General
Inspiration or Perspiration?
Hillary Clinton’s new TV ad in North Carolina plays to her Clintonian strength: I feel your pain. It’s a deliberate contrast to Obama’s appeal: the lift of optimism and hope. Clinton’s appeal is who can do the hard, gritty work of government. Just as Democrats are split, there is a vast gap between the candidates’…
Read MoreCzar Edwards?
For weeks there have been hints of bad blood between John Edwards and Barack Obama. The rumors include a face-to-face blow-up between the two, and possibly Elizabeth Edwards. Which may be why Edwards has not endorsed the opponent who seemed closest to him ideologically. Now Edwards seems to be edging closer to Hillary Clinton. When…
Read MoreEmails
Governor Easley’s charged right into the middle of the great email flap. The Governor says he’s not convinced two notes made by state public information officers mean his staff ordered emails destroyed. Here’s what one note said, verbatim: “Delete emails to/from governor’s office everyday.” But, according to the governor there’s another interpretation. He suspects his…
Read MorePoll Story Buried the Lead
The real news in The News & Observer/Charlotte Observer poll is that Hillary Clinton could pull an upset in North Carolina. You are forgiven if you missed it, because the N&O’s coverage obscured the head-to-head: Obama 32, Clinton 26 and undecided 39. The 22-paragraph story made only one mention – and that in the first…
Read MoreGarin Takes the Helm
Speaking of polls, a pollster with North Carolina experience – Geoff Garin – is now one of two message czars for the Clinton campaign. Garin – with old Clinton hand Howard Wolfson – replaces the disgraced and conflicted Mark Penn Garin knows North Carolina. He goes back to Jim Hunt’s 1984 race against Jesse Helms,…
Read MoreBad News for the Fall
For Democrats, this is supposed to be our can’t-lose year – in North Carolina and nationally. But the bad news keeps piling up in Raleigh. You can just see the Republican ads this fall. First there was the mental-health debacle. Now it’s the probation system’s inability to keep up with dangerous criminals. We have the…
Read MoreSledgehammer Conspiracy?
The most ludicrous assertion made in Raleigh this week (no mean feat) was the suggestion by disgraced Rep. Thomas Wright’s attorney that avenging blogger Joe (the Sledgehammer) Sinsheimer targeted Wright because Wright fell “out of favor with the power structure in the North Carolina House.” Ludicrous because Sinsheimer’s crusade against corruption was about as welcome…
Read MoreBubbas or Blacks
Rob Christensen may be right that the Bubba vote – male and female – will decide North Carolina for Clinton or Obama. That’s why the two old Bubba Buddies from their days together as attorneys general – Bill Clinton and Rufus Edmisten – have been campaigning together (a thought that gives one pause). But black…
Read MoreThe Most Bungled Cover-Up in History
When we last visited The Case of the Missing Emails it was a tangled web. It all started when The News and Observer reported the Department of Health had wasted $400 million – it was supposed to spend to provide health care to the mentally ill. Next, the Department of Health’s spokeswoman told The News…
Read MoreEasley Versus N&O
Governor Easley doesn’t need – and can’t win – this fight with The News & Observer over whether PIOs were told to delete emails. The paper all but called the Governor’s lawyer a liar – on the front page and in a news story, not an editorial. The PIOs’ notes seem clear: “Public records request…
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