Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Win or lose in the Supreme Court, President Obama has already lost in the court of public opinion. Polls show that two-thirds of Americans want at least some of Obamacare repealed. If he loses the election in November, he’ll always wonder why he staked his presidency on an idea he opposed in 2008: the…
There’s a whiff of Mitt Romney about Thom Tillis. Witness his prediction that the gay-marriage amendment, which he supports, will be repealed in 20 years. Was he playing to a college crowd? Once again signaling he’s not really comfortable with the right-wing social issues? Or was it a classic political gaffe – when you…
The TAPster who wrote the blog below reflects what several Democrats have said privately about Bob Etheridge. If Bob’s campaign or a supporter will respond, I’ll post it. “For the sake of Democrats everywhere in North Carolina, Bobby Etheridge must step aside. “He needs to leave the governor’s race to someone who has…
Check out this new website for political junkies: ncpol.com. It’s run by Raleigh lawyer Hart Miles. Its greatest virtue is that it’s fun. Its greatest drawback is an interview with me. But you can also see a terrific video with a dead-on Dick Vitale impersonator, Gerry Jacobs of Raleigh. Watch “Dickie V” break…
A gun store in eastern North Carolina uses its electronic billboard to run a mix of hard-right political messages and gun-sale pitches. One message reads: “Work harder. Millions on welfare depend on you.” When it comes to health care, the billboard could read: “Work harder. Millions without insurance depend on you.” But therein lies…
Carter and I were doing our dog-and-pony show for a real-estate group – telling them what happens inside campaigns, taking potshots at each other and generally trying to lighten up a crowd that had just endured speeches from the gubernatorial candidates. During the Q&A, we got a familiar question: “Why can’t candidates be positive…
Back in 1976 when Ronald Reagan was running in the North Carolina Primary, Arthur Finkelstein (Reagan’s pollster) hammered into my head the importance of time in campaigns, saying a hundred times, Campaigns have three resources: People, money and time. You can hire more people and raise more money but you can’t make one second more…
The ads from George Holding’s campaign and super-PAC make it clear: He wants to cut federal spending, cut federal spending and then cut federal spending again. Just for the record: How much did Holding’s Ahab-like pursuit of John Edwards and Mike Easley cost taxpayers? And want to bet on whether you’ll see those…
Nothing explodes on Twitter like a real or perceived gaffe. Just yesterday, we had Mitt Romney’s Etch-a-Sketch, the John Locke Foundation’s controversial image of President Obama and Walter Jones’ “Uncle Chang.” “Uncle Chang” did have the ring of offensiveness. It was also baffling. So I had to see what the notoriously unpredictable maverick congressman…
The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My…
A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…
Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…