North Carolina – Republicans
Divisiveness Loses
A TAPster sees a factor in Tuesday’s elections apart from the party angle: “There’s an important lesson tucked in the outcome of Raleigh’s school board election Tuesday when voters kicked out the divisive school board chairman. “It’s not a lesson about Democrats vs. Republicans, even though the N&O and its political pundit Rob…
Read MoreWakeup Call
It was a rout. Democrats were fired up and ready to go. They were mad about more than the school board. They were mad about the 2010 elections, the Republican legislature, the Tea Party, even Art (“I am not an heir”) Pope. Incidentally, Tuesday’s results show that Pope’s power was exaggerated by the…
Read MoreHow to Win Friends Political Style (It Beats Dale Carnegie)
It didn’t work out too well when Congress went into the home loan business a couple of years ago – so it seems odd the Raleigh City Council wants to do the same thing. However, just about everyone in town seems to think passing a bond to borrow millions so the Council can make…
Read MoreHow to Make Friends the Political Way – Part II
The other borrowing the Raleigh City Council has put on the ballot is a Transportation Bond. Which sounds like the Council wants to borrow money to repair potholes and build new streets. Except the newspaper reported three-fourths of the money isn’t for roads. Almost everyone it seems is for this bond too. And if…
Read MoreToo Much for Ellmers!
How bad can the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages be if it’s too much for Renee Ellmers? According to Under the Dome, the congresswoman’s spokesman “confirmed that she planned to vote against the constitutional ban that was adopted by the legislature in September because it is too broadly drawn.” It would ban civil…
Read MoreMcCrory’s Tease
Julie Rose at WFAE public radio in Charlotte tagged Pat McCrory’s announcement-that-he-will-have-an-announcement-later: “Nothing excites donors or attracts free publicity like a good tease.” She also pointed out that McCrory announced he’s delaying his “big announcement” because “campaigns have become too long and too costly.” This from a man who has been running since…
Read MoreVindication!
I have an apology from The New Yorker – and a correction (online, at least). The reporter, Jane Mayer, called me to apologize. She said she was “totally mortified” that her Art Pope story identified me as former executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party. My biographical information apparently got mixed us with…
Read MoreStop Whining
The New Yorker article about Art Pope takes me back to the 1980s. Then, my fellow Democrats were whining about the money, power and evil influence of Jesse Helms’ Congressional Club. Now, they’re whining about the money, power and evil influence of Art Pope. Stop whining. Get to work. Find our Art Pope. …
Read MoreLosing Faith
My faith in The New Yorker magazine is gone. I love The New Yorker – the articles as well as the cartoons. In fact, it’s the only magazine I get in the mail – thanks to a friend who gave me a gift subscription. I look forward to it arriving every week. So…
Read MoreThe N&O Misses One
Among my jobs at the N&O in the early 70s were copy editor and night city editor. I still read the paper with an editorâs eye. So I just about swallowed my eyeshade when I read todayâs N&O profile of Raleigh mayoral candidate Randall Williams. How do you write that story without mentioning…
Read More