National Republicans
McCrory vs Charlotte
Pat McCrory acts like the Queen City has become Queer City. Now, the city that made him may break him. He got elected because he had a reputation as a moderate, pragmatic, pro-business Mayor of Charlotte. He may lose reelection because he has a reputation now as a gay-bashing, bathroom-obsessed, bad-for-business Governor. He won in…
Read More50 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…
Read MoreBlind 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.”…
Read MoreYou’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…
Read MoreSick 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…
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreThe Question on the Horizon
Trump squints. Shakes his head. Raises his hand and gestures, pointing his index finger upwards into the air. The crowd roars and he says, ‘I love you Arizona.’ In the Primary Donald Trump pledged to deport every illegal immigrant but then, in the General Election, he back-stepped, calling it a ‘softening.’ If tomorrow Hillary…
Read MoreShifting 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…
Read MoreBigotry is losing big
Donald Trump has figured out, or been convinced, that Americans don’t want a bigot in high public office. Petulant Pat McCrory hasn’t learned that lesson yet in his reelection race. Trump’s “pivot” (actually more of a lurch) on race and immigration was an act of desperation. His new campaign team obviously told him he couldn’t…
Read MoreRockefeller 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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