Jim Hunt, Democrats and Race

When Jim Hunt was president of North Carolina Young Democrats in 1968, he said something at a YDC meeting that was deemed newsworthy – and wasn’t popular with all Democrats: “I’m getting tired of going to county, local and even State YDC meetings and looking out at the audience to see far too few black…

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Navalny the Politician

Alexei Navalny was a hero, an inspiring leader and a man of courage, compassion and character who stood up to men of cowardice, corruption and cruelty. He was also a politician, in the best and noblest sense of that much-maligned and despised word. He was a political threat. He would have beaten Putin in a…

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Swifties vs MAGA

The MAGA meltdown over Taylor Swift explains much about politics today – and for the last 70 years. It’s about old white men who are angry about being knocked off their perch by women, Blacks, Latinos, young people and LGBTQ people. It’s been going on since May 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared school…

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The Republican John Edwards

Bill Graham, a Republican candidate for governor, is trying to become the second trial lawyer to win high office in North Carolina. The first was John Edwards, a Democrat who was elected U.S. Senator in 1998. Like Edwards, Graham comes from humble roots and made millions of dollars as a plaintiffs’ lawyer representing little guys…

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Make Trump Lose Again

As always, Iowa and New Hampshire changed everything. President Biden is no longer running against a non-existent ideal. It’s him or Trump. America or MAGA. Democracy or dictatorship. Trump looks unbeatable in the Republican race. And unelectable in November. The New York Times, which for months harped on Biden’s liabilities, now notes: “Mr. Trump’s campaign…

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Hunt, Helms and MLK

I was struck last week by Republican politicians posting tributes to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., even as they fight everything he stood, marched and died for. Forty years ago, in 1984, the King holiday was a big issue in the Senate race between Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt. Helms opposed the holiday. He filibustered…

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Fear and Loathing 2024

I’m optimistic about the 2024 elections, as I’ve written. But I’m fearful for our nation. Because of Trump and MAGA. It’s clear he will summon his mobs to violence, as he did January 6, 2021. He has promised “bedlam” if courts hold him to account for crimes. Already, there have been “swatting” calls, bomb threats…

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A Sacred Cause

In one stroke, with one speech, President Biden transformed the 2024 election. It’s about “a sacred cause:” the defense of democracy. In his speech near Valley Forge last week – a day before the third anniversary of the Trump-MAGA mob’s violent assault on the Capitol and the Constitution – the President invoked the spirit of…

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Happy New Year, Democrats

I’m optimistic about Democrats in 2024. The country is better off today than it was four years ago. The economy is growing, jobs are increasing, prices have steadied and the stock market is booming. We have a President focused on leading, governing and uniting – not a would-be dictator obsessed with 24-hour tweeting, insulting and…

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Kate Barr For the Win

Kate Barr’s campaign slogan is “Kate Barr Can’t Win.” Barr is a Democrat running in North Carolina Senate District 37, Mecklenburg and Iredell counties, which the legislature gerrymandered into a safe Republican seat. Barr flipped the script. She says: “District 37 is so gerrymandered that I don’t stand a chance. But we deserve to have…

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