Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Some Democrats worry that no big name is challenging Senator Dole. Don’t despair. The field has narrowed to Kay Hagan and Grier Martin. Both would be good candidates, and both are looking hard at the race. First, they’re looking at is money. Dole says she’ll raise $20 million for her reelection. That’s just bluster. Still,…
As the British army surrendered at Yorktown its band played a little ditty called “The World Turned Upside Down.” I felt a little like that when I read the News and Observer interview with the City Council candidates in District A. There are two candidates. Incumbent Tommy Craven – a conservative Republican. And Nancy McFarlane…
Figure this: On any given day you can run into traffic snarls on Glenwood Avenue, Capital Boulevard or Wade Avenue. Real snarls. Real traffic problems. But, instead of solving those real traffic problems Meeker, Stephenson, Crowder and Company – the three Amigos on the City Council – are getting ready to spend $6 million on…
Democrats have become so dominant in Raleigh elections City Council races have turned into a series of inner-party squabbles. Take the at-large race. Incumbent Russell Stephenson and Mary Ann Baldwin are slugging it out to prove which of the two Democrats is really anti-developer. The definition of developer in the District B race has taken…
Rudy Giuliani’s been leading his Republican opponents in national polls all year. But, now, there’s a wind change in the making. Mitt Romney – after contributing generously to his own campaign – is running TV and radio ads in New Hampshire and Iowa. And his message is resonating. He now leads Giuliani in both states.…
George Bush has failed as Commander-in-Chief, so now he’s trying for Commentator-in-Chief. He predicted in an interview that Hillary Clinton would win the Democratic nomination and then would lose to the Republican, whom he did not predict. Let’s set aside whether this was just a ploy to energize discouraged Republicans (Bush certainly can’t energize them…
Raleigh City Council candidate Mary-Ann Baldwin is the victim of a high-tech version of old-time gutter politics. Supporters of an opponent, Russ Stephenson, set up a fake blog purporting to be by Baldwin. To give you a taste of the tone, one of the fake postings was signed “Mary Fucking Baldwin.” Nice. There’s nothing new…
There’s a little flap going on in Raleigh’s city elections about who’s coziest with developers. It started when someone, apparently tied to a blog supporting Councilman Russell Stephenson, put up a phony website attacking challenger Mary Ann Baldwin. But, in fact, Meeker, Stephenson, Crowder and Company – the three amigos on the City Council –are…
Most of us realize candidates for President (except the candidate we happen to be supporting at the moment), well, to put it politely, dissemble. In fact, my friend, John, is leaning toward choosing his candidate this time based on how well he dissembles. His current choice is Mitt Romney. John’s theory works like this: If…
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…
Gwyn and I just returned from a 12-day journey through 1,000 years of history in Germany…