General
Cameras in the Sewer Pipes
A lot of folks thought maybe the City Council had been out in the sun too long when it up and out of a clear blue sky voted to ban garbage disposals. Well, it turns out taking on the housewives of Raleigh is a lot tougher assignment then vilifying developers. The ladies of Raleigh have…
Read MoreBev’s Blunder
Bev Perdue’s positive-ad ploy is a blunder that could cost her the nomination. It sounds good today. But she will regret it. Especially if she ends up giving a concession speech the night of May 6. A candidate who unilaterally disarms usually loses. Moore will keep pummeling her with the ads that closed the gap.…
Read MoreSticking the Knife in Obama
On “Good morning America” Elizabeth Edwards told Diane Sawyer she – and John – are neutral in the Democratic primary – but then, in the next breath, she added Hillary’s health care plan is better than Obama’s. In one breath she says she’s neutral. In the next she sticks the knife in Obama. From where…
Read MoreThe Art of the Grab
Like many small towns in rural counties Albemarle is not exactly a boomtown. But a local banker and a Stanly County Commissioner have come up with a political grab that makes government funding of the Randy Parton Theatre look like a small-time sideshow. The hydro-electric plant is a modern marvel. Hydro-electric plants create electricity and…
Read MoreObama Blowout
All the signs point to a blowout for Barack Obama in North Carolina. More than 100,000 new voters have registered, including a surge of Democrats and African-Americans. Some 5,700 people showed up to see Michele Obama in Raleigh, twice the size of any crowd she’s had anywhere. Most telling, Richard Moore and Bev Perdue are…
Read MoreGovernor Easley Turns Over a New Leaf?
Governor Easley told top newspaper editors in a meeting with the leaders of the NC Press Association that the flap over his aides ordering state public information officers to delete e-mails “should never have happened.” (Earlier, he – or his office – had denied any such thing ever happened). He added, reassuring the editors, that…
Read MoreMore on the Polls
Political junkies had poll whiplash this week. The N&O/Charlotte Observer poll had Richard Moore leading Bev Perdue by six points. Then Public Policy Polling sent out an email saying Perdue was ahead by eight points. PPP’s Tom Jensen went farther. He blasted the media poll: “The simple answer is that the (media) poll is wrong.…
Read MoreStraight Out of Dickens: Thanks to Easley
This sounds like horror story from a 19th century workhouse, straight out of Dickens: a fourteen year old girl, suffering from mental illness, is locked in a prison. Only it didn’t happen in 1850. It happened this year. Right here in North Carolina. A mentally ill 14 year old girl from Rowan County was locked…
Read MoreHillary’s New Ad
It’s like there are two Hillary Clintons. There’s one I call ‘Hillary-the-mother.’ When she talks she sounds like a mother talking about her daughter. She’s likeable. And attractive. That’s the Hillary on display in her new TV ad. The other Hillary is Hillary-the-politician and, more often than not, she sounds like a shrill shrewish wife.…
Read MoreObama and the Pirates
There were two articles â one about Barack Obama and another Iâll tell you about in a moment â in the News and Observer the other day. Hereâs one paragraph from the story about Obama. He said, speaking in Indianapolis, âNo matter what the color of your skin, no matter what faith we practice, no…
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