Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Thanks to the 2012 campaign and Mitt Romney, President Obama has found his voice. That gives him a big advantage over Republicans the next two years. For all his writing and oratorical skills, Obama never found a way in his first term to effectively tell his story – and sell his message. That led…
Read MoreSome Republicans seem determined to be “the stupid party,” in Bobby Jindal’s memorable phrase. Like U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx. The Sunday New York Times took a look at how some students today pay for college. The story focused on Steve Boedefeld, an Appalachian State University student who wants to avoid graduating with a…
Read MoreWar’s broken out in Raleigh. The Republican County Commissioners launched a blitzkrieg, hiring a lobbyist (for $25,000) to get the Republican legislature to redraw the districts of the Democratic School Board members – then the Democratic School Board struck back (to keep their districts) by spending four times as much ($100,000) to hire their…
Read MoreThere’s a full throated debate going on in Washington – Republicans are saying ‘the Sequester’ wasn’t their idea, it was Obama’s idea, and the White House is saying, ‘Obama’s idea! John Boehner not only voted for the Sequester, after it passed he bragged he’d gotten 98% of what he wanted.’ Meanwhile the Republicans, after…
Read MoreAfter three days on a retreat at a spa near Washington, and after meeting with President Obama, House Democrats headed home ‘billing and cooing’ like reconciled brides because they’d built a ‘closer relationship’ with the President. But in this case the path to reconciliation wasn’t romantic: It was money. To sooth the Congressmen…
Read MoreJim Gardner almost changed political history twice – 20 years ago and 40 years ago. In 1972, he was the fair-haired boy of the North Carolina Republican Party. Six years earlier, he had unexpectedly defeated a long-time Democratic congressman from the East, Harold Cooley. How big an upset was it? Cooley was chairman of…
Read MoreDidn’t we see this movie in the Sixties? The President and his aides huddle over maps and pick targets. Jets drop bombs or drones launch missiles. Our enemies die. So do innocent civilians. The natives hate us and we make more enemies. As Congressman Walter Jones asks: Why are we still in Afghanistan? …
Read MoreGeorge Washington supposedly said the Founding Fathers created the Senate to cool House legislation just as a saucer cools hot tea. In North Carolina, it looks like the House and Art Pope are cooling the Senate’s hot tea. The House promised to take a long second look at the Senate’s boards and commissions…
Read MorePre-K foe Diana Lightfoot has hot-footed it out of the pre-K job. (See blog below.) Give the McCrory administration points here. There’s only one way to fix a disaster: fast. Now maybe Ms. Lightfoot can get to the bottom of these ultrasonic waves from China and North Korea. And here’s two words…
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