North Carolina – Democrats
Cheering the Lesser Sin
Leaning back smiling, a devout Christian, Chris praised Trump for stopping wokeness – I asked how he saw Trump’s religion. He paused, said thoughtfully, Getting wounded probably deepened Trump’s faith but he grew up in New York as a real estate tycoon. He’s got religion. But he’s got a ways to go. He laughed, then…
Read MoreM-O-N-E-Y
The billionaire head of Amazon paid $40 million to buy the rights to a film about Trump’s wife – Melania Trump stands to make a $28 million profit. Of course, politicians using their power to make money is an old story. For years Joe Biden did it to help his son Hunter make money. But…
Read MoreRecant or You’re Fired
Back in 1988, Floyd Brown’s Citizens United superpac ran an ad attacking Michael Dukakas for pardoning Willie Horton. The ad helped George H. W. Bush but Brown got a lot of heat for it. Fast forward forty-seven years: After Trump took over The Kennedy Center, Brown agreed to go to work at the center raising…
Read MoreNew Day, New Leaders
I’m at the age (76) where conversations with old friends turn into “organ recitals.” Who has what illness or ailment? Who did your knee/hip/heart/shoulder/prostate surgery? How are Joe, Mary, et al getting along with their (fill in the blank)? No matter how sharp you are or what good shape you’re in, you start losing it…
Read MoreHealing Wounds
Instead of going to college Joe Kent joined the army at 18; a Ranger, Green Beret, did 11 combat tours. Stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia he met Shannon Smith, also a soldier – they married, had two children. Five years later on a street in Syria an Isis terrorist walked toward four soldiers, ignited a…
Read MoreGood Start
Governor Josh Stein has changed the climate in Raleigh. And brighter days may be ahead for North Carolina – especially for public schools and teachers. At Stein’s encouragement, House Democrats voted last night – by 27-20 – to approve House Republicans’ proposed budget. The Governor believes the final budget that comes out of a House-Senate…
Read MoreOff-Year Elections
Chariots of Fire won the Best Picture Oscar…Joe Montana and the 49ers won the Super Bowl …Dallas was the top TV show…and, back in 1982, I ran head-on into my first off-year election. By then I’d worked in 3 campaigns – each ended well. In 1982, with Reagan in the White House, we set out…
Read MoreQuite a Day
Trump had quite a day yesterday. Qatar offered a posh new jet to replace Air Force 1 – Trump said it’d be ‘stupid’ to say no. Next Trump said we’d stopped a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. When he’d imposed tariffs, Trump whacked China. Got whacked back. Blinked. Yesterday announced he’d cut a big…
Read MoreRigged
Allison Riggs beat the election-riggers. She, her campaign and an army of allies – the Democratic Party, election attorneys and nonpartisan groups like Common Cause – fought a costly, arduous, six-month battle that finally prevailed over Jefferson Griffin and Republicans who were determined to overturn an election he lost. But it was a close call.…
Read MoreThis Sounds Screwy…
Trailing by 734 votes, losing his Supreme Court race to Democrat Allison Riggs, Jefferson Griffin headed to court, contesting the election. Nothing wrong with that. Fifty years ago Jack Hawke – who went on to become Republican Party Chairman – ran for Congress, lost by 900 votes, headed to court. Tom Ellis, his lawyer, later…
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