Josh Stein managed John Edwards’ Senate campaign in 1998. This year Josh is running for State Senate in Wake County, and he learned the most important lesson in politics: the winner in the money race usually wins the vote race. Stein says he has outraised his opponent, Jack Nichols, $132,850 to $50,256, and has three…
Read MoreSeven of eight members of the Raleigh City Council live south of the 440 Beltline. So, maybe, it’s no surprise their attention is less than riveted on North Raleigh. For the first time in 30 years, the city was poised to build a gym and community center in North East Raleigh on city owned property.…
Read MoreBack in the early 1980s, Jim Hunt chaired a commission that changed the Democratic Party’s presidential-nomination process. What he did then may matter this year. Hunt’s commission – whose staff director was David Price, then executive director of the state party – created a class of “superdelegates.” These are elected officials (Senators, Congressmen and Governors)…
Read MoreWhen Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary, he announced it was a victory for change. If so, it appears while African-Americans were overwhelmingly for change, other Democrat voters were not – because 80% of the African-Americans voted for Obama, while 75% of the white Democrats voted for Edwards or Hillary. Given the first real…
Read MoreJohn Edwards’ withdrawal was an abrupt surprise – even to his closest supporters. Monday afternoon, his campaign was telling reporters on a conference call that he was in for the duration. Tuesday afternoon, they were sending out fundraising emails and laying on a full schedule through Super Tuesday. Clearly, this was a sudden decision. Politically,…
Read MoreThe battle is over. Let’s ride down out of the hills and shoot the wounded: Big Winner? Barack Obama. But he also faces a big racial divide. The question next Tuesday is whether he can win white and Latino votes. Big Losers. The Clintons. Hillary said she found her voice in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, Bill…
Read MoreA couple of weeks ago, the Easley Administration rolled out a new approach on North Carolina’s disastrous mental-health system. Actually, it rolled out Mr. Fix-It: Dempsey Benton, the legendary master city manager from Raleigh who is now Secretary of Health and Human Services. Benton outlined a plan to fix the system. Why? Well, it turns…
Read MoreWhat is it about South Carolina primaries? Of course, this is the state that gave us Pitchfork Ben Tillman, Strom Thurmond and Lee Atwater. Not to mention secession and the Civil War. Now South Carolina has given us two of the sleaziest presidential primaries in history: the Bush mugging of John McCain in 2000 and…
Read MoreImagine this. Two Democrats are arguing about John Edwards future. One says, ‘Why not? Why shouldn’t he do it? Here’s the scenario: Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid calls John Edwards, says, John, your running against Elizabeth Dole could mean Democrats keeping control of the Senate. Which could mean the end of the war in Iraq.…
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