General
Goofy
The debate on Raleigh’s City Council’s to stop people inside the beltline from tearing down older homes and building new ones has turned a bit goofy. For instance, consider the latest broadside from Mayor Meeker’s close ally and amigo Roger Koopman. Councilman Koopman says that building newer homes – he calls them ‘monstrous McMansions’ –…
Read MoreBad News Piles Up
Hillary Clinton did not turn the tide in Thursday night’s debate. Bill Clinton says she has to win both Texas and Ohio to win the nomination. Her campaign advisers are divided. Her spending and strategy are being criticized. So here is one more piece of bad news, looking back to Tuesday’s primary in Wisconsin: Obama…
Read MoreMCain vs The Times
John McCain has enjoyed laudatory Mainstream Media coverage for so long it’s understandable he’s mad at The New York Times. The Times finally broke a story – which apparently has been an open secret among insiders for two months – about a potentially unethical relationship between McCain and a lobbyist eight years ago. The story…
Read MoreThe Great Scam
Last election Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker and Rodger Koopman and Nancy McFarlane pummeled their opponents in North Raleigh for being cozy with developers. They said mushrooming growth was out of hand, the developer-villains were out of hand, and Council members Jessie Taliafero and Tommy Craven were bosom buddies with developers – they scared the willies…
Read MoreIs Hillary Toast?
The Clinton campaign may not be dead, but it’s on life support. She could change the momentum by winning Texas and Ohio in two weeks. But it’s hard to change the delegate math. She would have to win 70 percent of the vote in the primaries left – including North Carolina. Who would have thunk…
Read MoreThe Charlotte Curse
People from Charlotte are obsessed with the so-called Charlotte Curse: the repeated failures of Charlotte mayors to be elected to statewide office: Eddie Knox, Harvey Gantt, Sue Myrick and Richard Vinroot. There is no curse – at least among voters. Poll after poll has shown they don’t mind a candidate from Charlotte. But there is…
Read MoreIs Moore Less?
Richard Moore’s ad strategy doesn’t add up. Last week, his campaign pulled their ads off the air – after one public poll showed Beverly Perdue increasing her lead. The Moore campaign said the ads were pulled because the presidential campaign may soon dominate the air wars. That makes no sense. If that were so, wouldn’t…
Read MoreThe Media Primary
Hillary Clinton’s biggest constituency problem isn’t black voters or young voters or any other demographic group. It’s the media. She’s overwhelmingly losing the media primary. In fact, if you listen to the talking cableheads, you’d think her campaign is in total meltdown. Every primary, every caucus, every finance report, every change in her campaign, every…
Read MoreWhat is Easley running for?
Governor Easley apparently gave an impressive speech to the Emerging Issues Forum this week. He talked about making North Carolina a leader in developing an advanced generation of electric cars. Energy was his topic, but it was his own energy that grabbed reporters’ attention. Jack Betts blogged about it. One capital reporter called around asking…
Read MoreMayor Crowder
Raleigh’s realtors and homebuilders, unless they wake up politically, are about to get another does of castor oil from the City Council. After trouncing ‘developers’ in the last two elections the Mayor’s got a Council that’s more anti-growth – than, well, Charles Meeker. In fact, once the Council’s new ringleader, Thomas Crowder, gets through bashing…
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