Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
They’re not highway numbers, or ages. They are the two big numbers driving North Carolina’s education debate this year. When you take an eight-miles-high view of the legislature, setting aside the partisan debates and vitriol, the most striking thing is that Republicans are arguing this year over whether to raise teacher pay 5-6 per…
Read MoreNew Yorker magazine, as I recall, once had a department called: “Which newspaper do you read?” It juxtaposed totally opposite headlines about the same story. To wit this week: “Clay Aiken outpaces GOP candidate in 2nd quarter fundraising” (Sandhills Tribune). “Rep. Ellmers ahead of Aiken in fundraising in 2nd Congressional District” (Fayetteville Observer).…
Read MoreA discerning reader adds a twist to my theory (see “Pat Versus Phil” blog below) that Senator Berger might back a primary opponent against Governor McCrory: It could be Lt. Governor Dan Forest: “Can’t help but notice Senate budget included Forest’s pet project for more education revenue but they didn’t include any of Gov’s pet…
Read MoreRepublican 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 MoreThe 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 MoreThis 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 MoreWhat is it about our sports teams that possesses us so? Brazil’s soccer team loses in the World Cup, and a nation plunges into despair, mourning and an angry orgy of recrimination. A national tragedy, it seems. LeBron James takes his talents home, and a city erupts in joy and thanks. The Second…
Read MoreWhat on earth do you do when a eight-year-old lands on your doorstep? I heard two spokesmen on the radio today with answers – the first told a story of a lone girl, one of the border children, who after being repeatedly raped by gangs in Honduras, trudged or rode on the tops of…
Read MoreYou hear that North Carolina is growing and changing. Now you can see just how and how much – and what that may mean for politics – thanks to Ferrel Guillory and his colleagues at the UNC Program on Public Life. They have just posted their new issue of NC DataNet on their website.…
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