Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Conventional wisdom is that runoffs are hurtful. Not always. Elaine Marshall’s runoff helped her. Helped her especially with her most important target right now: the national fundraising community. If Cunningham hadn’t called for a runoff, doubts would have lingered about Marshall’s electability. As in: “She couldn’t even get 40 percent against a…
Read MoreThirty five years ago when our current Mayor Charles Meeker migrated from Washington to Raleigh our local “Progressive’ politicians – and the Mayor joined their camp – were laboring mightily to give birth to the ‘New South.’ A generation later the ‘Progressives’ had triumphed: The old fogey southern WASP’s had been routed and whatever…
Read MoreThe Powers That Be on the WakeCounty school board are once again demonstrating their fatal flaw: They pick needless fights. What is the sense of this fight over changing the name of EnloeHigh School? Clearly, it’s payback – and spite. If Margiotta and Tedesco were bigger men – and real leaders –…
Read MoreGeneral Stanley McChrystal and his hard-driving team probably didn’t say anything about their civilian bosses that military leaders haven’t always said about their civilian bosses. McChrystal & Co. just said it in front of a reporter. From Rolling Stone, no less. No wonder these guys can’t catch Osama. McChrystal never quite hit…
Read MoreCarter and I taped WRAL’s “On the Record” today for airing Saturday night at 7 p.m. Or you can watch it on the station’s website. We were with anchor Bill Leslie and WUNC radio’s Laura Leslie (no relation to Bill). The topic, of course, was Tuesday’s runoffs and the November elections.
Read MoreA while back President Obama’s administration was giving cell phones to people on welfare and, now, State Senator Doug Berger has sponsored a bill to have the “E-NC Authority” provide broadband Internet service to the same folks. It is unclear how hard-pressed welfare recipients will get computers. Senator Berger’s bill may be seen as…
Read MoreRaleigh is reviving an old Southern trait: We don’t cotton to outside agitators invading paradise and stirring up folks. First my old friend Grady Jefferys wrote a provocative piece in the N&O complaining about “big city” ideas ruining old Raleigh. This week, after losing his Republican congressional primary, Bernie Reeves lamented that we’re…
Read MoreWomen are winning everywhere: Elaine Marshall, Nikki Haley, Blanche Lincoln, Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman. North Carolina leads the way. Marshall would make two female Senators. A female governor. As Thomas Mills with the Marshall campaign pointed out, seven of ten statewide winners in 2008 were women. And women are moving up in the legislature…
Read MoreThere’s a simple explanation for Elaine Marshall’s victory: Thomas Mills. Her homegrown campaign manager outwitted Cal Cunningham’s bigger-name team, defied the DSCC and disproved the doubters. Maybe one time in 10 the candidate with less money wins. This was one, and that’s a big win in politics. As Secretary of State, Marshall…
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No, Trump’s blitzkrieg hasn’t left Democrats hapless, hopeless and rudderless. Here’s one example of the immense…
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It’s a kind of mystery – will hitting Canada and Mexico with tariffs land us in…
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Waffle House shows Trump lied – and broke his biggest promise. He promised, “when I win,…
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