North Carolina – Republicans
The Ground Beneath Trump’s Feet
Winds change and without warning politics changes: In 1980 Reagan and Carter were running neck and neck ten days before the election – winds changed, Reagan won 44 states. Sitting in my office ten years later during Jesse Helms’ Senate campaign our pollster pointed to one question in his poll: 80% of the voters disagreed…
Read MoreDodging Won’t Work
No one saw it coming: Running for governor, neck and neck with Josh Stein, Mark Robinson just got upended. Robinson’s family business – Balanced Nutrition – is paid by the state to provide meals for needy children in day care centers. Robinson’s wife, who runs the company, makes $160,000 in salary. Robinson, his son, daughter,…
Read MoreRoy Put NC First
Like President Biden, Governor Roy Cooper put party and duty ahead of personal political ambition. The President did it when he stepped aside for Vice President Kamala Harris. The Governor did it when he stepped away from VP consideration. This is key from his statement: “This just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and…
Read MoreThe Thom Tillis Twist
Senator Thom Tillis twisted himself into contortions with this tweet last week: “Huge news for Wilmington, the Department of Transportation will be awarding $242 million to replace the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge! I was proud to advocate for the project to @SecretaryPete on behalf of North Carolina and co-author and help get the bipartisan infrastructure…
Read MoreI’ve Heard Enough
I’ve heard enough from a media lynch mob that obsesses over President Biden’s senior moments and overlooks Trump’s lifetime of lies and crimes. I’ve heard enough from Democrats who would give in to the mob, give up on the President and give Trump and MAGA Republicans a huge psychological victory four months before the election.…
Read MoreJim Martin vs Trump
North Carolina’s only two-term Republican governor wrote this week that, if Donald Trump wins, America “will be willfully ripped apart.” Jim Martin, who was governor from 1985-1993, wrote in a McClatchy newspapers column that Trump is a “clear and present danger” to the nation. Martin panned President Biden’s debate performance and said: “If I thought…
Read MoreDebates
Debates can turn a campaign on its head. My book, The Trail of the Serpent, is going to be published in August. I tell stories about politics from Reagan’s campaign against President Gerald Ford through Trump and Biden. One story is about Jesse Helms’ first debate with Jim Hunt in 1984. In Jesse’s campaign we…
Read MoreOutside Money Talks in NC
How rotten and corrupt is campaign financing in North Carolina? Worse than you think. Capitol Broadcasting Company has exposed the impact of outside money – “dark” money, from anonymous big-money donors – on our elections. They term it “astonishing” in a series released this week. CBC Editorial reports, “Increasingly, the money influencing North Carolina elections…
Read MoreThe Governor’s Race: Stein Slams Robinson
I walked into my bedroom, turned on the TV, caught a glimpse of Mark Robinson’s face, turned, his voice roared – stopped me in my tracks. Most political ads are cliches wrapped in flashy graphics, dark music, laced with melodramatic voices – you watch one for five seconds and tune it out. But in Josh…
Read MoreTwo Good Things
Two things lately make me feel good about this election: Josh Stein’s devastating ad about Mark Robinson on abortion and Jeff Jackson’s assessment of Trump’s felony conviction. Stein’s ad skewers Robinson with his own words; he can’t duck, dodge or deny them. Even worse is Robinson’s demeanor: angry, hateful and hostile to women. The ad’s…
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