Posts by Gary Pearce
Negative Election
No, I don’t mean “negative” as in negative ads. I mean that this election in North Carolina could be a perfect photographic negative of past elections. Four times in a row, North Carolina voted Republican for President (and in Senate races) and Democratic for Governor. This year the opposite may happen. Why? First there’s a…
Read More2×2
The presidential race so far has played out in two-week segments. The last two weeks in August were the national conventions. At the end – until McCain picked Palin – Obama was moving ahead. After Palin, McCain had two good weeks. Then came the financial crisis. In the two weeks since, Obama has taken a…
Read MoreDebate Prep
Talking heads pay attention to what candidates say in debates. Voters pay attention to who they are. That is why instant debate analysis often misses what is important – and why it takes time for opinions to jell. Sarah Palin got good instant reviews last week. But she left a bad impression: snarky. She may…
Read MorePalin Bingo
A reader of this blog sent this along about last week’s vice presidential debate: Some friends and I played “Palin Bingo” while watching the debate. (Squares said things like, “Pit Bull,” “Terrorism,” and “One Heartbeat Away.”) Between Palin herself and Biden’s stumbles there were a lot of laughs. I guess if you can’t laugh at…
Read MoreBombs Away!
Carter made an apt analogy Friday about the presidential race: It’s the fourth quarter, John McCain is two touchdowns behind and he has to score. The race is not over. But if McCain doesn’t change the momentum in the next two weeks, it will be over. So, once again, Mad Bomber McCain has turned the…
Read MoreVeep-watching
Democratic and Republican partisans breathed a sigh of relief last night. Neither Biden nor Palin ran the family car off the cliff. Democrats secretly worry that Palin’s regular-gal shtick might again ignite McCain’s campaign. His chances seem to rise every time he cedes the stage to her. Once again, she won Miss Congeniality. Miss Congeniality…
Read MoreDefending Perdue
I have quoted before the blunt response Bert Bennett always gave when people started analyzing election wins and losses. Bert, who was Terry Sanford’s campaign manager in 1960 and Jim Hunt’s political mentor, would say: “When you win, everything you did was right. When you lose, everything you did was wrong.” This year, Democrats are…
Read MoreQuick Hits
Sarah Palin puts me in mind of a quote by Goethe, who apparently followed American politics very closely: “Nothing is more frightening than ignorance in action.” Maybe one thing more frightening for Democrats is Joe Biden’s mouth. When it comes to shooting himself in the foot, Biden uses a machine gun. Tonight’s debate will have…
Read MoreThirteen Days?
When I read James Romoser’s story in the Winston-Salem Journal about Senator Dole spending only 13 days in North Carolina during 2006, my immediate reaction was: “That’s an ad.” Thirteen days out of 365? Less than two weeks out of 52? This is a gift from the political gods to Kay Hagan’s campaign. Any bets…
Read MoreWho Gets It?
I miss Bill Clinton. Not the bad Bill, who can’t bring himself to say a good word about Obama or a bad word about McCain-Palin. But the good Bill. The only person in politics who can talk both intelligently and empathetically about The Problem and The People. That’s what this Great Financial Crisis – Depression…
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