Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
National 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…
Read MoreThe Associated Press reported a pair of odd facts the other day. In a headline the AP reported, “Obama using voter registration to stay close in NC” – then told how President Obama’s massive voter registration drive is helping him win North Carolina – by registering 250,000 new Obama voters. So far, that…
Read MoreCandidates run for office for all kinds of reasons: Foibles. Vanity. A desire to serve. But, whatever their reasons, after they announce they run head-on into an unpleasant fact: Running or office (even a local office like County Commissioner) costs a lot of money and raising money is plain old-fashioned hard work. It has…
Read MoreBill 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…
Read MoreWhile 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…
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