North Carolina – Republicans
A Republican coup d’état?
Is it possible that Pat McCrory and Republican legislative leaders are so arrogant, corrupt, crooked and power-crazed that they would try to overrule the people’s decision for Governor? Gerrymandering was one thing. Voter-suppression was another. Setting aside the clear outcome of the election, without even a fig leaf of legitimacy, to keep McCrory in office…
Read MoreHope?
The American people wanted change in the worst kind of way. And they got it. There are only two messages in politics: (1) “Time for a change.” Or (2) “Stay the course.” Hillary Clinton was a status quo candidate in a change year. Trump was change. And people were willing to blow up Washington to…
Read MoreNail-biter
In both of the last two Presidential elections, North Carolina was one of the two closest states. Here we go again. The Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll shows Clinton up 2 here, Ross and Burr tied and Cooper up 3. The final New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll for North Carolina showed Clinton and Trump…
Read MoreThe Great Turnout Freakout
Back in the olden days, there was just Election Day. None of this Early Vote stuff. Every Election Day, in every campaign I worked in, first thing in the morning, The Great Turnout Freakout would hit. The calls would start early: “Turnout is incredible! It’s higher than ever here! We’ve never seen longer lines!” “Our…
Read MoreAdventures on CSPAN
You meet the most interesting people on CSPAN call-in shows. I did a 45-minute turn on Monday’s Washington Journal. We had callers from California, West Virginia, Oklahoma and exotic locales like Cary, Chapel Hill and Monroe. Now, I’m used to media interviews. The questions are usually about ads, polls, strategy and predictions. Not here. The…
Read MoreClutter
There’re two things about political ads a normal ‘Joe’ sitting at home watching TV could tell you that a lot of campaigns haven’t figured out – here’s an example: Americans for Prosperity just launched a new tv ad attacking Roy Cooper and like a lot of political ads it begins with a shadowy black and…
Read MorePity Pat
He’s had death threats. He and his wife are being shunned socially. He was verbally assaulted by a 21-year-old drunk student, and she was arrested. Corporate executives and university presidents have abandoned him. The voters don’t understand HB2. Its supporters are being “purged.” “It gets to me, I just hide it until I go home…
Read MoreNo high ground for McCrory
Pat McCrory’s reelection problems go much deeper and much farther back than HB2. Any lift he gets from putting on his hurricane hat isn’t likely to lift him out of the floodwaters. That’s the assessment Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling gave at a Common Cause NC fundraiser Sunday evening. Jensen offered a view of…
Read MoreNo answer at 911
A TAP contributor writes, “Here’s an example of what slips through the cracks when a governor is distracted by his world collapsing around him: “McCrory and his team did nothing when 400 people lost their jobs in the abrupt closing of Johnston Ambulance Service. Anybody who’s been around a hospital or nursing home in eastern…
Read MorePat’s Cat 5 Storm
Regardless of what Hurricane Matthew does, Pat McCrory is struggling against high headwinds and a vicious riptide. That forecast track is clear in WRAL’s SurveyUSA poll (which has nothing to do with Greg Fishel). It’s not just that Roy Cooper leads McCrory 48-44. It’s that all the winds are blowing Cooper’s way. Half (51 percent)…
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