Issues
Up on the roof
Last evening, a crew was putting a new roof on the house across the way. Three men worked steadily, climbing up and down a tall ladder and steeply pitched roof, hauling up shingles, hammering them in place and trimming the edges. On the ground, two women cleaned up, piling the trash into a wheelbarrow and…
Read MoreDon’t do it, Dennis!
I’m appealing to my old friend and comrade-in-arms Dennis Wicker: Don’t solve the HB2 crisis. It’s helping Democrats! Now, I feel bad saying this. Dennis is one of the finest and most public-spirited people in North Carolina. We lost out big time when we didn’t elect him Governor in 2000. Now he – and Art…
Read MoreCooper’s coup on HB2
Now Roy Cooper can say he’s protected more jobs against HB2 fallout than Governor Potty McCrory has. After Cooper met with the CEO, New Jersey-based Braeburn Pharmaceuticals decided to proceed with a $20 million, 50-job manufacturing and research facility in Durham County. The company had been reevaluating its plans because of HB2. Cooper can say,…
Read MoreA heady honor
This is a high point in my life. One of the people I admire most, D.G. Martin, put forward my name for a panel he suggests to resolve North Carolina’s HB2 crisis. D.G. wrote in a recent column: “I believe that a panel of people of goodwill representing both supporters and opponents of HB2 could…
Read MoreGeorge and Renee — End of Round 1
Renee Ellmers was being clever. She thought. By telling voters George Holding had opposed ‘the U.S. Army.’ But it turned out to not be clever at all. Because when Holding explained that Ellmers was claiming he’d voted against the Army because he’d voted against Obama’s Omnibus Budget Deal – the earth shifted beneath Ellmers’ feet.…
Read MoreRenee and George
Today Renee aired a new radio ad – on top of her TV ad. In her radio ad Renee repeats her attacks saying George voted against farmers and against the U.S. Army. In her TV ad she says she’s out there fighting for conservative values, for the right to life, for less spending, for a…
Read MoreDown the river we go
When Carter and I speak to groups, we often compare politicians to ants on a log floating down a river. The ant thinks: “I’ve got this log going good!” But the river is running things. So it is this election. A year ago, everybody thought it would Jeb Bush vs. Hillary. In North Carolina, we…
Read MoreThe Second District: Food Stamps
In George Holding’s race with Renee Ellmers there’re two issues that no one’s talked much about and which haven’t received a lot of attention. But they should. The first, and most important, more or less defines the difference between George Holding and Renee Ellmers. And the political sleight of hand going on in this…
Read MoreSpecial Elections and a Look Inside a Political Campaign
For one reason or another I haven’t blogged in awhile so I’m going to make it all up in one fell swoop by writing about the campaign that’s been keeping me busy. Back in early March, when the two candidates in the 2nd District were George Holding and Renee Ellmers, George’s campaign took a poll.…
Read MoreGrading teacher pay
Here’s another way the crowd in Raleigh today is hurting North Carolina. WRAL will broadcast a documentary at 7 pm tonight, “Grading Teacher Pay.” The station’s overview: “During the 1990’s Governor Jim Hunt worked with Republicans and Democrats in the legislature to raise the average salary for public school teachers to the national average in…
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