North Carolina – Republicans
Invasion from Our South
A TAPster who spent years working in economic development shares this: “The most astonishing news last week (other than the daily calamities at DHHS) was the invitation we received via email to attend a fundraiser in Raleigh for the governor of South Carolina. Yes, the head sandlapper is coming to Raleigh to raise money…
Read MoreMLK Day and 1984
My blog below on the 1984 Senate race prompted a TAPster to note that the Martin Luther King holiday was a big issue that year. Jim Hunt led Jesse Helms in early polls, but Helms turned the race around in late 1983 when he filibustered on the Senate floor against a national holiday honoring…
Read MoreTillis’ 1984
Thom Tillis is walking the same tightrope that Jim Hunt walked in his U.S. Senate race 30 years ago. But Tillis’ balance is even more precarious. Tillis today, like Hunt then, has to appeal to the broad November electorate and also pacify an extreme faction in his own party. Hunt’s problems came from…
Read MoreThe Next Ted Cruz?
The newspaper reporter asked if North Carolina’s Senate Primary was going to be the next litmus test of the Tea Party’s political muscle – and as fast as he could Greg Brannon’s campaign spokesman said ‘Yes’ then added the Primary was just like Senator Rand Paul’s election in Kentucky in 2010 and Senator Ted Cruz’s…
Read MoreCan Pat Get Back?
Pat McCrory looked this week like a man urgently pushing the reset button. Like a politician who desperately wants to change course before he goes off a cliff. So first he talked about teacher pay. Then he praised Jim Hunt. Then he was at the airport greeting President Obama, then in the audience listening…
Read MoreDon’t Blame Jim Hunt
Jim Hunt should respond swiftly and strongly to the base calumny that Pat McCrory has cast upon his reputation. Speaking this week at the Hunt Education Institute’s Holshouser Legislators Retreat, McCrory – according to the N&O – “praised former Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt as a valued adviser.” McCrory was quoted as saying: “Jim Hunt…
Read MoreDemocracy in Action
John Ledford, from up in the mountains, was a leader in local Democratic politics for years, then ran for sheriff of Madison County and won. Then, after a few years as sheriff, he got Democratic Governor Beverly Perdue to appoint him head of the Division of Alcohol and Law Enforcement, a job where he earned…
Read MoreMcCrory’s Bridge
The Watauga Wizard, Jerry Wayne Williamson, nails it: “McCrory Blocks Traffic on All Bridges Going into CD12.” Jerry adds in his Watauga Watchblog: “(Congressman Mel Watt’s) resignation should have triggered a special election to fill his unexpired term in the U.S. House. But, no, Gov. McCrory decided that the seat could be filled on November…
Read MoreBully at the Pulpit
Republicans can toss their Christie for President buttons, but they can learn a lesson from Governor Soprano. Pat McCrory can learn to take responsibility. He, Phil Berger and Thom Tillis (“whining…losers”) can learn that voters don’t like bullies. A TAPster (who once thought well of McCrory) noted the contrast between Christie and McCrory:…
Read MoreRespirators
In a speech a couple of weeks ago the President urged Congress to get moving and pass his bill to extend unemployment benefits then, climbing up on his rhetorical high horse, he added that paying unemployment benefits “is one of the most effective ways to boost the economy” – which sounded a little odd, like…
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