North Carolina – Democrats
Cousins
Last week when I was standing in the back of the bookstore my cousin Winifred, who’s past eighty and pure steel magnolia, walked through the doorway and made a beeline straight to me and snapped, Were you at that convention? Last week at the Republican convention the Chairman, Susan Bryant, called Bev Perdue was…
Read MoreCorrection
An eagle-eyed reader caught a typo on my blog “The Democratic Field” on the governor’s race. The first paragraph should have read: “Dan Blue’s decision NOT to run didn’t surprise many Democrats. They had seen him do this dance before.” I had left out “not.” As an old copy editor, I’m embarrassed. Not.…
Read MoreIs Walter Dalton Dull? is That Bad?
In almost every any conversation about the Democratic governor’s race, somebody says something like: “Walter Dalton is a nice guy, but …. “ What follows “but…” is generally a variation of, well … “dull.” Not “dull” as in “not bright.” But “dull” as in “not exciting.” You’d think his name is Walter Dullton. …
Read MoreThe Democratic Field
Dan Blue’s decision to run didn’t surprise many Democrats. They had seen him do this dance before. Bob Etheridge’s decision to run did surprise a few. They think he is hurt by the “loser” tag, the “who are you?” video and consequent difficulties raising money. But he’s ahead in the polls, so why not…
Read MoreSantorum’s Contraception Obsession
Rick Santorum, who wants to take America back to 1900, takes me back to 1984. That was the year of the Hunt-Helms race. In the dying days, we were behind in the polls – and desperate. With the help of (believe it or not) Dick Morris, we came up with a bomb to blow…
Read MoreWhy Fool Around…with Lt. Governor
Talk about manna from heaven, Linda Coleman must be thanking her lucky stars – the State Employees’ Union just announced it’s going to spend $1.8 million to elect her and defeat Eric Mansfield in the Democratic Primary for Lt. Governor. The State Employees’ Union has charged into Super PAC land with a passion but…
Read MoreDemocrats and 2012
There’s good news for Democrats looking ahead to the fall elections. But then there is really, really bad news. The good news is that Obama can carry the state again. He will play hard – and spend heavy – here. That will turn out votes for the entire ticket. Also good: the bitter…
Read MoreNewton’s 3rd Law
The Democrats in Raleigh haven’t looked this befuddled in years – redistricting is one source of their bewilderment but the roots of their disorder run deeper: In every state election for two decades the Raleigh Democrats have outraised Republicans by millions – this year the Democrats are staring at empty coffers and Phil Berger has…
Read MoreA Jobs Plan
A Democratic TAPster offers these thoughts “Re – Caterpillar and others over the past several months: “If I were running for governor (and I’m not but have to admit I think I could beat the current group of contenders) I would come out in favor of corporate incentives. I would state I will not…
Read MoreClick Button, File Form
A Republican filed to run for State House and no sooner had he filed than he was told he had to fill out a second form called a Financial Disclosure Report – so he went to the State Ethics Commission’s website and found the form then ran head on into a bureaucratic maze. When…
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