North Carolina – Republicans
Toe Stepping
There you go again, Governor. “Stepping on toes.” Some people think leadership is about getting people to work together, or inspiring them to put the common good ahead of self-interest or even, as Harry Truman once said, “persuading people to do what they ought to have enough damn sense to do on their own.”…
Read MoreYoung Dems
Democrats looking to the future should look today to the swearing-in of four new Wake County Commissioners. They are a large part of why I told the AP’s Bill Barrow that the key to the party’s success in 2016 and beyond “will have to come from younger Democrats in the cities.” Huffington Post picked…
Read MoreDemocrats and Education
One thing Democrats did right this year was push education onto the public agenda. But will it last? And the key question: Where do they take it now? The Hagan campaign came close largely because they almost turned a United States Senate race into a school board election. The same thing was true…
Read MoreDid Pat Pick Right Fight?
Governor McCrory’s political instinct is right, but his choice of battlefield is puzzling. The Governor seems to understand that the best way to get reelected is to pick a fight with the legislature. Governors are always more popular than legislatures. McCrory’s approval ratings are twice as high as this legislature. But why not…
Read MoreA Waste of Time
The Governor sent a letter to Thom Tillis and Phil Berger taking the legislature to task for asking for an independent audit of the Department of Health and Human Services. Then the next day, when the Governor needed it least, the News and Observer reported that when DHHS’ new computer didn’t work the Department…
Read MoreThe Whole Tarbaby
Pat McCrory had one of those days. First, a typist switched an ‘h’ for an ‘f’ so he sent out a press release announcing a Wilmington company was ‘firing’ 1300 new workers instead of ‘hiring’ 1300 workers. Then a passing photographer snapped a photo of the Governor with his arm draped across…
Read MoreMcCrory’s Balancing Act
Republican wins this year could make Governor McCrory’s reelection road rockier. Over the past month, the Governor seemed to tack to the middle and away from the arch-conservative legislature. He reacted mildly to the gay-marriage court decisions. He suggested that he might support Medicaid expansion. Last week he sued the legislature over appointment powers.…
Read MoreYou Can’t Make This Up
Governor McCrory needed a lawyer to advise him on cleaning up Duke Energy’s coal ash ponds but the one he found raised eyebrows: He hired a Duke Energy attorney. The press naturally asked if that wasn’t a bit like having the fox guard the hen-house so the Governor had his spokesman explain to reporters,…
Read MoreLeft or Right?
Carter and I spoke Wednesday at a post-election panel sponsored by the Public School Forum, a group of education advocates. I suggested they have nothing to worry about in the coming legislature, since Republicans ran as Democrats, promising to raise teacher pay to the national average and improve the public schools. Tom Murry, who…
Read MoreIt’s Alive!
The would-be undertakers in the media and even within the Democratic Party need to cancel their burial plans. The patient’s charts show a strong pulse. North Carolina is the only state in the South – and one of few nationally – where Democrats gained legislative seats despite the national wave. Check out this chart…
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