Ferrel Guillory – political expert extraordinaire and director of the Program on Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill – offers a good perspective to my question (see below) about coordinated campaigns.   He cites an article by two of his students about the 2004 coordinated campaign.   Ferrel notes: “As you know, Jim Hunt used to…

Are reporters and reformers skirting the truth by suggesting – and even stating flatly – that the Easley campaign and the Democratic Party skirted the law?   As I understand it, coordinated campaigns are not a loophole – or a way around the law. They are actually encouraged by the law.   The law was…

The old amateur boxer sure won yesterday’s round.   Of course, the match isn’t over. And Governor Easley has more fights ahead. But he showed yesterday he can slip a punch – and land a few of his own.   If I was a federal prosecutor, I’d think twice about going in the ring with…

Watching the hearings, you see why Mike Easley was the candidate and the other guys weren’t.   It looked like their lawyers had cowed the other witnesses into being so careful and precise they came off slippery and evasive, even if they weren’t.   Easley, by contrast, is charming, confident and commanding. Too busy with…

I’ve been quick to note lately that I supported Dennis Wicker in 2000.  I remember the arrogance of some – not all – of Mike Easley’s people after they won.   But I’ll say a word in their defense.   The News & Observer said: “Easley camp pushed donation law’s limits.”   News flash: So…

Well, what went on in Raleigh yesterday in the State Board of Elections hearing was high political drama – the fireworks started right off when Easley buddy McQueen Campbell fessed up he’d paid for $11,000 in repairs on Easley’s house in Raleigh, then sent Easley’s campaign a fake bill for the $11,000 – which the…

Mike Easley was always described as quirky, but charming. Part of the charm was his reputation as a cheapskate.   That was a good quality for a governor in a budget crisis. Now, not so good.   Now he’s charged with flimflamming his campaign into paying $11,000 for home repairs. And maybe pocketing the insurance…

I worked with Jesse Helms so over the years I grew accustomed to looking at polls where politicians had high ‘Unfavorable’ ratings. But I’ve never seen a politician in North Carolina with an ‘Unfavorable’ rating of 49.8% except once (in a poll for Helms) when for some long since forgotten reason we tested Fidel Castro’s…