National Republicans
Independence and Bullying
Donald Trump epitomizes an American trait: Independence. Like Trump or loathe him, he’s his own man, stands on his own two feet, and has the courage to fight all corners. So how did Trump come to be so unpopular? Trump also epitomizes another American trait: To win he bullies and boasts, but when Trump tweets…
Read MoreA Michigan Focus Group
Chuck Todd’s anti-Trump to the bone but now and then surprises happen and one happened on Meet the Press when Todd played a video of a focus group of Republican voters sitting around a table in Grand Rapids, Michigan;–––the moderator started by asking, ‘Do you think impeachment is too complicated to follow? and a white-haired…
Read MoreThe Day They Impeached Trump
For an hour driving to a luncheon in Cary then driving back to my office I listened to the impeachment debate in the House on the radio; one Congressman after another spoke and their voices all sounded the same: Angry and scared. Republicans stood up railing against Pelosi and, with equal heat, Democrats branded Trump…
Read MoreDid Rudy Play Donald?
The way Adam Schiff tells it Trump wanted dirt on Joe Biden so he told the Ukrainian President to ‘Work with Rudy.’ Trump blasts back that Schiff’s full of hot air – it’s all baloney. But up in Manhattan a United States Attorney, who indicted two of Giuliani’s associates from the Ukraine, unearthed a different…
Read MoreBlind Passion and 3%
Tony grew up in the suburbs, attended college in Boston, graduate school in New York, was proud to be for Obama in 2008, for Bernie in 2016, and now he’s an all for impeachment Democrat. To Tony one thing matters: Trump must go. Sam lives in the rural small town he grew up in, married…
Read MoreTucker Versus Tillis
‘Tillis Tanking, Tucker Rising Among Primary Voters,’ the headline read. The poll by Public Policy Polling showed Garland Tucker had gained on Thom Tillis again, now trailing Tillis by just 7 points in the Republican Primary. (Tillis 38%, Tucker 31%, Undecided 31%). Worse for Tillis, his popularity with Republicans had plummeted for the second time…
Read MoreSizing up the Democratic field
Size matters in politics. Yes, physical size: Think Trump looming over Hillary in their debates, or Reagan vs. Carter or George H.W. Bush vs. Dukakis. But just as important is political size, psychic size – call it heft, command presence or the aura of leadership. The Presidency is a big job. To get there, a…
Read MoreTwo Polls and Thom Tillis
Back in 1989, not long after John McLaughlin began doing polls, I asked him to poll for Jesse Helms’s campaign. 29 years later I asked John to do a poll to find the answer to one question: Could Garland Tucker defeat Thom Tillis in the Republican Primary for Senate? We found that – with Republican…
Read MoreFire first, facts last
Civic debate in America has become little more than a fast-draw contest, as demonstrated anew by the runup and the reaction to the Mueller Report’s release. Our motto: Ready, fire, aim. We hardly notice that our real enemy has taken dead aim. And hit his target squarely. The enemy is Vladimir Putin. His target was…
Read MoreThe Earth Shifted
When Mark Harris bowed out of the Republican Primary for Congress in the 9th District Dan Bishop had to make a decision quickly – a State Senator, Bishop had a little name identification in Charlotte but he wasn’t well known in the rest of the District. He decided he’d run but with the election only…
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