Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
I’m having a hard time figuring out John McCain’s strategy: First, he’s running as the champion of Joe the Plumber – then we find out his campaign sent Sarah Palin on a $150,000 shopping spree at Saks and Neiman Marcus. I don’t begrudge Governor Palin her new clothes but I can’t see how anyone in…
Being in a campaign is like peeling the skin off an onion: You just keep peeling away layers until, finally, you get to the core. It turns out in the three major races in North Carolina the core is the same: the fellow sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. If you like George Bush you vote…
Obama fans probably loved Obama’s half-hour show Wednesday night. McCain voters either hated it or turned it off. And undecided voters – who are usually low-information voters anyway – probably didn’t watch it. So it may not make any difference for all the money it cost. But I had a reaction that may be in…
Does Kay Hagan believe in God? To put it bluntly, in her new ad Senator Dole answers that question – No. Dole’s case goes like this: Something in Boston called the Godless Americans PAC held a fundraiser for Hagan. They – very clearly and outspokenly – do not believe in God. And the first twenty-five…
In the Senate race it’s deja vu all over again for the third time: The same scarlet thread running through the races for President and Governor runs right on through Elizabeth Dole’s race. If you like George Bush, you vote for Senator Dole. If you don’t, you vote for Kay Hagan – except for a…
Elizabeth Dole has rolled a hand grenade into the Senate race. The question is whether it will blow up Kay Hagan or Dole herself. The Dole campaign last night launched an ad tying Hagan to the “Godless Americans PAC.” Today, an attorney sent Dole herself – at her Watergate residence in Washington – a letter…
We’ve about reached the point in the campaign where humor is in short supply – so here’s a video of Boston Legal’s Denny Crane being mugged that floated in over the transom from out in cyberspace. Here’s a link. Email it to a friend. Former House Speaker Richard Morgan’s book, The Fourth Witch: A Memoir…
One striking thing about the plethora of North Carolina polls has received little attention: There is little difference this year in the Democratic vote for President, Senator and Governor. In 2004, Mike Easley ran some 12 points ahead of John Kerry. Erskine Bowles, although he lost to Richard Burr, ran several points ahead. For years,…
For years it’s been a North Carolina tradition for governors to appoint big contributors and fundraisers to the State Board of Transportation and, as a result, over the years more than a few roads have been paved for what looks a lot like political reasons. But with corruption getting out of hand in Raleigh and…
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…
A reassuring lesson from our trip to Germany and Czechia is that dictators, despots and tyrants…