50 days minus 1

Carter and I were interviewed by The Charlotte Observer Monday about the election outlook. So, instead of having to organize our thoughts and actually write something, we’ll just post the following story by the Observer’s editorial board, “50 days out, here’s what political experts think (and predict!) about N.C.’s biggest races”: We’re less than 50…

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Blind Chance

The Washington Post recently published an article headlined: ‘Megalomaniac’ Trump vs ‘deceitful’ Clinton: How Virginia voters see the presidential race. The Post reported, according to a focus group of thirty undecided voters Donald Trump is “phony,” “crazy,” “arrogant,” “dumb,” “bigoted,” “self-centered,” and a “charlatan.” Hillary, the voters said, is “old,” “deceitful,” “a liar” and “slimy.”…

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You’re news, you lose

Here’s the harsh reality of 2016 politics, as demonstrated by Hillary Clinton last week and Pat McCrory over the past many weeks: If you lead the news, you lose in the polls. You’re news, you lose. In an angry, negative political environment, more media attention translates directly into more negative feelings from voters. The ongoing…

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Sick politics

Now Hillary Clinton has two problems: a treatable case of walking pneumonia and an incurable case of raging media fever over her honesty. See my blog “Hillary’s scars and secrets” last week. By all means let’s have more transparency on her health records – and on Trump’s. He’s an overweight 70-year-old man who never exercises…

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The Dealmaker

He’ll be the first to say he’s a Master Dealmaker. And looking at the money he’s made there’s not much doubt he’s correct. But will a gift for dealmaking lead Donald Trump to the White House? When making a deal to buy or sell real estate, no doubt Donald Trump asked the fellow sitting across…

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Hillary’s scars and secrets

You watch the Commander-in-Chief’s forum, and you see clearly that Donald Trump is dangerously unfit for office. But the race is too close for comfort. Why? First, Hillary Clinton is a woman. It’s that simple. And it’s unfair. But it’s a fact. Second, she and Bill have been on the front pages of national politics…

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Shifting Sands

We’re in the throes of the most rip-tide tormented, sands shifting beneath our feet election anyone’s seen since who knows when; four years ago during the Presidential Election when the pollster came to town he said, The key undecided voter this election is a 45 year old woman with two children who lives in the…

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Rockefeller Republicans

Fifty years ago Barry Goldwater defeated the Republican Establishment to become the Republican nominee then ran head-on into Lyndon Johnson – but Goldwater’s defeat wasn’t the end of the story; in the fullness of time the ‘true believers’ who elected Goldwater found a Knight on a White Horse and in 1980 Ronald Reagan won then…

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Click Factories

The other morning I went on the Internet searching for eyeglasses and after an hour I gave up and clicked on the New York Times website – and up popped an ad for eyeglasses. I ignored the ad and clicked on an article about Hillary Clinton – and up popped another ad for eyeglasses. Whether…

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Hillary will win the debates

The debates are Donald Trump’s last chance to turn the race around. No chance. Trump can’t even win a debate with himself. This week he was on two sides of the Mexican border – and on two sides of the issue. Clinton will cut him to pieces on national TV. The New York Times had…

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