North Carolina – Democrats
Fracked Up
For all my digital-media enthusiasm, I still have one foot firmly planted in the old media world. Especially when I can spend a fine Sunday morning perusing the N&O and New York Times. And especially when it leads to a realization like yesterday’s: North Carolina will have a war over fracking in 2012. …
Read MoreNC’s Clout is Sky-High
Want to see how important North Carolina will be in the 2012 presidential race? Read this New York Times dive into how the Obama Administration backed down on tougher smog-ozone standards. Especially this: “One of the strongest appeals (against tougher rules) came from North Carolina, a state Mr. Obama narrowly won in 2008. The…
Read MoreWhat World…
Brutal jailers locked mentally ill prisoners in ‘isolation cells,’ took their clothes and mattresses, and left them to sleep naked on the concrete floor – it sounds like a prison in Bangkok or Rangoon only it didn’t happen in Bangkok it happened in Raleigh. The wardens at Central Prison called it “therapeutic seclusion.” Governor…
Read MoreAttack Machine
Democratic oppo researchers should be reveling in what Dome called Pat McCrory’s “shout out” to Heather Lusordo: “I just think unwarranted personal attacks against you hurt our democratic system. I feel for your and your family for what you had to go through. I commend you for the courage to stand up to it.…
Read MoreLayoff Politics
Today’s N&O story (“Data show fewer state layoffs”) puts pressure on Governor Perdue and legislative Democrats to show they weren’t crying wolf about Republican budget cuts. Republicans sounded delighted with the report that 1,630 people have been laid off: “’The wild allegation has been that 30,000 state jobs were going to be eliminated,’ said…
Read More$139 Million Oops
A TAPster says Rep. Nelson Dollar this week in effect admitted that Governor Perdue was right about Medicaid: “Republicans in the General Assembly finally acknowledged their mistakes in the DHHS budget on Tuesday. Now they should reverse the damage their budget is doing to our schools too. “Their DHHS budget created a $139 million…
Read MoreA Strategy for Perdue
The Wake school board election blazes Governor Perdue’s best – and maybe only – path to reelection: Save our schools from the Tea Party. John Tedesco & Co. charge that Democrats somehow played dirty by airing Heather Losurdo’s stunning lack of credentials. They’re going for the cape and missing the bullfighter. Tedesco &…
Read MoreSchool Board Lessons
At breakfast this morning I asked my politically astute friend what the Wake school board outcome means. His response: “Democrats aren’t dead.” He added, “North Carolina isn’t a red state. And it’s not a blue state. It’s a 52-48 state” – exactly the margin of Kevin Hill’s victory. And, remember, in a district gerrymandered…
Read Moremajority-Minority Districts
Well, in a minor miracle, the Obama Justice Department said yes and put its seal of approval on the North Carolina Republicans’ new House and Senate Districts, then, before the ink was dry on the page, the North Carolina Democrats filed a lawsuit to stop the plan Obama had just approved. It’s an odd…
Read MoreOne Sin
Over in Orange County the Democratic Commissioners would like to raise sales taxes, so there’s a referendum on the ballot on Election Day, which, normally, would lead to a fight between Democrats and Republicans – but that’s not how it works in Chapel Hill. Instead, the tax raisers have spared themselves a lot of strain…
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