Posts by Gary Pearce
GOP Autopsy
A Republican friend in Wake County offers this take on last week’s election: “The Republicans were doomed from the start on this election for school board. It was over before it started. “Definitely they earned an ‘F’ in PR, Message, and Branding of their board. Us GOP’ers wished Tedesco would have just went…
Read MoreSaluting Joe Dickerson
This Veterans Day, I salute my stepfather, Joe Dickerson of Murfreesboro, N.C. Joe was a country kid who had never been farther than Richmond when the Army shipped him to England to train for D-Day. He was in the first wave at Omaha Beach. His regiment – 116th Infantry, 29th Division – lost more…
Read More$139 Million Oops
A TAPster says Rep. Nelson Dollar this week in effect admitted that Governor Perdue was right about Medicaid: “Republicans in the General Assembly finally acknowledged their mistakes in the DHHS budget on Tuesday. Now they should reverse the damage their budget is doing to our schools too. “Their DHHS budget created a $139 million…
Read MoreA Strategy for Perdue
The Wake school board election blazes Governor Perdue’s best – and maybe only – path to reelection: Save our schools from the Tea Party. John Tedesco & Co. charge that Democrats somehow played dirty by airing Heather Losurdo’s stunning lack of credentials. They’re going for the cape and missing the bullfighter. Tedesco &…
Read MoreSchool Board Lessons
At breakfast this morning I asked my politically astute friend what the Wake school board outcome means. His response: “Democrats aren’t dead.” He added, “North Carolina isn’t a red state. And it’s not a blue state. It’s a 52-48 state” – exactly the margin of Kevin Hill’s victory. And, remember, in a district gerrymandered…
Read MoreRules of Engagement
A TAPster offers advice for people in politics – or any calling – who want to avoid being the next Herman Cain, or the next victim: “Sexual harassment is wrong. Period. When a man, woman or child says no, it must stop immediately. “Having said that, there are lessons for us all in…
Read MoreCain’s Scrutiny
Twenty years ago, another presidential candidate who had been rising in the polls ran into a sex scandal. Bill Clinton survived. And went on to be President for eight years – Jennifer Flowers, Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky notwithstanding. So maybe Democrats shouldn’t get too high and mighty about the allegations against Herman…
Read MoreVoter ID Deal?
A lobbyist friend suspects that the legislature will try to override the Governor’s veto of the voter ID bill this week. Then we may learn whether some Democrats agreed to vote for the override in exchange for the gay-marriage amendment being on the ballot in May, instead of November. Stay tuned.
Read MorePut Jim Hunt in Office
No, he’s not running again. (It’s amazing how the rumor keeps coming up.) We’re talking about his personal office in the new James B. Hunt, Jr. Library on Centennial Campus at N.C. State University. The Jim Hunt Alumni Association is raising $100,000 for naming rights to the office. Who are Jim Hunt…
Read MoreSixteen Again
It’s said that your favorite music will always be what you listened to when you were first steaming up car windows. The Kinks loom large in my soundtrack. Last night I was transported back in time – in Charlotte, of all places – at a Ray Davies concert. Nearly 50 years after “All…
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