Posts by Gary Pearce
Unseating Liddy Dole
Democrats nationally and in North Carolina are zeroing in on Senator Dole in 2008. She is vulnerable â to the right opponent. Beating an incumbent Senator is tough. I learned that working for Jim Hunt against Jesse Helms in 1984 and for John Edwards against Lauch Faircloth in 1998. Democrats need a tough, well-funded opponent…
Read MoreBush’s Other Foreign Policy Disaster
Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” He was right. George W. Bush said he looked into Vladimar Putin’s soul and saw a man he could trust. He was wrong. One side effect of Bush’s Iraq disaster is his lack of attention to what’s happening in Putin’s Russia: murder, war crimes and growing…
Read MoreWhich Democrat will be President
Two years and one month from now, America will inaugurate a Democratic President. Why am I so certain? Reason No. 1: History. Since 1950, the Presidential party typically serves two – or one terms – and then is kicked out: Democrats in 1952, Republicans in 1960, Democrats in 1968, Republicans in 1976, Democrats in 1980,…
Read MoreAlice in Washington-Land
I was struggling to grasp two developments in Washington last week: The gay daughter of the Vice President of an anti-gay administration – along with her lesbian partner – will be a mother soon. Bless her. That Vice President hailed Don Rumsfeld as “the finest secretary of defense this nation has ever had.” But one…
Read MoreThe Most Powerful Man in America?
No, it’s not George Bush. Not even Dick Cheney. Or Harry Reid. Or a woman – Nancy Pelosi. How about Mike Rounds? Who? Rounds is the Republican Governor of South Dakota. He could end up with the power to put Republicans back in charge of the Senate if the ailing Senator Tim Johnson can’t serve.…
Read MoreThe Republican Dam Breaks
Presidents should know they’re in political trouble when members of their own party break with them, especially U.S. Senators. That has happened now on Iraq. The Republican Senator is Gordon Smith from Oregon. CNN quoted Smith – “in an emotional speech on the Senate floor” last week – as saying the U.S. military’s “tactics have…
Read MoreRaleigh Political Outlook
The political pot is boiling for Raleigh’s elections next year. Here’s a sampling of what we’ve heard – via emails and conversations – since we first blogged on the topic: There is talk of a Republican running for Mayor – maybe Tom Fetzer or Phillip Isley. But with registration 50-35 Democratic, I don’t see it…
Read MoreLook at Me, I’m Harry Truman
Here’s how you can tell how much trouble George Bush is in because of Iraq: he’s comparing himself to Harry Truman. I always know a Democratic candidate is doomed when he starts comparing his race to Truman’s upset over Dewey in 1948. It’s a sure sign of sheer desperation. Now Bush is comparing his place…
Read MorePresident Edwards?
The Washington-focused national press corps has anointed Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama as front-runners in the Democratic presidential race. They’re making a mistake overlooking John Edwards. Here’s what Edwards has going for him: Strong labor ties, which are important in the early Iowa and Nevada contests; A good glow left in Iowa from 2004, when…
Read MoreWhy Stay in Iraq?
The Jim Baker report on Iraq is a stunning indictment of George Bush’s Iraq war. For that, I’m thankful. But it’s a dishwater-weak response. The report is like too many bipartisan, blue-ribbon reports: mush. The strategy it proposes doesn’t rise to the crisis it describes: “The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. There is…
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