North Carolina – Democrats
Wounding Words
The worst injuries in politics are often self-inflicted. Two examples are in the news today. First, the war of words between Ron Margiotta and William Barber. Margiotta called his opponents at a WakeCounty school board “animals.” Barber took offense, then compared the board majority to the Mafia. Margiotta and John Tedesco took offense. Then…
Read More‘The Voice of Onslow County’
As far as political shenanigans go this isn’t in the league with John Edwards’ goings on but it’s pretty strange. Down in Onslow County, after twenty-four years in the State House my old friend Robert Grady decided not to seek re-election and to run for Clerk of Court instead. Now what you have to…
Read MoreRascal on the Loose
Sometimes you come across a rascal who’s got so much brazenness and old-fashioned nerve you just can’t help but admire his audacity – throw him in a briar patch and he’ll land on his feet and end up owning the place. That’s why it’s hard not to keep an eye peeled to see what…
Read MoreFiling In
The candidate filings show where the energy is this year. And it’s not encouraging for Democrats. Republicans fielded candidates in all 50 state Senate races and nearly all the state House races. There are 40-plus Republicans running in congressional primaries. We may be seeing the three ingredients required to make a landslide: One…
Read MoreFollow the Money
While Secretary Lanier Cansler’s former firm has been lobbying his department, it’s also been making payments to Cansler, personally. Another Democratic scandal? Back when Governor Perdue appointed Lanier Cansler to lead North Carolina’s biggest state agency, he announced had severed all ties with his former lobbying firm – they had parted company and…
Read MoreTar Heel Makes It Big
North Carolina native Julianna Smoot – who was finance director in the Obama presidential campaign – has been named the new White House social secretary. The announcement last week said this about Smoot: “A native of North Carolina, Smoot has worked in and out of Washington. Prior to joining the Administration, Smoot served…
Read MoreRogues’ Gallery
A reporter was musing recently about how North Carolina politicians used to be a bland, boring bunch. That was back when we prided ourselves on clean, honest government. Times have changed: A former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate brought down by a sex scandal. A former Governor and a key adviser…
Read MoreFlights of Fancy
The State Democratic Party gets an A+ for rapid response this week. I blogged last week that the N&O overplayed Tom Fetzer’s questions about Governor Perdue’s campaign flights. The research rats at Democratic HQ then turned up questions about Pat McCrory’s campaign flights. That led to an N&O headline – the same size…
Read MoreGovernment Perdue Style
Last summer, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler, told the legislature there were fifteen thousand senior citizens cheating Medicaid by getting Home Care even though they were healthy. So the legislators told Cansler, Alright. Hire doctors, examine the patients, and get the ones who aren’t sick off Medicaid. …
Read MoreTerry Sanford…Reincarnated?
It’s frightening how Cal Cunningham, the Democrat’s new boy-wonder, has begun to remind me of John Edwards. Just look at Cunningham’s picture in Wikipedia. It’s eerie. The same impish grin. The same hair. And Cunningham, like Edwards, is a candidate straight out of central casting: He steps onto the stage, opens a script and starts…
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