Posts by Gary Pearce
Drug Deal
Now, I may not have all the numbers exactly right on this one. It’s received some coverage, but not enough. So bear with me. Apparently, the Obama administration cut a secret deal with Big Pharma under which the drug companies agreed to give up no more than $80 billion in prescription-drug savings for health-care…
Read MoreHold Town Meetings
Memo to Congressman Brad Miller and all congressional Democrats: Stop ducking town meetings on health-care reform. Open the doors wide. Invite everybody – opponents included. And let them rant and rave if that’s what they are determined to do. Nothing could do more to help the health care-reform campaign. The more the…
Read MoreObama Up! Perdue Down!
Why is the President’s popularity holding up – while Governor Perdue’s has collapsed? Back in the old days Jim Hunt and Jesse Helms cut a broad swath through our neck of the woods; they were political heavy-weights and it’s beginning to look like Barack Obama’s cut from the same bolt of cloth. President Obama,…
Read MoreBubba’s Back!
Wasn’t it great to see the Big Dog back again? There was Bill Clinton – out of the doghouse and back in the limelight he so loves. Grinning. Biting his lip. Hugging Al Gore! Bubba looked great. White hair shining. Aides (the small, dark-skinned guy was John “Skippy” Podesta, ex-Clinton COS and Obama…
Read MoreDemocratic Disaster?
I’ve got a bad feeling about this. My hair’s standing up on my neck the way it did early in 1994. But four months earlier this time. Obama is struggling to keep control of the agenda. August will be crucial. If the right-wing attacks on health care reform, deficits, cash-for-clunkers and “Not Born…
Read MoreBurr’s Future
Richard Burr probably didn’t want to be running for reelection to the Senate next year. He hoped to be sitting in John McCain’s Cabinet. Or maybe presiding over the Senate as Vice President. Why else did he campaign in the snows of New Hampshire – without socks – for McCain? Alas, McCain picked…
Read MoreTerrorists in Johnston?
Carter blogged last week that he was shocked that there were terrorists in Johnston County. Hell, Carter, Johnston County has a long history of terrorists. They were called the Ku Klux Klan. Well into the 50s – maybe later – there was an infamous billboard outside Smithfield: “Welcome to Klan Country.” But…
Read MoreKen and Cal
Recently I blogged that, if Elaine Marshall gets in the Senate race, her candidacy should give pause to Ken Lewis and Cal Cunningham. The reverse is also true. Yes, Lewis and Cunningham are both unproven unknowns. But don’t overestimate how well known Marshall is. Or Richard Burr, for that matter. In recent…
Read MoreWhy Doctor O May Win
Barack Obama brought his health-care reform campaign to Raleigh just as polls suggest support is slipping for reform. As always, Washington and the media are poised for a rerun of history. They see the story in terms of the death of Clinton Care in 1994. But the story could turn out different this…
Read MoreDoes Anybody Care?
The capital press corps and several editorial writers have whacked Governor Perdue and the Democratic legislative leadership for not getting a budget done. But does anybody outside downtown Raleigh care? Obviously, other people in government care. Like local governments. And school officials who don’t know how many teachers to hire. But I…
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