Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
A 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…
Republican 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…
The 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…
This 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…
What 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…
What 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…
You 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.…
It is a well-known fact that the not-so-great state of South Carolina has only two things going for it: the coast and the city of Charleston. The coast is there by the grace of God and the gifts of nature. But it turns out that much of what makes Charleston a great place –…
Locked in a wrestling match with the Governor over Medicaid (and how much it will go over budget) the Old Bull Mooses invited Art Pope (the Budget Czar) over to the Senate for a cordial visit then added if he didn’t come along peacefully they’d send him a subpoena. Pope, responding like a gentleman,…
Some progressives groaned when Governor Josh Stein announced a bipartisan “Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Education”…
North Carolina voters don’t like either the Democratic or Republican parties. But Independent voters – who…
How do you get your news? Our statewide poll asked North Carolina voters what their primary…