Red State Blues

Why was North Carolina a bright spot in an otherwise dark day for Republicans nationally?   Were my Republican consultant friends – Carter, Luther Snyder, Tom Fetzer, Paul Shumaker and Jack Hawke – that much smarter than their colleagues across the country?   Or was it just a weird confluence of circumstances: a governor’s race…

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Clarifying Mysteries

Back in the enlightened 1970’s when I was in college the powers-that-be at UNC gave me a hard choice: They told me I could take either a foreign language or math, but I had to learn one or the other. It was a choice between two poisons. I took foreign language and promptly failed French,…

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Bad Start, Pat

Yesterday I wrote nice things about Governor-elect McCrory. But his entrance onto the Raleigh stage this week wasn’t a good one.   Look at it this way: McCrory has a strong brand in North Carolina right now. He just won big. He gets the benefit of the winner’s glow. He should milk that political capital.…

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Why Democrats Lost in North Carolina

Democrats lived through about their worst election ever Tuesday night: Republicans whipped them in the races for Governor, Lt. Governor, elected three new Congressmen and gained seats in the State House and Senate – so how, post election, are Democratic pundits explaining their world falling apart? Here’s what they’re saying:   ‘That darn Art Pope…

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Congrats, Pat

Pat McCrory may not like this, but he reminds me a bit of Jim Hunt. His speech Tuesday night talked about North Carolina’s reaching and exceeding “their full potential.” Since then he has talked about reaching out to Republicans and Democrats. During the campaign he boasted about working across party lines in Charlotte. He even…

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Divided We Stand

On the day after, we’re as split emotionally as we are politically.   Democrats celebrate President Obama’s historic reelection. America has now twice elected a black man to the highest office. His win validates his policies: the stimulus, auto bailout and financial reform. Health care reform will survive. He will fill Supreme Court vacancies. He…

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Agreeing With Tedesco

A TAPster who has no use for John Tedesco finds common ground:   “Have you taken a good look at one of John Tedesco’s yard signs in his campaign for State Superintendent?  At a stoplight today, I finally took a moment to read one.  Here’s what it says:   “’JOHN TEDESCO: Our Children Deserve Better.’…

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The Disappearance of the Machines

For years the Democratic Party’s marched onto political battlefields and vanquished Republicans, winning every Governor’s race in North Carolina for two decades and, except for one brief hiatus, holding control of the State Senate and House in an iron grip for over a century.   But this election Pat McCrory’s led Walter Dalton in the…

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Newby, O’Conner and Judicial Conduct

Here’s more fuel for the Paul Newby redistricting-recusal fire (see my blog yesterday). A lawyer notes recent comments by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner and the contents of the N.C. Code of Judicial Conduct.   O’Conner, a Republican appointed by Ronald Reagan, has strongly criticized SuperPac participation in state judicial races, the…

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Should Newby Recuse Himself on Redistricting?

Looking at the big money backing Supreme Court Justice Paul Newby, a knowledgeable lawyer warns: “There would seem little doubt now but that Justice Newby will have to recuse himself from any redistricting case that might come before the high court.”   The lawyer says Newby may also have to recuse himself from cases involving…

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