North Carolina – Democrats
Bob Havely
Bob Havely, who died August 9 at age 65, was a Jim Hunt alumnus, a multi-faceted political and public affairs consultant, and a good friend to many of us. Bob was the rare player who could hit from both sides of the plate: He could do both policy and politics. He was issues director for…
Read MoreClean Hands
The General Assembly is redrawing State House and Senate Districts and it’s like the circus came back in town: Six years ago, last time they drew districts, Republican legislators used ‘race’ as one criteria and Democrats sued them. This time Republican legislators said they wouldn’t even look at or go near ‘race’ and the Democrats…
Read MoreA Carnival Air
The protests just keep getting crazier: Friday morning the attorney for the eight ‘Antifa’ protestors arrested for toppling a Confederate statute in Durham tweeted: First appearances are done. White supremacists arrive at noon. Hundreds of anti-Klan counter-protestors rushed to Main Street in Durham, blocking traffic, chanting, No KKK! No Fascist USA! At five minutes past…
Read MoreCommon Ground
Yesterday I described how Gary and I met in 1984 (to negotiate the Helms-Hunt debates) and how I didn’t lay eyes on Gary again for eight years – until the morning he walked into the boardroom of a law firm downtown to negotiate a debate between Lauch Faircloth and Terry Sanford, saw me sitting there,…
Read MoreBridge builders? Carter and me? Seriously?
Carter and I will be talking about books and politics this Wednesday (August 2) at 7 pm at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. (Support your local independent bookstore!) Join us. We’re part of the store’s “Bridging the Divide” series, designed to bring together people from the left and the right. Now, cynics might say Carter…
Read MoreEarthquake
Now and then in politics, you feel the ground shudder beneath your feet. The world isn’t shaking yet, but the tectonic plates are grinding, the pressure is growing and something big is coming. So it is these last couple of days. In the Senate, the Republican promise to repeal Obamacare collapses. In the White House,…
Read MoreTwo takes on Cooper
Because he’s a Democrat who won in a state that Trump won and Republicans rule, Roy Cooper is getting national attention. Last month it was The New York Times. This week it’s Politico (“Can Roy Cooper Show Democrats How to Win Again?”), which proclaims: “North Carolina’s governor is unveiling an audacious plan to oust his…
Read MoreRedistricting
Only a rare politician can resist it and no politician can cure it;—I first laid eyes on it twenty-six years ago when Jack Hawke asked me to drive over to Republican Headquarters for a meeting with a dozen legislators; an hour later standing around a conference room table covered with maps a legislator – enthusiastically…
Read MoreCommon Sense in Government
For years Johnston County’s school superintendent accepted fringe benefits as a compliment to his salary then, just before he retired, he turned $94,000 in ‘fringe benefits’ into salary to increase his pension to $143,000. The State Treasurer then told Johnston County, We’re not going to pay that. That’s pension spiking. Johnston County didn’t say, Whoops.…
Read MoreStill searching for a win
Even with Trump’s troubles, and even with some close finishes, Democrats can’t turn the corner. We came close in Montana, close in Georgia and close even in South Carolina. But a loss is a loss. And we’re still looking for a W. Which makes must-reading of an article in this coming Sunday’s New York Times…
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