North Carolina – Republicans
Phil and Thom
Fifteen years ago, Phil Berger and Thom Tillis rode the Republican/Tea Party tide to power in Raleigh. Today, they’re mere pawns in Donald Trump’s Republican Party. They personify what the party has become Berger has stayed put as Senate president pro-tem, determined to outdo Marc Basnight’s long reign and undo the progressive legislation that Democrats…
Read MoreWrong Wray
Former state Rep. Michael Wray has an odd way of running in a Democratic primary. He posted on Facebook, “Are you a Republican that (sic) wants to vote for Michael Wray?” Here’s how, he said: “You can temporarily change your party affiliation to UNAFFILIATED, but you must do so BEFORE FEBRUARY 6TH. If you make…
Read MoreRoadkill?
I didn’t know what to tell this prospective candidate. They (I use “they” to protect the innocent) want to run as Unaffiliated in a heavily gerrymandered Republican district. And they wanted my advice. Why run Unaffiliated? “Because a Democrat doesn’t stand a chance, and voters deserve a choice.” Much as I admire that, I wasn’t…
Read MoreScumbags
Reagan ran against Ford, then ran against Jimmy Carter, Jesse Helms ran against Jim Hunt: Those were tough hard-fought battles where each side hammered the other but, tough as they were, back in those days no one called his opponent a ‘scumbag.’ Because, if he did, shaking their heads people would vote against him for…
Read MorePoliticians We Like – In the Other Party
John F. Kennedy is one of Republicans’ favorite Democrats. And John McCain is one of Democrats’ favorite Republicans. That’s what we found when we asked Democratic and Republican voters in a rural North Carolina poll to name a politician in the other party they like or respect. Two things stood out: It helps to be…
Read MoreHow Democrats Vetoed Redistricting Vetoes
The News & Observer said former Governor Roy Cooper is “to blame” for governors not having the power to veto redistricting bills. Actually, a lot of Democrats who were in the legislature in the 1990s have to share that blame. In fact, some Democrats in the state House then – including then-Speaker and now-Senator Dan…
Read MoreThey’re For Trump, Not For You
Republican legislators just did something that swing voters dislike most about them: “put loyalty to Donald Trump over loyalty to our country” – and loyalty to the people of North Carolina. They re-gerrymandered Democratic Congressman Don Davis’ district so a Republican will win it – because Trump told them to. In a recent poll of…
Read MoreOcracoke to Harvard
It’s not easy to get to Ocracoke from Raleigh. It’s even harder to get from Ocracoke to Harvard. But Katie Kinnion (photo) did it – thanks to North Carolina’s public schools. I read about her during our two-hour-plus ferry ride from Swan Quarter across Pamlico Sound to Ocracoke last week. You have to take a…
Read MoreA Sign of Hope
‘What did you think of those students?’ Gary asked after we spent an hour at a forum at N. C. State University. The students weren’t anything like politicians you watch on TV these days –– no one ranted, strutted; voices calm, when they disagreed, politeness held. Gary saw that as a sign of better days…
Read MoreBoliek’s 435 Pages
My friend Ron is cynical about government, and he couldn’t contain himself when he read that State Auditor Dave Boliek produced a 435-page report on fixing the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles. “435 pages!?” Ron sputtered. “How much time and taxpayer money did that take?” He raged on, “And Boliek’s big idea is to move…
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