North Carolina – Republicans

Carter and I taped WRAL’s “On the Record” today for airing Saturday night at 7 p.m. Or you can watch it on the station’s website.   We were with anchor Bill Leslie and WUNC radio’s Laura Leslie (no relation to Bill). The topic, of course, was Tuesday’s runoffs and the November elections.

There’s a simple explanation for Elaine Marshall’s victory: Thomas Mills.   Her homegrown campaign manager outwitted Cal Cunningham’s bigger-name team, defied the DSCC and disproved the doubters.   Maybe one time in 10 the candidate with less money wins. This was one, and that’s a big win in politics.   As Secretary of State, Marshall…

The first ‘reality moment’ in a political campaign last week belonged to Bob Etheridge; the second belonged to Bill Randall.   Randall, who is locked in a tight runoff with Bernie Reeves, called his first press conference Tuesday and announced – as the cameras rolled – he thought the government and BP had conspired to…

Last week was a heckuva week.   On Monday, Al Lytton – Renee  Ellmers’ campaign manager – and I sat down, racking our brains to figure out how Renee could raise money over the Internet (to match the million odd dollars Bob Etheridge has sitting in his bank account from special interests), then out of…

Editorial writers are sometimes accused of occupying an ivory tower. This one from the Greensboro News & Record must live in a soundproof padded cell.   Here’s what he or she wrote yesterday about Bob Etheridge’s video:   “For now, his relatively unknown opponent, Renee Ellmers of Dunn, says she’s not going to take advantage…