General
Re-Wired
Back in the old days when Marc Basnight and Tony Rand ran the General Assembly a cohort of Democratic lobbyists who controlled scads of money their clients could give candidates had the legislature wired up;–though no one quite realized it at the time that world came crashing down on Election Day in 2010 when the…
Read MoreMcCrory and the Media
Carter pointed out (“Counting His Luck Stars,” below) how Pat McCrory unwisely opened himself up to a counterstrike by Democratic lawyers. In that same press conference, McCrory unwisely picked another fight: with the media. The N&O reported that “McCrory chastised reporters at his news conference, saying their stations should pull the ad.” He…
Read MoreWhen We Were Fighting Hitler…
I opened the newspaper the other morning and stared at the headline, Afghan War to end by 2014, and thought, How could anyone know that? Imagine opening the newspaper one May morning in 1943 and reading: ‘War to end by 1945’ – you’d have thought someone had lost their mind. But, of course, the…
Read MoreThe Hard Way
For decades no matter how hard our Republican legislators in Raleigh tried they just couldn’t get themselves into trouble with a lobbyist – they just didn’t have the umph in the General Assembly to pull it off. But now they do and, suddenly, Republicans are learning some hard lessons. The greater your power…
Read MoreCounting His Lucky Stars
Last week McCrory got up at a press conference in Raleigh, lambasted Walter Dalton’s negative ads, then said he’d sued two of Dalton’s Democratic supporters for slander, but, then, it turned out McCrory hadn’t sued anyone – all he’d done was file a two page form called an ‘Intent to Sue’ which to any attorney…
Read MoreWho Is Fred Davis?
Davis is Pat McCrory’s ad man. He made headlines recently for advocating controversial ads attacking President Obama over Jeremiah Wright, as Carter noted in his blog below, “The Pirates and a Chicago Billionaire.” Democrats, predictably, are calling for McCrory to fire Davis. Hold the mayo. Maybe it would be better for Walter Dalton if…
Read MorePity the Jurors
A TAPster wrote to express his rage over news that John Edwards took in a ball game while the jury deliberated this week: “Law-abiding citizens are summoned away from their jobs and families to be sequestered for weeks on end to decide if John Edwards has committed campaign fraud, in addition to the other…
Read MoreWhy Obama Is Winning NC
Republican operatives and political reporters alike are busy arguing that President Obama will have a tough time winning North Carolina this year. They’re right, to a point. But they’re missing the point: As long as we’re debating Obama’s chances of winning North Carolina, Obama is winning the presidential race. Obama does not have…
Read MoreThe 61 Percent
A TAPster had this interesting take on Governor Perdue’s “Mississippi” comment about the gay-marriage vote: “What some North Carolinians may find offensive about the governor’s remarks is that 61% of the voters have spoken, and in a democracy, that is how we establish public policy, so why should our governor publicly chastise the 61%…
Read MoreThin Skin
Democrats think they’ve found a weakness in Pat McCrory – one that can be fatal in a politician: thin skin. Oddly, it’s the same sensitivity Mitt Romney showed when the Obama campaign raised questions about his business career. Romney took it as a personal attack. McCrory reacted the same way to the Tree.com ad.…
Read More