Raleigh
Perdue and Indians
It’s hard to tell whether Governor Perdue’s deal with the Indians proves you can sell a Democratic Governor just about anything by saying it’ll help education or whether it proves our Democratic Governor figures she can sell the rest of us just about anything by saying it’ll help education. Last Tuesday, the Governor announced…
Read MoreLayoff Numbers Game
Here’s a TAPster’s interesting talk on the flap about how many job layoffs the legislature caused: “Sometimes it’s hard to tell who has better aim at their feet these days, the Democrats or the Republicans — and whether there’s anyone out there holding them accountable for their poor politics or obfuscating rhetoric. The latest…
Read MoreWhat World…
Brutal jailers locked mentally ill prisoners in ‘isolation cells,’ took their clothes and mattresses, and left them to sleep naked on the concrete floor – it sounds like a prison in Bangkok or Rangoon only it didn’t happen in Bangkok it happened in Raleigh. The wardens at Central Prison called it “therapeutic seclusion.” Governor…
Read MoreAttack Machine
Democratic oppo researchers should be reveling in what Dome called Pat McCrory’s “shout out” to Heather Lusordo: “I just think unwarranted personal attacks against you hurt our democratic system. I feel for your and your family for what you had to go through. I commend you for the courage to stand up to it.…
Read MoreMargiotta Gerrymandered?
Here’s an interesting twist on the Wake school board outcome. A Republican friend (not the same one who contributed the item below; I actually have many Republican friends) says Ron Margiotta was an unintended victim of the Republican-run school board redistricting. Here’s the back story: Deborah Goldman demanded that the redistricting plan move…
Read MoreGOP Autopsy
A Republican friend in Wake County offers this take on last week’s election: “The Republicans were doomed from the start on this election for school board. It was over before it started. “Definitely they earned an ‘F’ in PR, Message, and Branding of their board. Us GOP’ers wished Tedesco would have just went…
Read MoreSchool Board Lessons
At breakfast this morning I asked my politically astute friend what the Wake school board outcome means. His response: “Democrats aren’t dead.” He added, “North Carolina isn’t a red state. And it’s not a blue state. It’s a 52-48 state” – exactly the margin of Kevin Hill’s victory. And, remember, in a district gerrymandered…
Read Moremajority-Minority Districts
Well, in a minor miracle, the Obama Justice Department said yes and put its seal of approval on the North Carolina Republicans’ new House and Senate Districts, then, before the ink was dry on the page, the North Carolina Democrats filed a lawsuit to stop the plan Obama had just approved. It’s an odd…
Read MoreVoter ID Deal?
A lobbyist friend suspects that the legislature will try to override the Governor’s veto of the voter ID bill this week. Then we may learn whether some Democrats agreed to vote for the override in exchange for the gay-marriage amendment being on the ballot in May, instead of November. Stay tuned.
Read MorePut Jim Hunt in Office
No, he’s not running again. (It’s amazing how the rumor keeps coming up.) We’re talking about his personal office in the new James B. Hunt, Jr. Library on Centennial Campus at N.C. State University. The Jim Hunt Alumni Association is raising $100,000 for naming rights to the office. Who are Jim Hunt…
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