Posts by Gary Pearce
$4 Gas and Obama
A Republican consultant figures there is a direct relationship between the price of gas and Barack Obama’s vote in North Carolina. He told me he spent four days running numbers on turnout and election models. His conclusion: If gas stays under $4 a gallon, Obama’s maximum vote in the state is 46.5 percent. But if…
Read MoreBushed
2008 must look worse for the Republicans than I thought. At least, they think so. President Bush stole into and out of Raleigh Friday with nary a photo op or video with Pat McCrory, Liddy Dole or any other Republican politician. This is major. I cannot remember the last time a Republican president – or…
Read MoreMcCrory and Bush
Cullen Browder from WRAL-TV asked me if it helps or hurts Pat McCrory for President Bush to do a fundraiser in North Carolina. The answer is: both. McCrory has several hundred thousand reasons to bring in Bush: That’s how much money he’ll raise. But McCrory doesn’t want too much coverage. So Bush is coming at…
Read MoreGood News, Bad News
The topic at breakfast downtown this morning was the cutbacks at the N&O – and consolidation with The Charlotte Observer. “Society and democracy took a hit this week,” one friend said. He believes the cuts mean less competition among the papers, less news coverage and less scrutiny of government. “But the papers have to face…
Read MoreBad News
The only thing worse than the cuts at The News & Observer was the way N&O executives handled the announcement. They sounded like the stonewalling government bureaucrats the N&O excoriates during Open Government Week. Jonathan B. Cox, who wrote the story, had the hardest job in North Carolina. Imagine writing about your employers while they’re…
Read MoreMore Than a Head Fake?
The Obama campaign may be serious about targeting North Carolina. I heard last week they are sending 280 field organizers into the state. The Rasmussen poll on WRAL showed Obama behind McCain by only 45-43. Obama’s 43 percent is almost exactly what every Democratic presidential candidate going back to Dukakis in 1988 received here. Big…
Read MorePols As Reporters
One reason Tim Russert was good at political journalism was that he started in politics. So he had an understanding and a love of the game that animated his interviews, reporting and analysis. Most political reporters I know are excellent. They work hard to understand politics. But there is nothing like having been in the…
Read MorePerdue, McCrory Face Off
If one of my Reliable Sources is right, Bev Perdue’s partisans have much to worry about now that she has agreed to five debates with Pat McCrory. The Source reports that McCrory outshone Perdue at the N.C. Chamber’s Manufacturing Summit in Greensboro this week. The Source acknowledges that it was a Republican crowd. But added…
Read MoreRichard the Reluctant
The nomination is settled, the race is over, and the loser has conceded. Now the political world waits to see whether the loser will get fully behind the winner. Not Hillary Clinton. Richard Moore. For more than a month since the gubernatorial primary, Moore has avoided a full-bore endorsement of Bev Perdue. Interviewed after Obama’s…
Read MoreWhen the Shoe Is On the Other Foot
A tip of the hat to Joyce Fitzpatrick, who sent along this news item: “The News & Observer is preparing to lay off about 10 percent of its newsroom staff and will announce other cuts affecting its news operation, sources inside the N&O tell WRAL.com.” And the N&O responded exactly the same way that its…
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