North Carolina – Democrats
Ringing the School Bell
One of Walter Dalton’s biggest challenges is winning Independent women voters in the Charlotte media market. How does he do that? Take them to school. Dalton can go after on education Pat McCrory two ways. One, McCrory will rubber-stamp whatever the legislature does to the public schools. Senator Josh Stein did a…
Read MoreOne, Two, Three
One: Representative Stephen LaRoque was indicted. Two: Speaker Thom Tillis advised LaRoque to resign. Three: LaRoque didn’t. Four: Tillis appointed a bi-partisan committee to investigate. Five: LaRoque resigned. One. Two. Three. No deals. No double-talk. No dodging. Scandal over.
Read MoreDueling Polls
The Republican (Civitas) poll says Pat McCrory leads Walter Dalton 47-37. The Democratic (N.C. Citizens for Progress) poll says McCrory’s lead, once 12 points, has been cut in half – from 46-34 in April to 45-39 in July. So what does this really tell us? First, McCrory’s five-year campaign has given him an…
Read MoreWho’s Our Competition?
Pat McCrory and Walter Dalton are debating whether North Carolina lost its competitive edge. The question is: Who are we competing with? And is competition just about taxes? Rob Christensen’s N&O story Sunday asked whether we’re still a “Dixie Dynamo.” But some people who work in economic development think that’s too narrow. We’re not…
Read MoreOverhyped
This is why people turn off television news. A couple of weeks ago, Rep. Becky Carney’s miscast vote led to enactment of the fracking bill. This week, WSOC-TV in Charlotte breathlessly reported: “Now, for the first time, Rep. Becky Carney is telling only Channel 9 what went wrong.” Not exactly, WSOC. Rep.…
Read MoreThe Missing Cash
The Democrats’ treasure chest has vanished. Year after year in elections, Democrats like Jim Hunt and Marc Basnight had war chests brimming with cash. Bev Perdue defeated Pat McCrory last election by outspending him by $7 million. But now the Democrats’ larder is empty. Phil Berger’s outraising Martin Nesbit (Basnight’s Senate heir) seventeen to one…
Read MoreOver the Cliff
Given the fiscal cliff facing states, maybe it’s not a bad time for Democrats to let Republicans own Raleigh. Speaker Thom Tillis says Republicans already “own” North Carolina’s economy. If Pat McCrory wins and they keep the House and Senate, they’ll have sole ownership of the state budget. The State Budget Crisis Task…
Read MoreHoover Adams
One hundred and eighty thousand people, from Maine to California, contributed to Jesse’s campaign when he defeated Jim Hunt in 1984 and about a month after the election, having dinner with Jesse, Tom Ellis said, “Let’s ask each of ‘em to buy CBS stock – then start a proxy fight to take over CBS.” Jesse…
Read MoreThe Second Most Watched Race…
The most watched campaign in North Carolina this fall will be the Presidential race but the second most watched race may not be the Governor’s race – it may be the race between Paul Newby and Sam Ervin for the lone Supreme Court seat. The way Republicans see it, sooner or later, the Democrats’…
Read MoreFracking Out
Methinks the fracking freakout by Democrats is overwrought and overdone. And Becky Carney need not contemplate hari-kari. Maybe it’s age. Or maybe it’s that for too many years I’ve heard too many dire warnings about how some legislative action is certain to lead to environmental devastation. It never does. And every time something…
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