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Carter Wrenn
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Gary Pearce
I’d pick Hillary. I know all the reasons why Obama shouldn’t and probably won’t. Here is why he should: It’s the only choice that genuinely shakes up the race. And Obama needs to shake it up. It will electrify the convention. It will stump McCain and the Republicans. It will show that Obama is strong…
Read MoreJohn McCain’s real running mate this year will be Richard Nixon – or, to be precise, the strategy that Nixon pioneered for Republicans in 1972: Make your opponent unacceptable to the Silent Majority. That’s the attack McCain’s Karl Rove-trained team has leveled against Barack Obama for weeks now. It is taking hold. Thirty-six years ago,…
Read MoreThe tension between John Edwards and The News & Observer goes back to the 1998 Senate race. During that campaign, John and Elizabeth – along with some of their Washington consultants and gung-ho young staffers – believed the N&O was treating them unfairly. They decided somebody should storm down to the paper’s offices, confront the…
Read MoreThere are times you just have to look at some of todayâs politicians and shake your head and wonder, What on earth was that fool thinking? Two short breaths ago, Beverly Perdue told WRAL-TV (6-18-08) she was adamantly “100% opposed” to offshore drilling. Then, taking another breath, she bluntly told the Charlotte Observer (7-19-08), âOn…
Read MoreJohn Drescher’s letter to readers in today’s N&O makes it clear that John Edwards’ “confession” was a spectacular failure. Drescher, the executive editor, wrote to defend his paper’s coverage. But he concluded with this ominous note for Edwards: “Questions remain about who is the father of Hunter’s baby and whether Edwards knew about payments to…
Read MoreThere are two race cards. One is a no-holds-barred, two-fisted, blunt-edged appeal to race that’s hardly ever seen anymore. These days only a desperate politician, or one bent on suicide, plays that race card. The other race card is more subtle. It can be as simple as a candidate having a campaign slogan like, “He’s…
Read MoreThe first campaign I worked in was Jim Hunt’s first race for Governor in 1976. Jimmy Carter was the Democratic candidate for President. He carried North Carolina, and we had the national political wind at our backs. That was the last time. Every presidential year since then, I have watched – and tried to help…
Read MoreJohn Edwards has told ABC News he had an affair with Rielle Hunter. It will be on Nightline tonight. Now, as I’m sure you have, I’ve seen folks get knocked down flat on their backs and get kicked while they’re still lying there. It’s just plain mean. Also, after all this hit the airwaves I…
Read MoreOne moment Barack Obama sounds like a wild-eyed liberal who’s out to “save the planet” from the icecaps melting – the next he’s turning around and coming out for offshore drilling. One moment John McCain sounds like a two-fisted independent and maverick – but at the same time down in the bowels of McCain Central…
Read MoreDoes a message about “workers,” “working families” and “working-class voters” really work for Democrats? Or does…
Read MoreI’ve resisted the temptation to rail every day about Trump’s cruelty, corruption and incompetence – and…
Read MoreJeanette Hyde went from Miss Yadkin County to Madam Ambassador. Hyde, who died Monday at age…
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