North Carolina – Democrats
Crazy and Crazier
We’ve never seen anything quite like this before – it’s all over the news not just here but around the country: Stories about how Mark Robinson dove into a porn site, posted checkered comments for four years. It’s either the worst smear ever – or it’s true and just plain shocking. Robinson, himself, said it’s…
Read MoreA Strange Election
Republicans love Trump. Democrats hate Trump. Both groups’ votes are set in stone. Swing voters usually decide who to vote for based on issues. But this election they’re heading down a different road. A lot of swing voters side with Trump on the border but, at the same time, vote for Harris. They see Trump…
Read MoreAnother Election About Character
Josh Stein’s got a second ad with no one in it talking but Mark Robinson. Stein scrolls one question across the screen – Is this who we want to be governor? – then shows Robinson making speeches, growling: “I got them AR-15’s in case the government gets too big for its britches… cause I’m going…
Read MoreBlue NC?
Kamala Harris rode a post-debate wave into North Carolina last week. The media should stop asking if she can win the state. Clearly, she can. Even before the debate, polls showed her leading Trump here 49-46. Last March, Trump led President Biden by 5. An eight-point swing is huge in today’s polarized electorate. Then there’s…
Read MoreBetter Days
On stage at his rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, angry, lips set, tearing into Kamala Harris, J. D. Vance snapped, ‘She can go to hell.’ Meantime, over on Truth Social, Trump retweeted a meme showing Harris standing beside Hillary Clinton, above the line ‘Funny how blowjobs impacted both their careers differently.’ Most of us remember the…
Read MoreDo TV Ads Work?
Josh Stein’s ads about Mark Robinson certainly worked. They worked because they defined Robinson early in the race and because they used the most devastating weapon in politics: Robinson himself on camera saying, “abortion in this country’s not about protecting the lives of mothers – it’s about killing a child because you weren’t responsible enough…
Read MoreMark Robinson’s Slipping
After Mark Robinson announced for governor, he led Josh Stein in polls. Then Stein pulled even. Then Robinson trailed by five. In a poll last week Robinson trailed by fourteen. Some folks say the problem’s Robinson’s stand on abortion. And, yes, that could hurt him. But when Congressman George Holding got attacked by Democrats for…
Read MoreRoy Raises the Roof
I’m old enough to remember when Democrats worried that Roy Cooper wasn’t a strong public speaker. Then there he was Thursday night: in the spotlight at the Democratic National Convention, the final speaker before Kamala Harris. He gave a rousing five-minute speech that brought the crowd roaring to its feet. He told how Harris, as…
Read MoreMore Silly Politics
Just before the election in October of 2008, sitting in my office pollster John McLaughlin opened a poll, said Obama was leading John McCain in North Carolina. No Democrat had won a presidential election in North Carolina in decades. No black man had ever won a statewide race for senator or governor. I shook my…
Read MoreMark Robinson Lite
The last thing Josh Stein would need as governor is another Mark Robinson as lieutenant governor. That’s why state Senator Rachel Hunt’s race for lieutenant governor matters. Big time. Hunt’s opponent, Hal Weatherman, is a political lightweight – Mark Robinson Lite. He’s such a lightweight you could call him “Featherman.” He has never held public…
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