Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
It made all the newspapers: Last week Mitt Romney announced he’s pulling staffers out of North Carolina, where he now has a lead, to send them to Ohio where the race is closer. It was perfectly rational. Romney has a little breathing room in North Carolina so he’s moving few people to another state he…
Read MoreThe other day Gary and I spoke at a luncheon and when Gary finished speaking he opened the floor for questions and, right off, a fellow stood up and asked, ‘So who’s going to win the election?’ It’s the question everyone’s asking and Gary gave him a great answer. He explained how in politics…
Read MoreIf Pat McCrory is elected governor, he better get better at handling scandals. And he better hope that Debra Goldman and Chris Malone don’t get elected. McCrory’s statement yesterday started right. His spokesman said he would reserve judgment on the “convoluted situation.” He should have stopped there. But the spokesman went a bridge…
Read MoreAll this time we thought firing the Wake schools superintendent was a juicy story. Who knew? As the N&O’s Keung Hui wrote on his blog yesterday: “It’s not every day that one elected official accuses another of potentially committing a felony and then both tell police about their relationship.” Especially when both are…
Read MoreNational polls on the presidential race get a lot of media play, but they really tell us nothing about the race. This week, in fact, Obama adviser David Plouffe said the campaign doesn’t do any national polls. Why should they? The national popular vote doesn’t matter. Electoral votes matter. You can get 51 percent…
Read MoreFront-running Pat McCrory may be doing the smart thing politically, but may also be planting land mines for a Governor McCrory. Mark Binker of WRAL bore in with a story about Tuesday night’s debate that said: “McCrory didn’t describe how he would offset the tax cuts he proposes.” Binker reported this exchange: …
Read MoreMitt Romney let an inexplicable obsession with Benghazi get him slapped down by Candy Crowley and slam-dunked by President Obama, but last night’s debate also showed why Democrats should still worry. Let’s get this straight first: Ignore anybody who tells you these debates don’t matter. They matter big-time. This was America’s first reality-show…
Read MoreSeveral TAPsters took note that the New York Times obituary of Bill Friday focused mostly on the UNC desegregation battle in the 1970s. Martin Hunter of Charlotte wrote that he and his wife “thought that it was pretty slanted to make Friday look like a poorly-educated racist yahoo, who fought the Carter Justice Department…
Read MoreIn a bitter, polarized political age – and a lifetime of bitter, polarizing political battles – Bill Friday conquered all by heeding the Proverb: “A soft answer turneth away wrath, but a grievous word stirreth up anger.” Look at the battles he fought: The Smith-Graham Senate race in 1950, the basketball point-shaving scandal, cancelling…
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