North Carolina – Republicans
Willie Horton, the Sequel
Republicans are running an old play against Roy Cooper – the “Willie Horton blitz.” The play worked when Lee Atwater, “Poppy” Bush’s hatchet-man, ran it against Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential race. It didn’t work when Jim Gardner ran it against Governor Jim Hunt in 1992. I get why Republicans are doing it now:…
Read MoreTalking About Politics on WUNC
Carter Wrenn and I were on WUNC’s Due South this week talking about the decline of civil discourse – and how two adversaries became friends and blogging partners. You can listen here. We told how we met negotiating rules for the debates between Jim Hunt and Jesse Helms. “There was ice in the room,” Carter…
Read MoreBlow-up
Trump thought he’d win political points by inciting protests and violence in Minnesota. But the brutality and overreaction of ICE stormtroopers is backfiring on him. Resistance is rising – among the American people and even among Republican politicians. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis called for “a thorough and impartial investigation” into the shooting Saturday of…
Read MoreTillis Takes on Trump
Thom Tillis’ last year in the Senate could be his finest hour. He can keep up the great tradition of North Carolina Senators standing up to a criminal President. Fifty years ago, Senator Sam Ervin took on – and helped take down – Richard Nixon over Watergate. Five years ago, Senator Richard Burr voted to…
Read MorePower Politics
The six Governors seated in a pew at Jim Hunt’s funeral last month are of different parties, philosophies and personalities. But all of them battled the General Assembly over power. They were Josh Stein (2025-now), Roy Cooper (2017-2025), Pat McCrory (2013-2017), Bev Perdue (2009-2013), Mike Easley (2001-2009) and Jim Martin (1985-1993), whose two terms came…
Read MorePhil 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…
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