Posts by Gary Pearce
Poll Tells the Tale
I love polls. When I did campaigns, I spent hours digging through them. Numbers don’t lie, and they tell you what’s obscured in the political blather. The latest NBC-Wall Street Journal poll lays out clearly what’s happening in this election. The headline is that voters prefer a Republican Congress over a Democratic one by 50-43…
Read MoreThe Obama Enigma
D.G. Martin was interviewing Carter and me for “Who’s Talking” on WCHL radio when we began discussing the topic that soon will dominate political debate: WOWW – Where Obama Went Wrong. Was it the policy or the politics (see “Blaming the Messenger” below)? Was it the economy? Was in getting in bed with Congress?…
Read MoreEarly Warning
There’s only one way Democrats can interpret the early results from early voting in North Carolina: It’s bad. According to Democracy North Carolina, “one-stop early voting is off to a record-shattering pace for midterm elections and the largest group casting ballots are white Republican men.” Another way to look at it: So far,…
Read MoreBlaming the Messenger
I feel Robert Gibbs’ pain. In a New York Times magazine article Sunday, President Obama said, “We probably spent too much time trying to get the policy right than trying to get the politics right.” Gibbs, the White House press secretary, noted ruefully in the article, “I haven’t been at a policy-problem meeting…
Read MoreShameless Self-Promotion
Rick Martinez, news director with WPTF radio (680AM), taped an interview with me this week about my biography of Governor Jim Hunt. It airs on Carolina Newsmaker Sunday at 7 am (which he said is one of their highest-rated shows. Go figure). I confess I had some reservations before the interview. I had never…
Read MoreGood News
Things are looking up for us news hawks. These days, I have to read my favorite daily newspaper very s-l-o-w-l-y to make it last through breakfast. But as soon as I turn on my computer, I have two new websites to go to for more political fodder: M2M Politics (“Covering North Carolina Politics…
Read MoreWho’s the ‘Fruit Loop’?
What’s with this Republican obsession with gays? There’s state Rep. Larry Brown, who emailed legislators about “queers” and “fruit loops.” There’s Carl Paladino, the GOP candidate for governor in New York, who makes Brown look charitable. And there were all the gay slurs in the last race for North Carolina Republican Party chair. …
Read More‘Throw ’em Out’
An astute observer poses this question about Elaine Marshall’s new ad: “How do Democrats like David Price and Bob Etheridge feel about her saying it’s time to throw out the Washington politicians?” Well, for Democrats this year, it’s obviously every man – and woman – for themselves. Marshall’s ad is simple and inexpensive,…
Read MoreTruth in Polling
Ferrel Guillory – along with his colleagues and students in the Program on Public Life at UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication – has published a useful guide to political polls. Get it at their website here. This is timely, given the plethora of polls today, the extensive media coverage they get and…
Read MoreBad Sign
Whenever a politician or party talks about “mobilizing the base” in the final weeks of a campaign, you know they’re in trouble. That’s exactly where President Obama and the Democrats are, as this story from the New York Times noted: “With four weeks until Congressional elections that will shape the remainder of his…
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