreRepublicans are signaling their Obama bombs: the most liberal Senator, an elitist and an extremist. Also, follower of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and friend of Weathermen. Also, under the table, an anti-American Muslim. But the excellent, exhaustive profile of Obama the politician in The New York Times Sunday painted a far different picture. Obama is…
Read MoreBert Bennett, who was Governor Hunt’s political godfather, had a characteristically terse way of dismissing election post-mortems: “When you win, you did everything right. When you lose, you did everything wrong.” But there are always lessons to be learned after campaigns. Governor: Bev Perdue won for structural and strategic reasons. For more than 20 years,…
Read MoreThe first presidential primary I voted in was 1972. Terry Sanford, the champion of the New South, was running against George Wallace, back when Wallace was still a died-in-the-wool segregationist. Wallace humiliated Sanford in his home state, effectively ending Terry’s chances of being the moderate Southern elected President in the 1970s, instead of Jimmy Carter.…
Read MoreBeverly Perdue may have overcome her addiction to ‘positive campaigning.’ This morning on the radio when asked if she’d continue her pledge not to run negative ads this fall she said she needed a little time to consider her strategy. If ‘negative ads’ were bad in April what changed in May? Back when Perdue renounced…
Read MoreFinally, North Carolina mattered in the presidential race. The home of hard-edged racial politics clinched the nomination of Barack Obama. And put the nail in the coffin for Hillary Clinton. The Clinton campaign expected to do much better here. They hoped to keep the margin to five points. They even dreamed of an upset. They…
Read MoreA few weeks ago, watching the Obama campaign’s energy, I predicted he would win North Carolina in a blowout, maybe by 20 points. A few months ago, watching the aggressiveness of Richard Moore’s campaign, I thought he might upset Bev Perdue. Today, Primary Day, looks different. It’s a reminder that – being exercises in human…
Read MoreThere’s hardly a problem in America today Barack Obama can’t blame on a corporation. They’re the whipping boys for everything from $4-a-gallon gasoline to soaring healthcare costs – Obama’s drawn a bulls eye on corporate lobbyists and voters are cheering him on. So it came as a shock – politically – to open the…
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