Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
While tonight’s debate could change everything, here are winners and losers in the wake of this week’s financial-political panic: Winner (for now): John McCain. Once again he stopped his precipitous slide in the polls. He put himself in the position to be the hero on the bailout, if it passes. Or to be the worst…
Democrats in North Carolina have a long-running problem. There is a culture of corruption a mile wide and a mile deep that runs right through the heart of their politics. The core of their problem is how they raise the money that pays for their political operations, from the North Carolina Democratic Party to their…
Pat McCrory’s ad has the same message as Barack Obama: It’s time for a change. Therein may lie Bev Perdue’s challenge. Public Policy Polling found that she is weak with Democrats around Charlotte. Question: Do they know she’s the Democrat and McCrory’s the Republican? Like Obama, McCrory is calling for change. Like Obama, McCrory is…
Rob Christensen compared this year’s election to 1992 – 16 years ago. I’d go back another 60 years – to 1932. Americans were in a panic about the economy. The Republican candidate for president was an experienced, respected veteran of Washington who believed the fundamentals of the economy were sound. The Democrat was a relatively…
Democrats are apoplectic about the McCain campaign’s distortions, distractions and outright lies. It’s the old Rovean, Swift-Boat strategy: say anything, no matter how outrageous, until it sticks. Let’s not get too huffy. Bev Perdue’s campaign showed that Democrats can play the game. Pat McCrory’s campaign took a predictable shot at her: Return the money you…
Pat Stith convinced me that The News & Observer won’t lose its soul when he leaves. I told you he was a loyal guy. He is also persuasive. Stith says his retirement does not stem from the buyouts. He is 66, after all. He has been pondering retirement for a while. And he wants to…
We liberals pride ourselves on our commitment to clean, open and ethical government. Then we get in power and show that we can be just as hypocritical as the other guys. Witness the Gang of Four – the members of the Raleigh City Council who have been meeting in private to discuss city business, according…
Pat Stith is the best reporter there ever was. Not at The News & Observer. Not in North Carolina. The best. Ever. Anywhere. I had the good luck to work with him at the N&O in the early 70s. We once worked together on a story about state government misusing federal jobs money. I learned…
A veteran North Carolina Democrat points out the surest sign that the McCain campaign is worried about North Carolina: They are spending money on TV ads there. For months, Republicans have insisted they aren’t worried about North Carolina going for Obama. Steve Schmidt, McCain’s chief strategist, has said: “It’s just one more state where the…
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…