Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
I begin this new year by publicly thanking the U.S. Supreme Court for all it has done to make 2012 the Year of the Negative Ad. The high court’s bold, wise Citizens United decision already has claimed one victim – and an appropriate one: Newt Gingrich. But the best is yet to come. …
Read MoreA couple of years ago the small piedmont town of King, North Carolina landed in the soup because the ACLU or someone got into a dither over the town flying a ‘Christian Flag’ over the local Veterans Memorial. Now, they’ve come up with a solution. Here’s how it works: Each December the town collects…
Read MoreNBC News and Marist University have released an 11th hour poll in Iowa – in the last four weeks 19% of the voters have switched candidates, almost half going to Rick Santorum with most of the rest splitting between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. Ballot Change Romney 23% +4 Paul 21% +2 Santorum 15%…
Read MoreWhen the Democrats sued the Republicans over redistricting I thought we might be treated to see a bit of grand political theatre with Republicans arguing for the Voting Rights Act (which they hate) and Democrats arguing against it (even though they’ve been in love with it for four decades). It’s a disappointment but no…
Read MoreAfter Senator Richard Burr and former Senator Elizabeth Dole endorsed Mitt Romney, a reporter asked: Do endorsements matter? Answer: Not to voters, but definitely to politicians and reporters. No voter who is torn between, say, Romney and Newt Gingrich will think: “Gee, I don’t know who to vote for. So I’ll just vote for…
Read MoreThis headline should strike fear in us: “State government reorganizes, seeking more efficiency.” Pardon my cynicism, but I’ve seen this movie before. Every administration in Washington and every state capital promises to reinvent, reorganize and rethink government. Now, Rob Christensen reports in the N&O that North Carolina is scrambling the bureaucratic eggs again. This…
Read MoreJust as the N.C. Department of Agriculture gets new responsibilities, we find out it bungled its current duties. Lynn Bonner reports in the N&O: “The state Agriculture Department failed to fine propane plants, dispensing sites and other facilities that mishandled the highly flammable gas, putting the public at risk and costing public schools…
Read MoreA week ago, I thought, It’s too farfetched – Rick Santorum rising in the polls in Iowa would be like blind dumb luck or lightning striking. All year with pure steadfastness a quarter of the Republican voters have stuck by Mitt Romney though thick and thin. But they’ve been the only thing steadfast in…
Read MoreOnce upon a time, owning a newspaper was literally a license to print money. Then came Craigslist and EBay, there went profitable classified ads and then came the waves of layoffs and furloughs. How far a newspaper’s value has fallen is shown by the sale of 16 regional papers – including the Wilmington Star-News and…
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Once upon a time, there was a great and powerful newspaper: The News & Observer. Everybody…
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The shouting, sign-waving and cane-wielding by congressional Democrats at the State of the Union isn’t a…
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Curmudgeonly Cajun James Carville says Democrats just need to “roll over and play dead” and wait…
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