North Carolina – Republicans
Phil Cantor Jr.?
Republican primaries are the best entertainment you can find this summer. First Eric Cantor loses in a monumental upset. Then black Democrats save Thad Cochrane’s hide. Then two former Democrats running for Wake County DA fight over who’s the best Republican. And now Phil Berger Jr. loses big despite outspending his opponent big, plus…
Read MoreLibertyValance
The Old Bull Mooses walked into a meeting with the House to wrangle over the state budget but before they could fire a shot the House’s lead wrangler, Nelson Dollar, threw them a curve ball: He announced he was calling half a dozen school superintendents to testify at the hearing. The Bull Mooses had…
Read MorePat Versus Phil
This increasingly looks like a political death match – with one survivor in the end. I’m betting on Phil Berger. Yesterday Governor McCrory compared Senator Berger & Co. to Marc Basnight, Tony Rand and – yes – Harry Reid. Ouch. Them’s fighting words. Imagine Jim Hunt comparing a Democratic House Speaker in the…
Read MoreUncertainties
Locked in a wrestling match with the Governor over Medicaid (and how much it will go over budget) the Old Bull Mooses invited Art Pope (the Budget Czar) over to the Senate for a cordial visit then added if he didn’t come along peacefully they’d send him a subpoena. Pope, responding like a gentleman,…
Read MoreMore Stupid Hat!
Governor Pat (Stupid Hat) McCrory’s admonition worked! No deaths or injuries were reported from Hurricane Arthur after he went on television urging North Carolinians along the coast: “Don’t put on your stupid hat.” He even mimed putting on a stupid hat. And made air quotes around “stupid hat.” It got it on the CBS…
Read MoreA Lit Stick of Dynamite
There’s a lit stick of dynamite – and one unanswered question – being blithely passed from hand to hand in the backrooms of Raleigh: Who will the State Senators and Representatives make pay to cleanup Duke Energy’s coal ash ponds – which Duke says is going to cost $10 billion and which, Duke also says,…
Read MoreDangerous Terrain for an Optimist
The Governor sent his budget over to the Senate. And as Rodney Dangerfield used to say, He got no respect. It was DOA. The Senate sent its budget over to the House. And it got no respect either. DOA, again. The House sent its budget to the Senate. And met…
Read MoreNot Joshing Around
I know that people in the Governor’s Office read this blog. So please pass this message on to Governor McCrory: Josh Ellis needs some time off. Josh, the Governor’s communications director, responded rather sharply to my blog yesterday about McCrory’s new Governor’s Teacher Network (GTN). (See “McCrory’s Make-up Test.”) Josh’s email is below,…
Read MoreMcCrory’s Make-up Test
Governor McCrory acts like a man who had a serious health scare and now vows to eat right and exercise. His main exercise is running away from the state Senate as fast as he can. Clearly, the Governor has seen the Senate’s poll numbers on education. He doesn’t want to catch that bug. …
Read MoreA Year Later…
Last year (after their big victory in the 2012 election) as soon as Republican State Senators and State Representatives got to Raleigh they went to work to cut spending and it was almost like a competition: The House would announce it had cut a hundred million dollars. And the Senate would top that…
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