Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
What to do about the war in Iraq has the Republican presidential candidates tied in knots. They don’t want to get out, they don’t dare say to go in deeper and the surge isn’t working. So Republican policy boils down to three unstated words: Wait and Hope. Imagine this: A presidential candidate says, “Look, we’re…
Talk about a dangerous place to be – how about Sunset Beach last weekend with the Trial Lawyers in town holding their annual convention – you could get sued for using the wrong fork at dinner. That aside, it’s a safe bet Congressman Brad Miller didn’t drive 200 miles to the beach just to sit…
Most Democrats are ambivalent about Brad Miller running against Elizabeth Dole – apparently including Brad Miller. Miller sounded ambivalent in his interview with The N&O’s Rob Christensen. He even said, “A lot of my closest friends are pretty ambivalent about it. They have mixed feelings, including my wife.” Well, Brad, that makes it hard to…
At a Wake County Democrats’ panel this morning, we were asked whether the Internet will make TV irrelevant in politics. My answer: look at Hillary Clinton’s new video about her campaign song. It led the morning news. It dominated CNN. CBS’ Bob Schieffer called it “genius.” The video gave Hillary millions of dollars worth of…
Last week I trashed Fred Thompson as too lazy to run for President. Now a national Republican consultant whom I greatly respect tells me I dismissed Thompson too quickly. He says Thompson has what no other major Republican presidential candidate has: a political and cultural affinity with the hard-right conservative, even fundamentalist, base of the…
Five members of the School Board are up for re-election this fall and School Superintendent Del Burnsâ decision to cashier high-school teacher Robert Escamilla may land right in their laps. Mr. Escamilla teaches â or did teach until Burns demoted him â at Enloe High School. For twenty-four years, he has received good to exemplary…
For thirty years rural voters have been the bedrock of the Republican Party. President Bush beat John Kerry in rural America by 20%. But, suddenly, according to a new poll (www.npr.org) rural voters are poised to vote Democratic. John Edwards and Barack Obama are as popular in rural communities as President Bush, John McCain and…
There’s another scandal brewing in the State House, around Rep. Mary McAllister (D–Fayetteville). Last session Rep. McAllister slipped a line in a bill to give $500,000 to a non-profit that pays her a $115,000 a year salary. She also failed to disclose her conflict of interest. When the State Auditor found out he showed up…
I bet Fred Thompson’s presidential prospects are no more real than the TV and movie characters he plays. He’s done the Dance of the Seven Veils about running for months now. Why doesn’t he get in the race? My guess is that he’s one of these politicians who wants the office but doesn’t want to…
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…