Posts by Gary Pearce
Jim Hunt Redux
Governor Hunt, my old boss, is like a veteran rock band that still rocks. He may be 75, but he’s still on his game. Even Pat McCrory is cozying up to him. Hunt gave a well-received speech at the Democratic Convention. Unlike a lot of speakers, he didn’t promote himself. He’s beyond needing…
Read MoreLet ’em Debate
Jim Lehrer deserves a break. If he made a mistake moderating the presidential debate, it wasn’t that he should have done more to rein in Romney and Obama. He should have done less. The presidential debate, with its free-flowing format, was much more informative than the gubernatorial debate, which stuck to the stiff and…
Read MoreRomney’s Risk
A country lawyer – and conservative Democrat – says Mitt Romney may have made a big mistake in the first debate, despite the quick boost he got. “Whatever you say in your opening argument, you’d better back it up when you present your case,” the lawyer said. To wit: Did Romney lie when…
Read MoreUnder Pat’s Skin
Walter Dalton’s feisty debate performance gave his campaign a spark and got under Pat McCrory’s skin. That’s a weakness that would hurt McCrory in the Governor’s office. If McCrory didn’t like Dalton’s questions and attacks, wait until the media gets after him. And that’s just a matter of time in a media culture that…
Read MoreGame Change
Mitt Romney sliced and diced President Obama last night. Obama looked like he’d rather be celebrating his anniversary with Michelle. If he keeps this up, they won’t spend their next anniversary in the White House, let alone with 40 million people. See the rule from my blog yesterday (and my ever-so-accurate prediction): “Bugs Bunny…
Read MoreRomney’s Bounce
I have a feeling that Mitt Romney will get a bounce out of tonight’s debate. Not because I play the ridiculous expectations game, but because a Romney bounce is due and he can easily do well. He needs to set aside all the conflicting and confusing advice candidates always get before debates. I spent…
Read MoreHoping for a Crash
Here is a debate preview from a TAPster who combines the best qualities of Carter and me: namely, hating both parties equally: “Political dweebs everywhere will gather around their TVs Wednesday night for the much-anticipated debates between the North Carolina gubernatorial candidates and the Obama-Romney showdown. “The NC debate is meaningless. The two…
Read MoreAttacking the Polls
Republicans unhappy with Obama-leaning polls are resorting to what one wit called “the time-honored practice of making things up.” Led by Dick Morris, they engage in imaginative re-engineering of poll results to make things look better for Mitt Romney. I asked a Democratic pollster I trust about the Republican revisionism. His reply: “I…
Read More“No Party” Wins
If you wonder which party is riding a voter registration tide, here’s your answer: Neither. More than half of the new voters in North Carolina are Unaffiliated. Since December 2011, some 266,000 new voters have registered in the state. Of those, 53.4 percent (142,209) registered as Unaffiliated. Slightly more registered Republican than Democratic – 61,903…
Read MoreLoose Lips
The downside of drawing safe districts is that you get unsafe candidates. Like Republican House candidate Debra Conrad, who told a group in Winston-Salem: “Unfortunately, the more money you raise and give to the speaker, the better committee assignment you get.” Her comments were reported in YES! Weekly by Jordan Green. They came Tuesday…
Read More