Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
John Edwards’ political career began after the death of his first child. Will it end after the birth of another child? A once-strong Edwards supporter posed that question the other day. She, like other supporters, is nervous about the “love child” story. Edwards said it’s “tabloid trash.” That’s not enough. If the story is not…
The Ruby Slippers have been Kay Hagan’s gimmick – a way to say Elizabeth Dole is really from Kansas, not North Carolina. Memo to Kay: Put the slippers back in the closet. Negative attacks don’t work when they appear personal or irrelevant. The slippers are both. And negative attacks backfire if the shoe fits you…
Imagine this: A pollster-guru-political whiz sitting in McCain’s headquarters turning pages, staring at statistics, searching to find someone in America who is less popular than George Bush stops, looks up and says two words: “Paris Hilton.” The young Republican males sitting across the table — who have cut their teeth in the ‘voters are idiots’…
An older Democrat asked me how to get younger votes who are excited about Barack Obama to vote a straight Democratic ticket. Thanks to past Democratic legislatures, the ballot makes this hard. You have to vote for Obama, then go to a separate place to vote a straight ticket. That was a good idea when…
Not long ago a School Board member railed at the Wake County Commissioners by saying they were about to destroy world-class schools in Raleigh. Well, the County Commissioners can stop trying. The No Child Left Behind Act has done it for them. Now, I know No Child Left Behind is not the most popular program.…
Since Obama disposed of Hillary it’s become clear that in order to crush him McCain must resort to The Big Negative. Obama’s got too much momentum and money and charisma for McCain to waltz into office by way of a friendly popularity contest. Well, Wednesday the old admiral – or the old crowd that’s moved…
Like gas prices nationally, crime could be the surprise issue in the North Carolina governor’s race this year. The rolling gang fight at Triangle Towne Center last weekend gives Raleigh residents pause. Charlotteans wonder what took us so long. Break-ins – thought to be gang-related – plague even the best neighborhoods there. Pat McCrory has…
I’m not sure what’s worse: ‘International Celebrity’ Barack Obama not visiting wounded soldiers in Germany – or watching John McCain jump up and down and howl about it. This saga in American politics started bad and went downhill. Obama tripped over his own feet, then tripped again getting up, then McCain leaped on his back…
A very smart (by definition) fan of this blog asked a question I could not answer: “How can telephone polls be accurate when so many people – especially young people – have cell phones and no landlines?” So I posed the question to three smart pollsters (Democratic and Republican). Here are their answers (with only…
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…