Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Carter and I spoke this morning to Leadership North Carolina about the political landscape today. The questions were interesting – and pointed: What do the Republicans do now? How will Bev Perdue govern and position herself for 2012? How will the state solve its fiscal problems? How will the feds pay for Medicare and Social…
Read MoreYesterday morning, lifting a stack of emails my eye fell on the note written across the top of the first page, ‘This one looks serious.’ It was from Richard the Intellectual. All it said was, ‘Has the world ended?’ Richard is what he himself describes as a ‘decliner’ which, I can tell you from experience,…
Read MoreRace and politics can bring out the worst in people – and the best. My daughter Maggie, 15, is a high school sophomore. Like her older brother, who has posted blogs here before, she is an ardent Democrat – and fan of Barack Obama. Since Obama won, she has heard some ugly things from her…
Read MoreRace and politics can bring out the worst in people – and the best. My daughter Maggie, 15, is a high school sophomore. Like her older brother, who has posted blogs here before, she is an ardent Democrat – and fan of Barack Obama. Since Obama won, she has heard some ugly things from her…
Read MoreWell, the hollering and screaming is over and instead of being amazed by the antics of politicians we can go back to the normal everyday rhythms of life that get disrupted every four years by an election. What went wrong for Republicans here in North Carolina? What didn’t go wrong is happier to contemplate: Half…
Read MoreCampaigns end abruptly. One day you’re going 90 miles an hour, 12 hours a day, seven days a week. All of a sudden Tuesday night it’s over. On Wednesday you bask in the glory if you won or bathe in your friends’ condolences and reassurances if you lost. Then BAM! The exhausted and spent winners…
Read MoreThree factors carried North Carolina for Hagan, Perdue and – maybe – Obama. It is a mistake to ascribe the result to any one of the three alone. First was the public’s rejection of George Bush because of the economic crisis. In a sense, 2008 was just a continuation of the 2006 election cycle. Voters…
Read MoreAn excellent New York Times article today analyzed how 2008 has changed politics forever. And nowhere more than North Carolina. Let us count the ways: BATTLEGROUND: First the primary. When Obama won North Carolina, the late Tim Russert declared that he had won the nomination. Now we’ve had the heady experience of being one of…
Read MoreI’ve been skeptical about the vaunted Obama ground game. But now I believe it’s real. So real, this election may already be decided in North Carolina. Some 2.6 million people have already voted – 40 percent of the registered voters. Democrats outnumber Republicans 52-30. African-Americans are 27 percent of the total. Republicans have their famous…
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Does a message about “workers,” “working families” and “working-class voters” really work for Democrats? Or does…
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I’ve resisted the temptation to rail every day about Trump’s cruelty, corruption and incompetence – and…
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Jeanette Hyde went from Miss Yadkin County to Madam Ambassador. Hyde, who died Monday at age…
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