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Republicans here are like kids at Christmas: giddy, gaga and eyes all aglow as they rip open their new presents.   A Republican Governor! A week-long victory lap! Two inaugural ceremonies! The big bash at Carolina Country Club Saturday! (No, not the inaugural ball. The political fundraiser.)   Then there’s the new legislature and all…

Democrats who worry about GOP control of state government can take heart: It won’t last long, judging from the Goldman-Malone mess.   It turns out that Republican Party leaders knew the whole tawdry and titillating tale, but still cleared the field for the School Board Soap Opera stars to run for higher office.   What…

Bill Clinton saved President Obama at the convention. Joe Biden saved him last night. Now it’s up to Obama to make his case.   Biden was by far the dominant figure in the VP debate. At a minimum, he won by showing some fight and rallying panicky Democrats. Past that, your opinion of the debate…

While Mitt Romney was morphing into a moderate last week, an aide to Pat McCrory sent out an email calling his candidate a “centrist Republican.” Two questions: How do conservative Republicans feel about that, and how will both men govern if elected?   The email was from J. C. Blucher Ehringhaus, III of Charlotte, who…

  Guest Tapster blogger Joe Stewart writes: In the same way my daddy has a saying that manners are not all that matter, but what they do matter matters a lot, the relative financial advantage of one candidate over their opponent, or one party versus their rival, doesn’t make all the difference but the difference…

I continue to be amazed by the disgust and distrust of the State Highway Patrol that I hear. One TAPster had a cogent analysis – and some thoughtful ideas:   “Here are a couple of policy suggestions for the governor and General Assembly as the putrid stench of testosterone and KY jelly wafts once again…

President Obama probably wishes his PR team worked as smoothly as the SEAL team that killed Osama and the intelligence team that found him.   The White House fuzzed up the triumph by rushing to put out information that later proved to be wrong.   Here’s a guess about why that happened: The White House…

Elaine Marshall has to make a tough choice: raise money from Raleigh lobbyists or not.   She already took flak for it in the primary. Her defense: It wasn’t much money, and the donors were old friends.   Now that she’s won, it could be a lot more money. And a lot more flak.  …

The Gulf oil spill set off massive responses. No, not the ones to stop the leak or clean up the spill. The political responses: Republicans and the media trying to stick the gooey blame on President Obama – and the White House, to keep it away.   Sarah (“Drill, baby, drill”) Palin says the spill…

There’s an interesting – and important – vote scheduled in the state Senate Finance Committee today at 1 p.m.   The bill is S1209.  The Broadband for Everyone NC coalition – which I’m working with – views this as an industry-sponsored bill that will give control of North Carolina’s broadband (and economic) future to Time…