Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
All 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…
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…
Front-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: …
Mitt 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…
Several 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…
In 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…
The 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…
Candidates 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…
Bill 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…
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…
Thom Tillis and Phil Berger fed the MAGA alligator. Then it ate them. Thomas Mills wrote…